Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Chapter 3: God Strong: The Military Wife's Spiritual Survival Guide

Spiritual Truth #2:
Fear Blocks My Focus

If Fear is There, Faith is Not.

   Why is it that we so easily become snared in a vicious cycle of fear, insecurity, and doubt? As we give room to our fears we quickly fall back into the trap of relaying totally upon our own strength to calm our troubled minds. As our fear builds we quickly can become overwhelmed and anxious, forgetting that we have the promise of God's strength waiting to take control. When we replace our fear with faith that God is in control, we underscore our trust and our belief in God’s power and strength. Ask the Lord to help you to trust Him and believe: Lord, help my disbelief. Help me to trade my fear for faith. 
Opening Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for the truth and power of  your word. Help us to believe and trust in you for our strength daily. Help us to believe and replace our doubt with renewed faith. Thank you that you are our refuge in times of trouble.   May we grow ever stronger in our faith, as we keep our focus on you, the author and the finisher of our faith.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Choosing  Faith Over Fear
by
Fine-Tuning Our Focus 

Because God  doesn’t leave. (Isaiah 41:10)
Because God uses the ordinary to create the extraordinary (John 12:24-25)
Because we can see God’s love and care and handiwork everywhere we turn. (Psalm 103:19)
God can turn the troubled heart into gladness. (John 14:11-14) 
Because we can see and hear the testimonies of those who traded their fears for faith:
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Daniel, Peter, and Paul. (Hebrews 11)
God says:
Don’t panic. 
I am with you. 
I’ll give you strength.
 I will help you.
I’ll hold you steady.
I’ll keep a firm grip on you. 
Ask God to help you trade your fear for faith. He will meet your needs. 

Building Faith Exercise:
 Fear says:
“My problems are unique, bigger, and tougher than other people's.” 
(List problems in your life that you have thought about in this way)
Focus on God's truth:
You need not be afraid if God is your helper:  
 "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Ps. 118:6-7)
(List any problems in your life that God can not solve.)

Fear says:
“God has forgotten me”
(List the places where you have tended to feel forgotten,)
Focus on God's truth: 
“I am Faithful”:
 God has said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Heb. 13:5-6
(List evidence of the faithfulness of God in your life.)


Fear says:
“My Problems are more than I can bear.”
(List the times in your life when you have felt overwhelmed or overburdened.) 
Focus on God’s truth:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. Proverbs 3: 5-6
(List some of the resources for dealing with your problems that are already present in your life?)

Building Our Tool Box:


Just for fun!

Comments/questions:
What can we share?
Thoughts and comments from Strength Trainers question
Words of Encouragement
Life Experiences
Testimonies of Praises
What we have learned
My favorite Bible verse
To read thoughts and disscusions from other eReaders: Be sure to open "comments" below:

3 comments:

  1. It is so amazing to me just how powerful the emotion of fear is in sidetracking my focus on trusting God to direct my life. The minute the ground around me begins to tremble, I immediately think I must take action to step in and take over or things are going to fall apart. However, I have learned through many hard times that God is working in all my circumstances and he will never direct me to disaster. (ref. Matthew 7:9)

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  2. My daughter's track coach has a saying: "no fear, no doubt, NO LIMITS." He drills that into their heads at every practice and every meet. While it comes from a secular source, it is a Biblical truth. Our fears create doubts in us. Our doubts limit us. If we are truly trusting in God, there is no room for fear or doubt. Therefore, there are no limits on us. One of my favorite passages says this:
    "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus...I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Phil. 4:6, 7, 12, 13)
    God truly does replace our fear with a peace that defies explanation and understanding!

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  3. As a military wife, we can all relate to fear. Our husbands are often gone somewhere. The field, school, training, or deployed. Fear is something that I know I have dealt with. I remember not to long ago, my husband was gone, and in the middle of the night I heard some noise that woke me up in the middle of the night. Fear crept in. Thanks to my parents making me memorize scripture, my first reaction has always been to quote 2 Timothy 1:7 He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind. What a great reminder to myself that fear does not come from God. I loved the way that the author talked about replacing fear with faith! What a great thing that we can apply. I discovered my first deployment the importance of daily, hourly and sometime minutely giving my fear over to God. But one thing I discovered was that the more I did it, the more he increased my faith. How thankful I am that in my weakness, He is so strong!

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