fear does not come from the Lord.

Read that again.

Fear does not come from the Lord.

This phrase is something I have been saying over & over & over to myself the past few months. One day, back in October, my friend Maddy told me this & let me tell ya...it completely blew my mind. This was the first time I had ever heard this and something I had never processed before, but I quickly clung onto this phrase and these few words became the best reminder of refuge to me.

Simply put: fear - being anything from taking a test, to getting in a car accident, to not being able to financially provide for yourself - are all things we should never be afraid of. The everyday fears that we experience in our lives are things that the Lord never desires for us to be afraid of. These fears are created and amplified by the devil, to place distractions in our lives, keeping us from ultimately trusting our Father. Any type of fear we experience does not, I repeat, does not come from the Lord, but rather from the enemy trying to throw us off our course. The Lord is our provider, our protector, our helper, & much more and we therefore have no need to feel any type of fear. He will provide for us in our financial needs, He will protect us from any kind of earthly fear, and He will help us through any trial or difficulty.

2 Timothy 1:7 - “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Joshua 1:9 - “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I have learned a lot from this phrase in the past few months. From the smallest fears to the biggest fears, I am learning that because God is my Father, there is no need to be afraid. Sometimes this is hard because that means letting go of things that (at that moment) feel impossible to not be afraid of, but this is only because we haven’t given ourselves a chance to look at the situation from God’s viewpoint.

Example in my life::

Something I find myself worrying about often is my future. I’m constantly questioning where I’ll be in the next four years? What type of job I’ll have? Will I be able to financially provide for myself? Am I going to be able to pay off my college debt? When will I get married? ALL of these questions are just a whole bunch of gibberish and things that I truly know I DO NOT need to be fearful of. The Lord will provide, the Lord has a plan, and this plan is already better than anything I could every imagine, so why...why do I find myself worrying about these things?

I’ve been working on not being afraid of what the future holds and rather embracing the now. There is so much good in what is happening right this moment in each and every one of our lives and if we spend all of our time thinking about the future, we’re going to miss so many special moments and memories being made right now. When the devil sends these thoughts to creep back into my mind, I suddenly think of this lil’ phrase and remind myself that yup...fear does not come from the Lord.

Whether it be fear of what your future holds, fear of what others think about you, or fear of pleasing the Lord, I encourage you to think of this phrase!!! It’s something that has helped me incredibly and allowed me to trust the Lord in every aspect of my life and not stress over little things the devil tries to place in my life to gain control over me. It’s easy for the devil to find things in our life that he knows will distract us from seeing clearly what the Lord wants us to see. We have to be able to have the boldness and courage to stand up to these things and acknowledge that these feelings of fear, doubt, uncertainty, stress, unworthiness, etc. are nothing close to what our God wants us to deal with. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

So again...say is out loud this time...fear does not come from the Lord.

Say it, believe it, and find comfort & refuge in the truth of this powerful phrase:)

love you friends!!!

xoxo,

b.

this image is my screensaver on my phone & I thought I'd share it so feel free to use it as yours or send it to someone who may need to hear this like I did:) ((easiest way to save it is to screenshot!))