When I am Afraid... More on that Topic!

Yesterday as I was elbow deep in suds washing my very dirty car, I was enjoying a message by John Piper.  As this message unfolded my feet simply wanted to dance all over my freshly mowed lawn!  It was so very personal, so right on with what God has been doing and saying in me.  I could NOT contain the joy in my soul!  I love living like this!

SO of course I had to share!  You can listen to the message yourself, just click on that link!
It so powerfully followed up on my last post about fear and being afraid.  There is a lot more in the message to drink in, so go listen; but for right now here are a few nuggets I wanted to share.

The passage he is speaking from is John 20:19-23.

Jesus comes to them... behind closed doors.

JESUS can go where NO ONE else can go.  Piper states it so powerfully:

"Which means that today in your life, Jesus can go where no one else can go. He can go where no counselor can go. He can go where no doctor can go. He can go where no lover can go. He can reach you, and reach into you, anywhere and any time. There is no place where you are, and no depths of personhood that you are which Jesus can’t penetrate. Jesus' resurrection from the dead fits him to do what no one else can do. There is no one else like him in all the universe. He is alive, and he is the one and only God-Man. What he is capable of you cannot imagine. And it is a healing wonder to contemplate that all the complex layers of your life, which neither you nor anyone else can understand, are familiar territory to him."


I LOVE IT!!!


Jesus comes to them... in their fear.   Again, Piper says it so well:

They were afraid.

"Verse 19: “The doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews . . .” Their leader had just been crucified as threat to Caesar. Their fear is totally understandable. And into that fear Jesus comes.

I suppose I want to draw your attention to this because this is the way I feel the need of risen, living Jesus most often. Fear. Fear that I won’t be prepared for what I’m expected to do. Fear that the church won’t prosper, or the conference won’t be attended, or the class won’t be helped. Fear that my children will make shipwreck of their faith. Fear that I won’t have the faith to die well. Fear that I might drift into worldliness and uselessness.

And what Jesus is saying in this action is: I come to my own when they are afraid. I don’t wait for them to get their act together. I don’t wait for them to have enough faith to overcome fear. I come to help them have enough faith to overcome fear. And I testify after fifty years of being a Christian, this is still true. The risen, living Jesus is still doing this. He comes when we cry out to him in our fear. He helps us. I have called to him a thousand times: “Jesus please help me.” And he has come near with the promise: “Fear not I am with, be not dismayed, I am your God, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:10). He will do this for you too, if you receive him into your life for who he really is."

Did You Read That?

"I don't wait for them to get their act together.  I don't wait for them to have enough faith to overcome fear.  I come to help them have enough faith to overcome fear.  ...The risen, living Jesus is still doing this.  He comes when we cry out to him IN OUR FEAR.  He helps us."

Are you jumping up and down yet!?  I hope so!

"When I am afraid..."  Psalm 56:3.  WHEN... yes, it is not an IF, but a when; this means it happens.  

Jesus will meet us in our fear.  He will help us.  HE will help ME.  And I will see Him in the process.  

HOW GLORIOUS! How beautiful is the LORD.  

Piper's message says so much more.  He unpacks this passage so well; there is a LOT in these few verses.  I hope you listen to it and receive what He may have for you in the words of our Brother in the Lord.  What a blessing... 

May we Know and RECEIVE more of what we have in Christ Jesus Today!