Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, July 31, 2009

"The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies."¹

The story is told about a baby bear “that wandered away from his mother in search of food. This was his first foray; so he was a little timid. A large, ferocious mountain lion spotted the baby bear and approached to attack. The baby bear, not knowing what else to do, reared up on his hind legs as he had seen his mother do this as a defense. Immediately, the mountain cat retreated; ran like he was scared to death. The baby bear, very proud of himself, continued foraying for food. What the mountain lion saw, and the baby bear didn't know, was that the mother bear was behind the baby bear, rearing up on her hind legs, ready to attack the mountain lion.â€�²

No fear! Yeah. Right! Breathed the man with soul so dead who never to himself hath said, "I'm scared half to death." Fear is a common plight of us allâ€"unless we bury and hide it, which is a dangerous path to follow for what we deny we inevitably act out in some self- or other-destructive way. Someone has said that there are 365 "fear nots" in the Bibleâ€"one for every day of the year!

David, who penned the words of today's Psalm had every reason on many occasions to be terrified because King Saul, ravished by a jealous hatred of David, was hunting him down to kill him. So whenever I am afraid, I take a page out of David's book, and keep repeating to remind myself, "The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

The good news is that God is with us … always … he will never leave us or forsake us … hence to counteract our fears we can learn to place our confidence in him and not in ourselves. It’s important, too, not to allow fears to control us for if we don’t control (or resolve) them, they will control us.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that no matter what circumstances I find myself in, you are always there for me. Thank you too for your promise to never leave me or forsake me. Help me to learn how to fully put my trust in you so I will not be afraid. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

NOTE: For additional help see “Conquering Fear� at: http://tinyurl.com/rhlho

1. Psalm 118:6-7 (NIV).
2. Source an e-mail. Author unknown.

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