God’s Lifetime Warranties
You Can Win Over Fear – Part III
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
Yesterday’s devotional looked at one way to defeat fear; that is, for us to understand the evil one’s perspective of Christ-followers.
Another way to defeat fear is to understand God’s perspective of Christ-followers.
Most of us know and believe, at least on some level, that God loves us. But Paul says we cannot grasp how great His love is for us (Ephesians 3:19a).
We see our failures so clearly and we know God sees those as well. In our human nature, it seems logical that those failures affect God’s perspective of us. If we are going to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus wants us to have, we must keep straight that God’s love does not diminish when we fail Him. Read what the Apostle Paul wrote about this issue:
But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT)
Think about that statement. Since God loved us while we were still living in sin, certainly He still loves us when we, as Christ-followers, slip up and sin.
The Holy Spirit is faithful to convict us of our sin and to give us the desire to become better followers of Christ. This conviction that we feel is not God’s condemnation but God’s loving correction. Again, read the Apostle’s words:
And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. (Romans 5:9 NLT)
Romans 8:1 NLT drives this point home even clearer:
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
If you are like me, when I slip up and fail the Lord, I condemn myself and struggle to remember that those feelings do not come from God. Join me in the battle against these negative thoughts so we can truly believe and enjoy God’s great love for us!
Another perspective of God’s is that He sees us as friends:
For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. (Romans 5:10 NLT)
When someone says they want to be your friend, it is significant because they are expressing that they like you. Well, God likes you. Meditate on that for a minute.
A strong friendship not only survives but grows stronger as friends work through mistakes that they make toward each other. Of course, God makes no mistakes toward us, but we certainly make them toward Him. Yet, He still calls us friends.
Remind yourself throughout this day, God wants to be your friend!
Father, grant me the wisdom and faith to see and believe in Your perspectives of me. Help me overcome my negative thoughts about myself. In Jesus’s Name, amen.