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Revival of Hope — 9 Comments

  1. [Moderator note: please use first and last names when commenting on this site. Thanks!]

    God loves us so much to have given his son to die for us and also he has planned such a beautiful home for us to live in. We live in a world where bad news is the order of day and good news we get never lasts before the devil twists it around to use it against us.
    Why don't you and I join hands to make heaven our target? Our home is heaven, our Father is there and lovely enough he can do anything for his beloved. Enjoy your journey to heaven as am enjoying mine.

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  2. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” But can the weapon against fear be fear itself? I’m not sure. You can’t extinguish fire with fire, nor can you stop flooding with more water. The only weapon against fear is prayer. I am a living witness of this. It’s natural for us to be fearful of the future since we’re born in sin. But if we get down our knees and ask God to take the fear away, guess what, He will take it away and replace it with courage, serenity, peace and, most importantly, trust.

    I think fear is offensive to God. Try to see it from His perspective: He emptied Heaven and gave us His son; He kept silence in excruciating pain when His Son suffered on the cross. He experienced unutterable pain for you and me. And here we are worrying, fretting, fearing over temporal, trivial, fleeting things of life. That conveys to God a message of how distrustful of Him we are; how we don’t even truly believe He sent His Son for us. It’s very hurtful to God.

    Again, take it to Him in prayer and ask Him to take the fear away. He took mine away. I get emotional when I think about it. In fact, I remember the time and the place I pleaded with Him, crying like a baby, to take it away. And within a week of that prayer, He took it away and replaced the feeling with courage, confidence and self-validation and self-worth. I am a child of the King. You are too. So let’s act like it.

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      • I want to also thank Newton for sharing his thoughts. I really agree with what he is saying and I feel like when I worry it reflects my lack of trust in my Heavenly Father. I think of my kids still young and trusting of their parents to care for their every need. My kids don't worry about food, shelter, money or their future because they trust that their parents will take care of those things for them. I can't imagine how I would feel if my daughter came up to me and told me how worried she was about tomorrow or her future. I would probably feel hurt just as Newton said God feels hurt when we worry and don't trust in Him. My prayer will be for us as a church to model a calm assurance and peace amid the chaos of this world so the world will wonder after us and seek to know the source of our peace and come to know Jesus.

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  3. What amazing to know that God's LOVE transient from generation to generation in patient hoping to see all return to Him in repentance and righteousness.
    As we study this week lesson may he fulfill His PROMISE of OUT POURING of the HOLY SPIRIT on all flesh this year and always till Christ come.
    I need prayers for sustenance of my Faith.

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  4. It took me a while, many decades in fact, to understand that the dictionary antonyms (opposite) of the word fear such as liking, fondness, etc. are not accurate within the context of the great controversy.

    In fact the bible demonstrate that the opposite of fear is faith. Faith in the Lord gave Joshua strength and courage. (Joshua 1:6)

    Faith gave Sarah the ultimate "job", the one she had been waiting for her whole life, that of bearing and caring for a child. (Remember it was women sole responsibility then).

    Although David was sometimes afraid of dark times, and he had many, faith in the Lord brought him light and hope (salvation). (Ps 27:1)

    And to my amazement I read "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov 9:10). What a wonderful God, we can hand him over our fears and He blesses us in return!

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    • Maria, I can remember many times in the past where we have tried to reconcile Prov 9:10 ("The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom") with texts such as, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear" (1 Jn. 4:18 NKJ) and ended up with redefining fear as respect or some other similar word.

      To me doing so is rather artificial. Rather than trying to redefine the word I think we should see it as being used in different ways in the Bible. When we see a warning sign it usually doesn't cause us to shake in fear but gives us a sense of caution which is a mild form of fear. We tend to fear danger and that is good. It was built into us by God who could see that if we didn't have any sense of fear we would do some very stupid things.

      I remember Evil Knievel, a dare devil cyclist who lived most of his life in Butte, Montana. Such people suppress fear for the sake of wealth and for him his life ended in Florida living on pain killers because throughout his life he had broken just about every bone in his body with some of them being broken several times over. To me that is insanity. In this respect fear has a positive side to it but when it gets out of control in times like a building fire where a panic sets in or when there is no real reason for it then it becomes bad.

      When Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28 NKJ) He was putting fear in its right place. If we are going to fear anything at all we should fear the right thing like fearing authority if we do something wrong (Rom 13:1-4). In this world of insanity fear is necessary; without it socially we would go crazy, without restraint, like rabid dogs.

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      • I believe that Joseph demonstrated the true "fear of God" when he responded to temptation by saying: "...how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?!" He feared to offend the One who had poured out such great blessings and prospered him while being a lowly slave in a heathen land. He recognized God's goodness towards himself and did not wish to disappoint or misrepresent his Redeemer.

        Jesus demonstrated the results of such "fear of the Lord" by sleeping in a sinking boat in a terrible storm. This "fear" of God can only result through a complete faith that works by love.

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