Like a Baby

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear in any form. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. The power of fear lies in words, so we must champion faith as our allegiance to God. Through faith, we can experience God's perfect love, which casts out fear. In today's busy and stressful world, fear has become a dominant force causing anxiety and worry. We need faith to function and trust in God's promises. Faith is the lifeblood of the kingdom of God and determines our feeling of safety. If we have faith, we can rest in the arms of the Lord and feel safe and secure. We need to imitate God in our behavior and live in love just as Jesus loved us. By praising God and focusing on His love, we can overcome fear and experience His righteousness. We are precious and valuable to God, and His love for us is endless. His perfect love casts out fear and turns away His wrath. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Proverbs 3.24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. I don't know about you, but the sleep like a baby saying is something I struggle with. I've had kids. Have you ever slept near a baby? They toss, they turn, they get up every hour to maybe hour and a half squalling about one thing or another. They fuss, they kick, they poop and need to be disturbed. They are the most difficult sleepers ever. I would hate to sleep like a baby in that sense, because I would never feel rested. But babies can sleep anywhere, while you're holding them, while they're eating, while you're changing them, while you're bathing them, depending on the method, in the car, in their strollers, on the floor, on a lap, upside down, halfway off the pillow you put beside them to keep them safe, while you reached over to take a cup of coffee because you need the caffeine to stay awake because this baby slept beside you and kept you up all night. They just pop off. Sure, they don't sleep long as a rule, but they just go out. Why is that? Because they feel safe. As mad as they can get, as fussy as they can get, as purple crying as they can get, they feel safe, sound, secure. You have them. They don't fear. Ever. Wouldn't that be nice? In today's world, the number of hours we seem to be able to dedicate to sleep gets smaller and smaller. Work, traffic, kids, school commitments, banking, social commitments, online or off, study time, cleaning, cooking, household maintenance, time, etc., etc. It seems to grow like nothing else does. If my garden grew like my time fillers, I'd never have to shop, which is actually another sort of time filling that I can't believe I forgot just now. In our modern world of gadgets and convenience, we are busier than ever. And three times as stressed because with television and the Internet, the world is in our home. We get to be worried about things taking place across the globe because with interconnectivity, everything affects everything else. And if it doesn't, we have news jockeys that are paid just to make you feel unsafe so that you'll never change the channel. It is the playground of anxiety and depression. Worry has been birthed like never before in human history. We worry over big things. Half the time, we worry more over small things. And woe betide whomever gets in between us and our coping device. How bad is that, that we need coping devices, rather that we've trained ourselves to need them? How have we gotten to the point that we can't seem to function without self-care crutches to hold us up? Why is it that just being in the world has become crippling? It's because fear is the biggest force on this planet. It gets into every crack and cranny. It looks to seep into every place of your mental landscape. And behind it is every spirit of the kingdom of darkness just waiting for fear to crack the door open. There will never be a spirit operating in your life that didn't get there without fear opening the door. Fear is the polar opposite of faith. It seeps into every place. Faith is not. Faith is the heir of the kingdom of God. Everything happens by faith. Everything. If you aren't persuaded, then you won't step. If you aren't sure that your feet are going to land on solid ground, you won't make a move. You'll stand right where you are until you die. That's a fact. We need faith to function. God made it that way because all of us are to be looking to him in all things. For I am not ashamed of the good news of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith, as it is written, but the righteous shall live by faith. Romans 1, 16-17 and Habakkuk 2, 4. No matter what God has for us, from salvation to healing to a new job to a different path home to a reason to get out of the bed in the morning, we need faith to get it. God opens his arms and extends everything to us. Everything, the whole of his kingdom. We need to take it. That's the job of faith to take it from God's hand and walk in it. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. And you confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6, 12. Take hold. Take. He's offering. We take. For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5, 7. Without faith, it is impossible to be well-pleasing to him. For he who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Hebrews 11, 6. My son, don't forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. Proverbs 3, 1-2. Trust in Yahweh with all your heart and don't lean on your understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh and depart from evil. It will be health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Proverbs 3, 5-8. See a pattern yet? Faith is the lifeblood of the kingdom of God. Knowing that God gives and we can take. That God shines a light on our path and we can walk. That the ground is solid and we will not step into empty air. It comes down to knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has us. Who has you? That is the primary question for you and me and everyone. Who has you? The person who has you will determine your feeling of safety. If the world has you, fear opens the door so anxiety, depression, stress, and trouble are your bedfellows. If Jesus has you, peace, love, healing, and joy are your companions. If you know God has you, if you have faith, if you are persuaded, then how can you fear? Or how can fear get a hold of you? Who has you? Wouldn't it be nice to at any moment, at any time of day, anywhere, just lean back into the chest of the Lord as you sit on his lap? To breathe in his scent, close your eyes, and rest? To be safe and secure in his sweetness? It is possible. It is more than possible. We are his children. Acts 26, 18. Romans 8, 17. We're allowed and encouraged to remember and act like it. He's holding it out to you. Open hand. No take backsies. No tricks. Honest and open. If you want it, you can take it. Take it. Let your sleep and your life be sweet. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Ephesians 5. We are to be like God, to imitate him, and make ourselves like him in our behavior, just as we expect our own children to emulate us. To live in love as Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us. That's a tall order, but he gives us the tools to do it. From watching our words to having husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church. And if that isn't a hefty responsibility, I don't know what is. Since he doesn't judge, he's always kind, patient, courteous, sharing, caring, supportive, and the list goes on. We're to praise God in all things. Not for the circumstances, but in the circumstances. Not for the stress, during the stress. With psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Why? Because the more we love on God, the more his love lives for us, inside us. Wiping away the junk of the world and leaving his righteousness shining forth. It rescues us from everything. As we close, remember that you have earth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you. Just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent his only born son into the world. That we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we love God. But that he loved us and sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.