8d • General discussion
New Video Series: "The Old becomes New" -- Part 6: A New Life
Full Video: https://youtu.be/XpSpxBNfAN4?si=goWgPcH8_t5u6pFh
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THE RECAP:
Fear. My former thing
I remember the night the Lord relieved me of my fear
It was one of the greatest nights of my life
I was so happy
A weight finally removed
Not only did the Lord give me a new seed, but also helped me to plant and water this new seed; this seed of faith
However, that night, the Lord taught me something else. The Lord helped me realize that although I now live in this new land with Him, the enemy will still whisper words of fear and doubt; trying to lure me back to my old land; my land of fear.
But the Lord told me exactly what to do in those times
Anytime the enemy whispers words of fear and doubt, I can just look to the Lord and say, “I have faith in You”
The enemy could say,
“Well what about this?”
“I have faith in God”
“Well what about that?”
“I have faith in God”
The enemy could say whatever they wanted, and when they did, I could just look to the Lord, have faith in Him, and say, “I have faith in You Lord”
Each time I would look to the Lord and have faith in Him, I was watering that seed a little more
Faith was the new seed, and having faith was me watering that seed
But, that water and my faith, was and is because of the Lord; and only because of Him
It is because of the Lord that I have faith in Him
It is because of the Lord that I have watered that seed
Like I said, not only did the Lord give me a new seed, but also helped me to plant and water this new seed; this seed of faith
And just as the Lord revealed unto me my old seed; fear; relieved me of it, and gave me a new seed; Faith; the Lord was going to do the same with all the things that sprang from my old seed; all of my specific fears; those things of old; and give me something new
Over the next few weeks the Lord was going to bring me through several events, and in each event, the Lord was going to show me a specific fear I had, teach me the truth of it, relieve me of it, and give me something new; a new fruit; a new action; a new act of faith in the Lord
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First Segment: The first event the Lord brought me through -- the Skool community
Several weeks ago, the Lord had placed it on my heart to start a community to share all that the Lord has shared with me.
I wanted to share the Lord’s light with everyone, all around the world, for all the world to see the Lord’s light, to understand the Lord and grow in their relationship with the Lord; to grow in their love for Him
So I decided to start this community and share with others all that the Lord had been sharing with me!
And just like clock work, the enemy began to whisper words of fear and doubt in my ear
“No one is really listening to this”
“No one is really going to respond to this”
“Nothing really is going to come from this”
I kept hearing those whispers over and over again; and there was a point where I thought about quitting
But the Lord encouraged me, literally the next day
The next day, a new member had joined the community!
The Lord helped me realize that the Lord IS doing a great work, that the Lord’s light was indeed reaching other people, and that the Lord did appreciate the work I am doing with Him; shining the light the Lord has given me by sharing the Lord’s light with others
So I kept sharing with others all that the Lord had been sharing with me.
And after I decided to continue to share what the Lord had shared with me, like clockwork, more whispers of fear and doubt
At one point I thought,
“I'm not getting likes”
“Im not getting comments”
After talking to the Lord about it, the Lord helped me realize, I was never doing this for likes or comments. I am doing this for Him
The Lord helped me realize that I am not here to get likes or comments. I am here to share all that the Lord has shared with me.
And thats what this community is about
Its not about likes or comments
Its about shining the the light that He has given me
And once I share the Lord’s light, the Lord will shine His light further than I ever could’ve imagined
Speaking of, listen to how the Lord continued to encourage me
Each time I felt the slightest bit of discouragement, the Lord encouraged me by showing me the amount of views that have come from the posts of me sharing what the Lord has shared with me
First, there were 300 views
A couple days later, 600
A couple days later, 800
A couple days later, it was 1400
A few days later, it was 7400
The Lord was indeed reaching other people!
The Lord was indeed shining His light further
And see, THATS why the enemy wanted me to stop. Thats why the enemy kept whispering words of fear and doubt, telling me, “No one is going to see this”
The enemy kept whispering words of doubt in my ear
Not because of me or who I am
But because of who GOD IS; the great I AM
You see, the enemy KNOWS the Lord and how He works. The enemy knows the Lord will shine His light through US
THATS why the enemy was trying to stop me
The enemy was trying to stop the one who was shining the Lord’s light because the enemy knew the Lord would shine His light even further!
And because I decided to continue to share what the Lord had shared with me, the enemy decided to continue to try to stop me
Checkpoint: Thoughts and Concerns
A few days after all this, one day, there was something was on my mind
I started having thoughts and concerns about the level of engagement within the Skool group
I started thinking,
“Am I doing enough?”
At the time I didnt realize that those words werent my own
Really, it was the enemy once again whispering words of fear and doubt, all to get me to stop
The enemy had whispered in my ear,
“Are we doing enough?”
And without realizing it, I had started to wonder the same
So I started having thoughts and concerns about the engagement level within the Skool group; but I made a mistake
I didnt go to the Lord about it
I was so focused on the possibility that I wasnt doing enough that I never realized that I hadnt told the Lord anything that was on my heart and mind
I was silent about my thoughts and concerns
I was silent about what was on my heart and mind
I was silent with the Lord, and didnt even realize it
Worst of all, because I didnt realize I was being silent, I continued to BE silent
And the longer I was silent with the Lord, the louder the whispers grew
“Are we doing enough?”
“Are we doing enough?!”
“ARE WE DOING ENOUGH?!”
A little leak, left unchecked
Then, while in the midst of me having all these thoughts and concerns about the Skool group’s engagement level, one of the members actually reached out to me and let me know that they too had the same concern
What couldve been a beautiful moment, the enemy saw and used as an opportunity to whisper more words of fear and doubt in my ear; and those whispers got a little bit louder
When the member reached out, I sent them a message and told them everything that the Lord had been doing. I told them that they were actually part of the reason why I didnt quit when I first started. I told them how the Lord had grown the community. How the Lord stretched His light to shine from 300 to 16k people. I told them how the Lord had increased the engagement within the Skool group, that another one of the members had felt comfortable enough to reach out to me and ask me questions, which wouldnt have happened if the Lord didnt help me to share with others what He had shared with me. I showed them all the great work the Lord had been doing
Then, at the end of my message, I told them that I had some ideas on how to increase the engagement level
Do you hear the irony?
On one hand, I am praising the Lord for all the Lord has done, telling them all that the Lord has done for growth and engagement, but on the other hand, I am worried that its not enough, and I have some ideas on how to increase things. Ideas on how to increase what the Lord has already increased, and is already increasing!
You see, I had thoughts and concerns about the growth and engagement level of the Skool community, and because I was so focused on those thoughts and concerns, I never realized that I wasnt telling the Lord all my thoughts and concerns; and in my silence, the enemy saw opportunity to whisper words of fear and doubt; and because I never realized I was being silent, I continued to be silent. And in my continued silence, those whispers grew louder and louder…until one day, I believed it
I believed that it wasnt enough.
I believed I wasnt doing enough
Because clearly what the Lord was doing was not enough…
Clearly I had to add a little something to it…
Ridiculous
Foolish
And I was a fool
And in my foolishness, I started adding things
I started adding things to the skool community. Things that were nice, but added out of fear, not faith
And the moment I started adding things out of fear, thats when my brain went HAYWIRE
Checkpoint: A broken brain
It was like my brain was broken
For days, ALL of my thoughts were FILLED with confusion.
It felt like every thought was being ripped apart. Pulled in every direction, and it got to the point where I couldnt really tell if the words in my head were deceitful or not.
My brain felt like a new computer that was trying to process old information; a new computer trying to understand and process an old code; and as it tries to process that old code, the computer begins to break
Thats how it was for me
My brain trying to process old information; and it felt like it was breaking
A little leak suddenly became a flood
So, I went to the Lord, told the Lord everything I was going through, how my mind was filled with confusion and conflict, and I asked for help
And He did!
One morning, the Lord and I went over Psalm 109
Two particular verses REALLY stood out
Psalm 109:2-3
“For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.”
THATS WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO ME!!!
For days, the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful were opened against me. For days they kept speaking lies to me, filling my mind with confusion and conflict. For days they compassed all around me; encompassed my mind with words full of hatred, and they fought against me without cause, to the point where my mind felt broken
Now, I didnt realize it at the time, but eventually, the Lord did help me realize that the enemy was attacking me was because I was silent with the Lord about my thoughts and concerns about the engagement level in the Skool community, and that in my silence, the enemy saw opportunity to whisper words of fear and doubt so that I would become overwhelmed, cave in, and act in fear; to lure me away from the Lord, and lead me back to my old land; a land of fear
So, to all of you reading or listening, hear me --
THE ENEMY WILL NOT HESITATE TO ATTACK YOU
THEREFORE, ALWAYS TELL THE LORD THE TRUTH.
ALWAYS!
NO MATTER HOW BIG
NO MATTER HOW SMALL
TELL THE LORD ALL OF IT,
AND WHEN YOU DO, THE LORD WILL GUIDE YOU IN THE TRUTH OF ALL OF IT
John 16:13
“However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come.”
The Lord tells us that He WILL guide us into ALL truth
But theres a catch
Did you hear it?
“He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak…”
The Holy Spirit will NOT speak of Himself, but only speak on things that He has heard
Which means, the Lord needs to hear something from us, and then the Lord will guide us in the truth of it!
But that begs the question, what does the Lord want to hear?
Psalm 51:6
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom”
You see!
The Lord is telling us that He desires to hear the truth of our inward parts
What are our inward parts?
Our hearts and minds!
What are the hidden parts?
The things we dont understand
And if we tell the Lord the truth of our inward parts -- our hearts and minds -- He will make us to know wisdom of those hidden parts -- the things we dont understand
Its ok for us to have thoughts and concerns, but we need to tell the Lord about it; and if we tell the Lord our thoughts and concerns, the Lord will relieve us of it by showing us the truth of it; making us to know wisdom of the thing we once did not understand!
Its like when we were children and we thought we saw a monster in our closet. We called our parents and our parents came. Then, they turned on the light, and we saw that what we thought was a monster was really just a jacket
Now, we could’ve SWORN it was a monster, but, it wasnt until our parents turned on the light that we saw the truth; and we would’ve never seen the truth if our parents would’ve never turned on the light; but our parents would’ve never turned on the light, if they never would’ve come; but our parents never would’ve come, if we never called on them.
But because we called on them, they came, turned on the light, and showed us the truth
IT IS THE SAME WITH THE LORD
Remember, the Lord is 3 in 1
There is the Father
The Son
And the Holy Spirit
The Lord God, OUR FATHER
Our Father IS our Parent!
And just like we called on our parents, we have to call on the Lord
And just like our parents came, the Lord will come
And just like our parents turned on the lights, the Lord will shine HIS LIGHT
And just like our parents showed us the truth of what it really was, the Lord will show us the truth of all thats in our hearts and minds,
And just like our parents calmed and soothed us, the Lord will calm and soothe us by making us to know wisdom; making us to know the truth of what things really are
2nd Timothy 1:7
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
If we tell the Lord the truth of all thats going on within us, the Lord will reveal the truth of all our fears, relieve us of them, and give us a spirit of power, love, and sound mind
It was ok for me to have thoughts and concerns about the level of engagement, but it wasnt ok for me to be silent about them
And because I never told the Lord what was going on within me, I never told the Holy Spirit the truth of what was going on with me. And because I didnt tell the Holy Spirit the truth of what was going on within me, the Holy Spirit did not guide me the truth of it. Not because the Lord didnt already know about it, or because He doesnt love me. No. The Lord knows ALL THINGS, and DID know what was going on within me, and DOES love me. The Lord was simply waiting on me to call for Him. The Lord wanted to be there for me. The Lord was waiting for me to want to be with Him!
If I wouldve gone to the Lord, told the Lord the truth of my inward parts -- my thoughts and concerns -- the Lord would’ve shown me the truth of it all, making me to know wisdom of the hidden parts!
The Lord WILL do this for us
We just gotta tell the Lord the truth of whats going on within us
The Lord IS faithful to His word, and I know this because the Lord did EXACTLY what He said He would
After I told the Lord the truth of my inward parts; after I told the Lord the truth that my brain felt like it was broken; the Lord guided me in the truth of what was really going on, and made me to know wisdom of it all
The Lord is good
So, there it was, my first event -- the Skool community
You would think that from my first event, I would be shown my first specific fear
No
Now, I told the Lord the truth of my inward parts, but did you catch it?
Did you catch which “inward part” I shared with the Lord?
I said, “After I told the Lord the truth of my inward parts; after I told the Lord the truth that my brain felt like it was broken…”
Do you see?
I still had yet to tell the Lord the truth about my thoughts and concerns about engagement level within the Skool community
I still hadnt told the Lord the truth about my thoughts and concerns because I still didnt realize I had those thoughts and concerns
I had those thoughts and concerns from the start of this event, but throughout this entire event, I never realized it. And because I never realized it, I never spoke to the Lord about it. And because I never spoke to the Lord about it, the enemy saw and took the opportunity to attack me by whispering louder and louder the words of fear and doubt, until one day, I became overwhelmed by those words, my brain felt broken; and thats what I went to the Lord about -- my brain feeling broken -- but not about -- my thoughts and concerns, because I still had yet to realize I had them
But the Lord did something really special
The Lord knew that I was going to make a mistake: being silent with the Lord about my thoughts and concerns
And the Lord knew that I was going to have a hard time realizing my mistake
The Lord also knew what the enemy was going to do because of mistake
The Lord knew that the enemy would use that opportunity to fill my mind with their whispers of fear and doubts, until I became overwhelmed.
The Lord also knew that when I became overwhelmed, I would go to Him and ask Him for help; He knew that I would ask for His help about my brain feeling broken
And because I went to the Lord and told Him the truth of my inward part; my brain feeling broken; the Lord was going to guide me in the truth of it, and make me to know wisdom
But the Lord still needed me to realize, and I too needed to realize, the truth of another inward part -- my thoughts and concerns
I needed to realize that I had those thoughts and concerns so that then I could tell the Lord about them; and when done, the Lord would reveal unto me what my specific fear was, show me the truth of it, relieve me of it, and give me something new; a new fruit, a new act, a new act in faith
So I went to the Lord about my brain feeling broken. The Lord not only answered my prayer, but also was going to bring me though several other events over the next few weeks, help me to see the specific fear I had in those events, show me the truth of them, relieve me of them, and give me something new; and somehow, the Lord was going to make it so that all those other events that the Lord and I would go through would make me think of the first one -- the Skool community -- and then I would realize that I had a specific fear then too.
The Lord was going to bring me through all the other events, show me the truth of those specific fears, all to help me to understand the truth of the first one
The Lord was going to bring me to the end, so I would realize the beginning
And once I would go to the Lord about “my beginning”, the Lord was going to reveal the truth of that specific fear, relieve me of it, and give me something new, just like He did with all the others
Its interesting. Listen to what the Lord says
Matthew 20:16
“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
The first would indeed become the last
My first specific fear would be the last I would learn
Genesis 50:20
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save many people alive”
What the enemy thought for evil, the Lord meant for good
So, what was next?
I’ll tell you
So, there I was, in the midst of all this confusion and conflict.
My thoughts being pulled apart. My brain breaking
And while in the midst of all this, to add insult to injury, I was tempted
Second Segment: Second Event: And there it was, the next event the Lord was going to bring me through -- my “temptation” -- Fear of Success
Every old thought, every old whisper, every old thing just kept trying to pull me back to that old place, my old garden
Throughout my temptation, I kept going to the Lord, but I’m not going to lie, I was stumbling
But in my stumble, I kept going to the Lord.
I didnt want to leave Him, nor His garden. I wanted to stay with Him. I wanted to stay in His garden
So I kept going to the Lord, and I kept asking for His help
And just like the Lord promises, He did indeed help me, but not in the way I thought
I thought that I was being tempted, but the Lord helped me realize that actually, I wasnt being tempted, at all; and that the enemy wasnt tempting me, at all
The Lord helped me realize that it wasnt temptation I was dealing with
No
It was fear
More specifically, the fear of success
The Lord helped me realize that, in my heart, I had fear that I wouldnt be able to handle the new life the Lord gave me, nor be able to remember all that He taught me
Then, it hit me
The Lord helped me realize that I’ve had my fear of success nearly all my life
All those things I quit when I was younger; math, science, piano, basketball, I quit because I was afraid I wouldnt be able to handle it, or maintain it
And just like I was sabotaging myself back then, I was doing the same now
I wasnt being tempted. I was sabotaging myself. I was sabotaging my new life; and I was sabotaging my new life because I was fearful I would not be successful in maintaining it. I would not be successful in maintaining my new life
But just as the Lord helped me to realize the truth of my “seed of fear”, relieved me of it, and gave me something new, He did the same thing with my fear of success!
He showed me the truth of my fear of success, relieved me of it, and gave me something new; a new fruit, a new act, an act in faith
The Lord helped me realize that I had my fear of success because I was relying on myself
And there it was. One of my old fruits. An old action. An act that came from my fear. The act of relying on myself
No wonder I was fearful I wouldnt be able to handle things, because -- ITS TRUE
Why?
Because, I AM FALLIBLE!
I CAN MAKE MISTAKES!!
BUT!!!
GOD IS INFALLIBLE
GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES!
And thats when the Lord helped me realize --
I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO RELY ON MYSELF
New fruit: I WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO RELY ON HIM!
Listen to what the Lord says here
Psalm 18:2
“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer
I am not
The LORD is my strength, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation
I am not
The LORD is my high tower
The LORD is my God
I AM NOT
And because the LORD is my God, my strength, it is in HIM whom I am to put my trust
NOT MYSELF
I was never to put my trust in myself…
I WAS ALWAYS TO PUT MY TRUST HIM
I WAS ALWAYS TO PUT MY TRUST IN THE LORD; THE LORD WHO IS MY GOD, MY STRENGTH, IN WHOM I WILL TRUST!
I am NOT the Lord, and surely am NOT God
The LORD is the Lord
The LORD is God
The Lord helped me realize my specific fear; my fear of success; showed me the truth of it, then relieved me of it, then gave me something new; a new fruit, a new act, a new act in faith
The act of relying on Him!
Thank You Lord!!!
But it didnt end there
Even though the Lord had relieved me of my fear of success, I was still struggling with something
I wasnt sure what it was, but for the next couple of days, I just felt off
So I went to the Lord about it, and the Lord helped me realize there indeed was something more to my “fear of success”
The Lord helped me realize the root of my fear of success
My fear of success was rooted in my fear of the unknown!
Third Segment: Fear of the unknown
You see, even though I loved math, science, piano, and basketball, I still didnt KNOW how any of those things would pan out
The Lord helped me realize that because I didnt KNOW how things would pan out, I had become fearful of “not knowing”; a fear I had nearly all my life; the fear of the unknown
And in my fear of the unknown, I sought to resolve my fear
My solution? Seeking to “know”
And that, my friends, was yet another old fruit, another old act; the act of seeking to “know”
No wonder I had the fear of the unknown -- ITS TRUE! I DONT KNOW!
I DONT know the future
I DONT know how things will pan out
And I DONT KNOW these things because I am not ALL KNOWING!
But God is!
God is all-knowing, and He knows the plans He has for us! Plans of peace, and NOT of evil!!!
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
And because the Lord knows all things, that is why He tells us to --
Proverbs 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO TRUST AND LEAN ON MY OWN UNDERSTANDING
I WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO TRUST AND LEAN ON HIS!
But because I sought to “know”, I would lean on my own understanding
But because I didnt “know”, the truth is, I was leaning on NOTHING
And because I was leaning on nothing, I fell, just as the Lord says
Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
And when I would fall, I would become discouraged
And when I would become discouraged, I sought to “keep moving forward”; to resolve the problem
But the way I was going to resolve the problem was by leaning on my own understanding again
And there was my cycle.
Seek to “know”, lean on my own understanding, fall, become discouraged, encourage myself to “keep moving forward”, and do so by leaning on my own understanding again
Its like digging a ditch, falling into it, climbing out, turning around and walking right back into it
Its like eating a rotten fruit and deciding to eat more of it
Fear was the seed; a seed that I planted and watered
And because I watered that seed, from the seed came roots; my fear of the unknown
The fear of the unknown
Such a foolish thing to fear.
And I was a fool to fear it.
Even though I may not “know”, the LORD KNOWS!
And if anything, I do know one thing -- I KNOW that the Lord will always lead to a good place, because, He always has!
The Lord is good
He has, and always will do good.
And, ironically, I “know” this because the Lord did indeed do a good thing
The Lord showed me the truth of my inward parts, my fear of the unknown; and the Lord made me to know wisdom of the hidden parts by making me to realize that although I may not “know”, the Lord knows!
The Lord knows all!
Thank You Lord!
I planted and watered an old seed
And because I continued to water that seed, from that seed came roots
And because I continued to water that seed, from those roots came a base
And now, it was time for me to learn another specific fear
It was time for me to learn the “stem” of the tree; My fear of “heights”
Fourth Segment: Fear of heights
My fear of heights was simple really
The “height” I feared was the height of my success. The “height” of growth
You see, just as a tree stem grows higher and higher, I grew higher and higher in math, science, piano, and basketball
But, just like a tree stem sits atop a base, math, science, piano and basketball sat atop my fear of success
And because these things sat atop my fear of success, the more I grew in math, science, piano, and basketball, the more fearful I became -- fearful of the height of my success; fearful of my growth; fearful that I wouldnt be able to sustain nor maintain it
Its like getting a job you always wanted, excelling at the level you’re at, and then beginning to grow within the company; climbing the ladder, having greater responsibilities, but with each new responsibility, you become more fearful you wont be able to handle it
That was me
I loved math, science, piano, and basketball, so much so that I kept learning; I kept growing. But with each new level came a new level of responsibility. A level I was fearful I wouldnt be able to maintain
Its like climbing a mountain, realizing how high you are, and then becoming fearful of how far you’d fall if you were to slip
And everyone knows, what you focus on is what you do
Do me a favor.
Dont think of an elephant
You thought of one didnt you
Expectantly so!
Isnt it interesting?
Even though you werent supposed to think of an elephant, you thought of one
How?
Because the only way one KNOWS they are not thinking of an elephant is if they are aware they are not thinking of an elephant
And if one is aware of it, they are thinking about it
And if one is thinking about it, they are focused on it
When I told you, “Dont think of an elephant”, the only way you were going to do that is if you first thought of one
In order for you NOT to think of an elephant, you had to think of an elephant
Ironic isnt it?
Well, the same went for me
I climbed my mountain, and then one day, I noticed how “high” I was, and feared how far I’d fall if I were to slip.
So I told myself, “Dont slip”
And what did I focus on?
Slipping
And in my desperate attempt to “not slip”, I sought to “hold on”
And that, my friends, was yet another old fruit, another old act; the act of “holding myself”
No wonder I had the fear of heights
Why?
Once again, I AM FALLIBLE!
Of course theres a chance, and a very high one, that I will slip and fall
Not only because I am fallible, but also because THE ENEMY IS GOING TO ACTIVELY TRY TO PULL ME DOWN!!!!
If you can imagine the mountain climber, imagine that they are climbing this mountain with no safety gear. Dangerous right? With that said, we already see the danger of them slipping. Now, I want you to imagine that as they are climbing, someone below them is actively trying to grab their ankle and pull them down.
Exactly
A VERY high chance they will slip and fall
We are the mountain climbers; and in life, there is no safety gear, which means, there is already danger of us slipping. And we all know this. We all have slipped. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; and the Lord tells us this
Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
But, our lives are not only dangerous because we arent born with safety gear, but also because there is someone who is ACTIVELY TRYING TO PULL US DOWN!
And the Lord warns us of this!
1 Peter 5:8
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
The Lord is telling us, BE VIGILANT, BECAUSE OUR ENEMY IS ACTIVELY SEEKING WHOM THEY CAN ATTACK!
But you may say, “Wait a minute. If God knows that we are born “without safety gear”, and knows that our enemy is actively seeking to attack us, to give opportunity and cause us to fall, then why would the Lord allow us to live in this way? Why would the Lord allow us to live without safety?”
Listen to what the Lord says here
Isaiah 41:10
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Did you hear it?
I will upHOLD thee with the right hand of my righteousness
You see, we were NEVER supposed to “hold ourselves”
THE LORD WILL UPHOLD US!
I DIDNT NEED TO, NOR WAS SUPPOSED TO HOLD MYSELF BECAUSE THE LORD WAS GOING TO HOLD ME!
Not only was the Lord going to hold me, but also was going to hold me in HIS hand!
THAT MEANS THAT THE LORD’S HAND WAS TO BE MY “BASE”, AND UPON IT, HE WOULD LIFT ME;
AND BECAUSE THE LORD WAS GOING TO LIFT ME IN HIS HANDS, I HAD NOTHING TO FEAR;
AND I HAD NOTHING TO FEAR BECAUSE, IN THE LORD’S HANDS, I WILL NOT FALL.
AND IN THE LORD’S HANDS, THE LORD LIFTS ME UP
THE LORD LIFTS ME, UPHOLDS ME, IN HIS RIGHTEOUS HAND!
And there you have it
Fear was the seed
My fear of the unknown -- the roots
My fear of success -- the base
My fear of heights -- the stem
But it doesnt end there
I still needed to learn about one last specific fear -- the first
If you recall, the first event the Lord brought me through the Skool community, and that I had thoughts and concerns about the engagement level within the community, and that even though I had those thoughts and concerns, I never acknowledged them, and because I myself never acknowledged them, I never acknowledged the Lord in them, and as a result, I was silent with the Lord; and because I was silent with the Lord, the enemy saw and took opportunity to fill that silence with words of fears and doubt, until one day, I became overwhelmed by them; and when I became overwhelmed, I went to the Lord, and told the Lord what I was going through, my brain feeling broken; and because I went to the Lord about my brain feeling broken, the Lord helped me; but because I still had yet to realize I had thoughts and concerns about the engagement level in the Skool community, I still had yet to go to the Lord about them
But the Lord knew my heart
The Lord knew I had made a mistake: the mistake of being silent with Him
The Lord knew I had made a mistake, and knew I was having a hard time seeing it
And He knew that because I didnt see it, I wasnt going to go to Him about it, which means, I was never going to learn the specific fear I had with it
But the Lord also knew I was going to go to Him about my brain feeling broken
So the Lord was going to do something really special.
He was going to bring me through several other events to show me other specific fears I had, show me the truth of them, relieve me of them, and give me something new; and at the end of it all, somehow, the Lord was going to remind me of the first event, the Skool community, and as a result, I would remember my thoughts and concerns the engagement level in the Skool community; and once I realized I had thoughts and concerns, I would go to the Lord and tell Him about them; and after I would go to the Lord about them, the Lord would help me to realize the truth of those thoughts and concerns; help me to realize the specific fear I had, relieve me of it, and give me something new; a new fruit, a new act, a new act in faith
And thats exactly what He did!
The Lord brought me through all those other events, and afterward, He placed it on my heart to share everything He had brought me through; everything He had done; ie, what I am doing now, haha
And as the Lord was helping me to do this, He helped me to compile and establish my thoughts; and as He established my thoughts, He reminded me of all the events He brought me though, but in one very specific and purposeful order -- by order of most recent
The Lord helped me to think about the most recent event, and then helped me to realize how the most recent event connected to the previous one, and then, how that event connected to the event before that one
And so on and so on until, one day, right when I thought I was finished, right when I thought I was at the last event, the Lord helped me to realize, there was more; another event, one that preceded them all
And then, it hit me
I remembered the Skool community. I remembered my thoughts and concerns
And because of what the Lord did, I was able to tell the Lord all my thoughts and concerns about the engagement level in the Skool community
I was able to tell the Lord, “I am concerned about the lack of engagement”
And it was at that exact moment that the Lord helped me to realize what my specific fear was -- the fear of lack
Fifth Segment: The fear of lack
The Lord helped me realize that I had thoughts and concerns about the level of engagement in the Skool community because I was fearful that the engagement level was lacking; and I was fearful that the level of engagement was lacking because, in my heart, I had the fear of lack
It was never about the engagement
It was fear
The fear of lack
And in my fear of lack, I sought to sustain myself
And that, my friends, was yet another old fruit, another old act; the act of sustaining myself
No wonder I had the fear of lack -- once again, ITS TRUE!
Listen to what the Lord says here --
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Most of us know the creation story; but just in case for those who dont, you are going to want to hear this story. It will make it clear why any of us would have the fear of lack
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and made everything perfect, without flaw or blemish, including man --
Genesis 1:26-27
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Then, God made us to have dominion over His creation -- the earth
Genesis 1:28
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
The Lord created the earth for us, and then allowed us to have FULL dominion over it; to oversee and govern every aspect of it
The earth was the Lord’s gift to us; a gift that we could do with as we saw fit
And because Adam and Eve were made in God’s image, they would’ve overseen and governed the earth the way the Lord would’ve seen fit
Because Adam and Eve were made perfect, they would’ve overseen and governed the earth perfectly
Now, before God created Eve, He created Adam in a very specific way
Genesis 2:7
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground…”
First, God formed Adam from the dust of the ground
And thats why, for all you science enthusiasts, is why our physical body is made up of the same material as the earth. Its because, our physical body was made from it. Our physical body was made from the earth
But, theres a very key element here
God said that He formed Adam
He didnt say that He gave life to Adam, which means, Adam’s physical body was simply a formation alone. It was merely a vessel; an empty vessel
The Lord had formed “Adam’s vessel”, but had yet to “create Adam himself”
Genesis 2:7
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
God BREATHED into Adam’s vessel the breath of life, and then, man became a living soul
Adam’s vessel is not Adam; his soul is
Adam’s soul is who Adam is
Our soul is who we are
Our physical body is simply a vessel, a formation; but who we are lives within our vessel
Who we are is our soul; and our soul comes from the Lord; and that is why we will always feel connected to the Lord; its because our soul comes from Him; who we are, comes from Him
We are not physical beings feeling spirituality
We are spiritual beings living in a physical plane
This is really important
Because Adam was a soul, and not a physical body, Adam was not seeing the world through his physical eyes. Adam saw the world through his soul, with his spiritual eyes. Adam saw spirit. The way he saw the world was much different than the way we see it with our own eyes
This is really important for later
Remember, Adam is a soul
As I tell this story, visualize Adam as a soul. When you hear “Adam”, I want you to see a soul
After God created Adam, He gave Adam one commandment
Genesis 2:15-17
“And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
God told Adam that if he were to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die
Now this part is important
This is important because, remember, Adam doesnt know what “death” is.
The Lord created everything perfectly, which means, nothing has ever died
So Adam has never seen, nor experienced death
So, Adam doesnt know what death is, but does know what death isnt. Its not this; life
Although Adam doesnt know what death is, Adam knows that death is different
Thats really important for later!
Now, after God gave Adam that commandment, God saw fit to create a help mate for Adam
Genesis 2:18
“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
So God did
Genesis 2:21-23
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”
So, there we have it. God created everything to be perfect, then created us in His perfect image, and gave us the gift of the earth; to govern over it as we saw fit; to do with it as we pleased
But then something happen
One day, Adam disobeyed God
He ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil
How?
Well, remember when I said that our enemy will not hesitate to attack us? Well he’s been doing that since the beginning
The enemy was clever
The enemy didnt attack Adam directly. The enemy attacked Eve to get to Adam
The enemy first attacked Eve and convinced her to convince herself to eat the fruit; and then she gave the fruit to Adam, for him to eat too
Genesis 3:1-6
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Now, Eve knew she wasnt supposed to eat the fruit from that tree because she would surely die
Then, the enemy did something clever
The enemy said, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”
Did you hear the trick?
Did you hear the clever lie?
The enemy said, “surely”
When our minds hear the word “surely”, we think "certainly"
So when the enemy said, “You wont surely die”, Eve heard, “You wont certainly die”
Sounds appropriate right?
But thats not what the enemy meant
When the enemy said “surely” he meant, “right away”
So when the enemy said, “You wont surely die”, he meant, “You wont die right away”
Paints a different picture doesnt it?
Thats why the Lord tells us that our enemy is clever.
And the cleverness didnt end there
Remember when the enemy said, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”
The enemy wasnt lying, in the sense that the information isnt true
But he was lying based on the intent of his heart
What he said sounded like he was on our side, like he was trying to help us; when in fact, he was deceiving us to go away from the Lord God who created us, loved us, gave life to us, and gave this loving gift of the earth to us.
The enemy HATES God, but cant attack God. The enemy tried, and lost; lost BAD
And the enemy knows that he will ALWAYS lose
So the enemy doesnt go after God. The enemy goes after what the Lord loves; us. The enemy doenst attack the Lord. The enemy attacks the Lord’s heart
And thats what he was doing with Adam and Eve; attacked them to get them away from God
And the only way to get us away from God is by sin
Thats what the enemy needed us to do; sin
And the only way to get Adam and Eve to sin was by convincing them to break the Lord’s commandment; His one commandment -- Do NOT eat the fruit of that tree
And the only way the enemy could convince us to sin is by making sin look appealing
Sin opposes God
Sin is the opposite of God
God is life, which means sin is death
None of us would actively choose death, and the enemy knows that
So the enemy has to be clever by making sin; death; look and sound appealing; so that once you eat that fruit, once you sin, you will then be separated from God; and the enemy’s goal has been achieved
The enemy doesnt care about us; just cares about hurting God by attacking His heart -- us
And Eve, just like the rest of us, fell
Then, she brought the fruit to Adam, and he too ate
Now, you might ask, “Why would Adam eat the fruit? I get why Eve ate the fruit. The snake convinced her. But the snake never talked to Adam. Why would Adam eat the fruit?”
God told Adam and Eve that if they ever ate that fruit, they would surely die
But remember, Adam doesnt know what death is
The only thing Adam would’ve known about death is that its different
So when Eve came and showed Adam that she ate the fruit, Adam saw that nothing had happened. Nothing was different
So from Adam’s perspective, Adam may have started to think, “Did God lie to me?”
He may have started to question if God is really who He says He is. Questioning if God really does love Him. Questioning if God was being deceitful
And thats how the enemy was clever
The enemy, who is the deceiver, convinced Adam that God was the deceiver
And in deceit, Adam chose to eat the fruit
But the cleverness doesnt end there
The enemy said that the day that they eat the fruit, their eyes shall be opened
That was true. They ate the fruit, and their eyes were indeed opened
Genesis 3:7
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
You see the trick?
The enemy wasnt lying, in the sense that the information isnt true
But he was lying based on the intent of his heart
When we hear, “our eyes shall be opened”, we think we are going to see this BEAUTIFUL revelation
The enemy knew that Adam and Eve were spiritual beings that had a physical body
The enemy also knew that Adam and Eve were living as a soul, which means Adam and Eve did not see the world with their physical eyes; they saw the world through their spiritual eyes
Which means, when they sin, they would be separated from God
And if they were separated from God, they would be separated from everything that is of God; including our soul
And because they are separated from God, we are separated from our spiritual life
And because they are separated from their spiritual life, they are separated from their spiritual eyes
And because they are separated from their spiritual eyes, they will no longer see with their spiritual eyes
And because they will no longer see with their spiritual eyes, they would now see with their physical ones
Their eyes would be opened, and they would see…yes
But because their spiritual eyes would close, and they would now see only with their physical eyes
The enemy knew EXACTLY what he was doing
So now, Adam and Eve’s physical eyes are opened, and they see the world as we do -- physically
And when their physical eyes opened, they saw their physical bodies, and saw that they were naked; expectantly so because when you are living as a soul and seeing spiritual, there is no need to clothe your physical body
But the cleverness doesnt end there
Remember when the enemy said that we would be as gods knowing both good and evil?
Again, the information is true, but the intent is a lie
It is true. We all know the difference between good and evil, just as God does
Heres the difference
WE’RE NOT GOD
God is the light
We arent
So God can know about darkness, and darkness will never be able touch Him, just as darkness cannot touch light
But we are not the light; therefore, if darkness touches us, we will be consumed by it
Think of your room
When you turn the light on, you are standing in the light
Though you yourself arent the light, you are in the light, and because you are in the light, you yourself are lit up. You yourself still are not the light, but the light shines on you, and you can see yourself
But when you turn off the light, you are now standing in darkness
But, because you stand in darkness, you cannot see yourself, which means there is no difference between you and the dark. You are the dark
When you stand in the light, you are not the light, but are lit up
But when you stand in the dark, become the dark
It is the same with the Lord
When we stand with the Lord, we stand in His light; and when we stand in His light, we are lit up; and because we are lit up, we can see ourselves; we can see who we truly are
But when we dont stand with God, we dont stand in His light; we stand in darkness. And because we stand in darkness, we cant see ourselves; and because we cant see ourselves, there is no difference between us and the dark; and because there is no difference between us and the dark, we become the dark; we are the dark
This is what the enemy knew
How?
Because the enemy himself stepped away from the light
When the enemy stepped away from the light, he realized that even though we were beings that were created from the light, we could walk away from it; and when he walked away from it, he realized that when you walk away from God, you walk away from His light; and when you walk away from His light, you walk into darkness; and when you walk into darkness, you become the dark
The enemy knew this would happen to us because it happened to him
And because the enemy hates God, he attacked us by deceiving us, by telling us true information but with deceit in his heart
And thats what he did with Adam and Eve
The enemy was clever, and in his cleverness, he convinced Adam to fall
But the enemy’s cleverness doesnt even end there
You might ask, “Why did the snake go after Eve first? Why not go after Adam?”
Well, remember, Adam was made first, which means, Adam had spent a certain amount of time with God before Eve hopped on the scene
That means that Adam’s first relationship was with God
The only relationship Adam had was with God
Adam didnt have anyone else, but God
Could you imagine what their relationship was like?
Could you imagine being created, and theres only one other being that you can speak to, learn from, and grow with
How strong would that relationship be?
How much trust would there be?
Now imagine that that only other being is God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth
You can to be one on one with the Creator Himself; the one who created all; the one who created you
You can ask any question, and He is right there answering your questions, helping you to learn everything you need to learn about everything
How GREAT would that relationship be?
Exactly
Thats exactly why the enemy didnt go after Adam first
Adam’s relationship with the Lord was too strong
The enemy needed something outside of their relationship to cause contention and confusion within their relationship
And there was only one other being outside of their relationship -- Eve
God created Eve for Adam; another beautiful gift
God said that it wasnt good for Adam to be alone
Did God mean that Adam was without God?
No
But, Adam was the only one of his kind
Even though Adam was with God, Adam isnt God
Adam was created in God’s likeness
Adam is a soul
God is not
And if theres any being in the universe that understands what its like to be the only one of his kind, its God
God is God, there is none like Him
And because God is God, I can figure that that could be a bit lonely
So He creates us in His image; He creates Adam
But, Adam is still alone in the sense that he is the only one of his kind -- a soul
So God, knowing what its like to be the only one of a kind, doesnt want Adam to be alone
God was going to create something OF Adam, and breath into it a living soul
And now, neither Adam nor Eve would be alone. They were souls together
One may say, soul mates
But, the enemy hates God, and seeks to corrupt and destroy everything that He loves -- us
So when God created Eve, and created a beautiful relationship between Adam and Eve, the enemy wanted to attack, corrupt and destroy it
The enemy needed Adam to fall so that the rest of humanity would fall with him, but Adam’s relationship with God is too strong; so the enemy needed something outside of Adam’s relationship with God to cause contention and confusion within their relationship
Its like in any relationship really
Most of the time, its not the things within our relationship that kill the relationship, its the stuff outside the relationship that slowly causes contention and confusion within ourselves; and then we bring that contention and confusion within our relationship, and then, it dies
Thats why the enemy attacked Eve first; she was the only thing outside of Adam and God’s relationship; and the enemy was going to trick her first, then use her to bring confusion to Adam; and once Adam started questioning his relationship with God, it was downhill from there
Adam fell; separated from God
And because Adam fell, all men fell; separated from God
Romans 5:12
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
Worst of all, unlike Adam, we’d all be born separated from God
We’re separated from God from the start…
Born in the dark…
Geez
You are probably wondering, how does all this tie in with the “fear of lack”, haha
Because Adam sinned, death entered the world
And because death entered the world, death would touched all that was within it, including the ground
Genesis 3:17
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”
Because Adam sinned, the ground became cursed, cursed with death, and nothing would be as it was before -- perfect
Which is why Adam ate in sorrow
Adam knew what the food was like before death consumed it; knew was a perfect food was like; knew what a perfect apple tasted like
But now, it will never be the same
He will never taste a perfect apple again
In sorrow, Adam would eat this corrupted fruit all the days of his life
All the days of his life, he will lack perfection
And we too shall eat in sorrow, because we too shall lack
Everyone knows that food has an expiration date
Food expires
Resources become scare
Which means, there will be times when we are in a state of lack
Which is why the Lord also says --
Genesis 3:19
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Because things will die, eventually, we will be in a state of lack
And that is why the Lord tells us that by working we shall eat
And everyone knows this
We all work in order to put food to the table. Whether you are a farmer, a lawyer, or a Walmart greeter, we all are working to put food on our table
And although we will eat that food, eventually, we will once again become hungry
But because we ate that food, we once again are lacking
And because we are lacking, we once again must work to put food on the table
In sorrow, we have to keep repeating this process over and over and over again
I had the fear of lack because, its true -- I will lack
And just like the enemy was clever with Adam and Eve by telling them true information, he did the same with me. The enemy whispered words of fear; fearing lack; and it is true that I indeed will lack
But just like the enemy was being deceitful with Adam and Eve, he was being deceitful with me
Listen to what the Lord says here --
Matthew 4:4
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
God also says --
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
So, man shall not live by bread alone, but by the word of God
God IS the word!
Therefore, we shall not live by bread alone, but by GOD!
God! Who knows we lack, KNOWS our needs, and KNOWS OUR NEEDS BEFORE WE EVEN ASK HIM
Matthew 6:8
“Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him”
God! Who knows our needs AND SUPPLIES THEM!
Matthew 6:31-33
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Therefore, there was no need for me to fear lacking because God supplies all my needs!
I never had to fear lack because with God, I WILL NEVER LACK!!!!!
Psalm 55:22
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SUSTAIN MYSELF
GOD WAS GOING TO SUSTAIN ME!!!
Man, the Lord is good
O, but it doesnt end there
Remember when I said, “I planted AND WATERED a seed”?
You know the seed, the roots, the base, the stem, the branches, and the fruits; but what about the water?
What was the water?
Sixth Segment: The Water
Do you remember the story of the child seeing a “monster” in the closet?
Remember how the child was afraid?
But in their moment of fear, they too had a choice
They could either call to their parents, or be silent about it
They could either call to their parents, in the hopes that they will come, or be silent about it
They could either call to their parents in faith, or be silent in fear
Now, we already know what happens if the child calls their parent. The parent will hear their child calling to them, and they will come to their aid. They will come to them, and the child will tell the parent what they are afraid of; they will tell their parent about the monster in their closet. Then, the parent, after hearing their child tell them about their fears, the parent will turn on the light and show the child the truth of what the “monster” really is. And after the parent shows them the truth, they will calm and soothe their child. They will empower their child, and give them love and a sound mind. The child will no longer have a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind
But what if the child didnt call their parent?
What if the child was silent about their fear?
Well, I think we all know what happens, because maybe, we were once that child
We saw the “monster” in our closet, and were afraid. And in our fear, we didnt call on our parents. We were silent. And in our silence, all we kept thinking about was the “monster” in our closet. And as we kept thinking about it, our fear grew more and more. And though some of us may have hid under our blankets, while other might have stared and been frozen in fear, we all were silent about our fear. And whether we knew we were silent or not, in our silence, our fear grew. And the longer we were silent, the more our fear grew
Do you see?
Do you see how silence was the water watering your seed of fear?
That was me
I was that child
The Lord helped me to realize that I was the child who was afraid, and was silent about it. And in my silence, I tried to resolve my fear, but it was all in vain because all I did was increase my fear more and more.
All I did was give more water to my seed of fear
I planted and watered a seed
I planted a seed of fear, and watered it with my act of being silent with the Lord
But it doesnt end there!
If my act of being silent with the Lord was the water, my fear of lack was certainly the container that held it
And from me pouring water on that seed, from the seed came roots
And from me continuing to water that seed, from the roots came a base
And from me continuing to water that seed, from the base came a stem
And from me continuing to water that seed, from the stem came branches
And from me continuing to water that seed, from the branches came fruits; rotten fruits; fruits that I ate; fruits that had no nutritional value
And because those fruits had no nutritional value, they did not sustain me
And because they did not sustain me, I was in a state of lack; lacking sustenance
And in my state of “lack”, I decided to water that seed even more
And from continuing to water that seed, more fruits came; rotten fruits; fruits that I ate
And from me continuing to eat those rotten fruits, I continued to lack
And as I continued to lack, I continued to water
And as I continued to water, I continued to produce rotten fruit; fruit that I ate; only to be in the same position I was in before -- a state of lack
And as I continued to lack, I continued to water
And around and around I went
Fear was the seed
My act of silence was the water
My fear of lack was the water container
When I became afraid, I decided to be silent with the Lord
And from me being silent with the Lord, from my fear came my fear of the unknown
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, from my fear of the unknown came my fear of success
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, from my fear of success came my fear of heights
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, from my fear of heights came “branches of fear” that “branched out” into every area of my life
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, everything I “branched” into was from an act of fear
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, I continued to act in fear
And as I continued to act in fear, I continued to lack; lacking fulfilment
And as I continued to lack fulfilment, I continued to be silent with the Lord
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, I continued to fear
And as I continued to fear, I continued to act in fear
And as I continued to act in fear, I continued to lack fulfillment
And as I continued to lack fulfillment, I continued to be silent with the Lord
And as I continued to be silent with the Lord, I continued to fear
And as I continued to act in fear, I continued to lack
And around and around I went
Proverbs 26:11
“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”
From my old seed came an old tree
And from my old tree came rotten fruits
My rotten fruits were the actions I did out of fear
From my fear of the unknown -- I sought to know
From my fear of success -- I relied on myself
From my fear of heights -- I tried to “uphold” myself
From my fear of lack -- I sought to sustain myself
And you want to know something really ironic?
If I wouldve gone to the Lord, the Lord would’ve helped me to “know”, which means there was never a need to fear “not knowing” because the Lord helps us to “know” in due time
If I wouldve gone to the Lord, the Lord wouldve helped me to rely on Him, and by doing so, all the things we wouldve done would’ve been successful, which means there was no need for me to “fear success” because the Lord makes everything to prosper
If I wouldve gone to the Lord, the Lord would’ve held me in His hands and lifted me up; and because I was in His hands, there is no need to “fear falling” or “fear heights” because I am not in my own hands, I am in the Lord’s; and I cannot fall while in the Lord’s hands, no matter how high the Lord brings me. In the Lord’s hands, I am safe. I am safe with the Lord
There was literally NO NEED to fear anything
And there was need to fear anything because the Lord is the Lord
And why would I have fear when the Lord is the Lord? The Creator of Heaven and Earth. What is greater than the Lord our God?
Nothing
So what is there to fear?
Nothing
What do we have to fear when the Lord is GOD!
NOTHING because the Lord is GOD!
THE LORD IS GOD!
But, in spite of who the Lord is and all the Lord had done, I still had fear
And each time I acted out of fear, all I did was increase my fear
From my fear of the unknown -- I sought to know and lent on my own understanding -- but the truth is, I DONT know; and I dont know because I am not all knowing -- and in my quest to “know” and lean on my own understanding, I lost everything and became more fearful
From my fear of success -- I relied on myself -- but the truth is, I cant rely on myself because I am not infallible -- and in my quest to rely on myself, I fell and became more fearful
From my fear of heights -- I “upheld” myself -- but the truth is, I cannot uphold myself because I am not all powerful -- and in my quest to “hold myself”, I slipped and become more fearful
From my fear of lack -- I sought to sustain myself -- but the truth is, I cannot sustain myself because I AM NOT GOD! -- and in my quest to “be God”, I saw that I AM NOT
In my fear, I sought to BE
But the truth is, I AM NOT
But GOD IS
GOD IS I AM
GOD IS THE GREAT I AM
God is all knowing
God is all powerful
God is infallible
And God is Sovereign -- the ultimate ruler over all -- including, fear itself
And that is why, when we are with the Lord, there is no fear because He rules OVER it
The Lord is ABOVE it
The Lord is ABOVE FEAR
Not only is the Lord ABOVE FEAR, but also OVERCAME IT
And the Lord overcame it so that we too would overcome it, IN HIM!
John 16:33
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Do you see?
The Lord overcame the world; our world; our world of fear!
And because the Lord has overcome the world, we can overcome the world; IN HIM
Because the Lord has overcome fear itself, we can overcome our fear; IN HIM
It is IN HIM that we can overcome the world AND OUR FEAR
IN HIM, WE CAN OVERCOME ALL THE WORLD
IN HIM, WE CAN OVERCOME ALL OUR FEARS
IN HIM, THE LORD WILL SHOW US THE TRUTH OF OUR FEARS, RELIEVE US OF THEM, AND GIVE US SOMETHING NEW; A NEW SPIRIT: A SPIRIT OF POWER, LOVE, AND SOUND MIND
IN HIM, THE LORD WILL DO A NEW THING -- YOU
IN HIM, NOW YOU SHALL SPRING FORTH
IF YOU CALL ON THE LORD, THE LORD WILL HEAR
AND WHEN THE LORD HEARS, HE WILL ANSWER
AND WHEN HE ANSWERS, HE WILL MAKE A WAY OUT OF YOUR WILDERNESS, AND RIVERS IN YOUR DESERT
AND AS YOU WALK WITH THE LORD, OUT OF YOUR WILDERNESS, OUT OF YOUR DESERT, HE WILL LEAD YOU OUT OF YOUR OLD, AND INTO HIS NEW
AND AS YOU NOW LIVE IN HIS NEW, THE LORD WILL GIVE YOU SOMETHING NEW -- A NEW SEED -- A SEED OF FAITH
THE LORD WILL HELP YOU TO PLANT THIS SEED OF FAITH, AND TO WATER IT
AND AS YOU WATER THIS SEED, NEW ROOTS WILL GROW
AND AS NEW ROOTS GROW, A NEW BASE WILL FORM
AND AS A NEW BASE FORMS, A NEW STEM WILL SPROUT
AND FROM A NEW STEM, NEW BRANCHES WILL BRANCH OUT
AND FROM NEW BRANCHES WILL COME NEW FRUIT
NEW FRUIT THAT YOU WILL EAT
NEW FRUIT THAT WILL NOT ONLY SUSTAIN YOU, BUT FULFILL YOU
AND AS YOU EAT THIS NEW FRUIT, YOU WILL BECOME NEW
THE LORD DID INDEED DO A NEW THING -- YOU
YOU ARE THE NEW THING
THE LORD HAS MADE YOU NEW
But still, it doesnt end there
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
The night before I wrote this, the Lord helped me to realize there was yet one more thing for me to learn -- the new tree
You see, the Lord helped me to learn all about my old tree
My old seed; fear
My old container; my fear of lack
My old water; being silent with the Lord; and every time I was silent with the Lord, I was watering my seed of fear
My old roots; my fear of the unknown
My old base; my fear of success
My old stem; my fear of heights
My old branches; branches of fear, branched out into every area of my life
My old fruits; my acts in fear
The Lord helped me realize, here is my new tree
The new seed; a seed of faith
New water; God’s word; and each time I act in accordance with the Lord’s word, I water my seed of faith more and more
New container; myself; and as the Lord fills me with His water; His word, I will be able to act in accordance of His word, and each time I do, I will be watering my seed of faith more and more
New roots; God’s omniscience -- God knows all
New base; God’s hands -- God holds me in His hands, and upon His hands, I will stand
New stem; God exaltation -- God lifts me up, and in His hands, I will not fall
New branches; Acknowledging and involving God in all areas of my life
New fruits; acts in faith in God
The Lord has indeed given me a new tree; a tree of faith
Not only has the Lord given me a new tree, but last night, He also helped me to realize two new fruits; my first two acts in faith
Matthew 5:29
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
If my eye offends me, if I see something of my old, I will pluck it out and cast it from me so that I may never look upon or walk in the way of the old ever again. That I will always look upon and walk with the Lord, in His new
The Lord has given me a new tree, and from it, two new fruits
My first two acts of faith in Him
And its not by coincidence that the first two acts of faith the Lord helped me to realize were acts of faith that will always ensure that I stay with the Lord and live in His light and love; by never looking at the old, I will never walk in the way of the old; and by never walking in the way of the old, I will always stay in the way of the Lord; I will always look upon Him and walk with Him, in His land; in His new
And these new fruits will sustain and fulfill me
The Lord will sustain and fulfil me
The Lord is good
And that my friends is the story of my life
The story of how the Lord took the old, and made all things new
The story of how the Lord brought me from my old; my old land of fear, full of darkness and lies; and brought me into His new; His land of faith; full of His love and light
The story of how the Lord brought me into His new land and gave me a new seed; a seed of faith
The story of how the Lord gave me His new water to water this new seed; His word
The story of how the Lord gave me a new container for His water;
My old tree was my tree of fear
My new tree is my tree of faith
The story of how the Lord took my old and made me new
The story of how the Lord stayed faithful to all His word
The story of how the Lord is exactly who He says He is
The story of the Lord
The Lord is good
To close, call on the Lord, and the Lord will do this for you
How do I know?
Because the Lord did this for me, and I am NO better than you
And if the Lord did this for me, I KNOW He will do this for you
The Lord did this for me
Not do this because of who I am
But because of who He is
That is why I KNOW He will do this for you
Not because of what I said He will, nor because of what I said He did
But because of what the Lord said He would do, and because of what the Lord did
So, I know the Lord will do this for you too
Not because of who you are
But because of who the Lord is
The Lord is love
And the Lord will do this for you because the Lord loves you, just like He loves me
The Lord loves all of us
And He loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us, then rose Him from the dead, so that anyone; and that means ANYONE; who believes in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, will NOT perish in eternal darkness, but will be risen from the dead just as the Lord Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, and will ascend to be with the Father, just as the Lord Jesus Christ ascended and now lives with the Father and is one with Him, for us to live with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to be one with Him in His eternal light and in His eternal love, eternally
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
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New Video Series: "The Old becomes New" -- Part 6: A New Life
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