Month: January 2025

There was an attack in New Orleans yesterday in the early morning. Leaving 10 people dead, and many others injured. The FBI is involved. They post pound the sugar bowl until today to make sure everything is safe. But can you imagine? Celebrating one moment. Fighting for your life the next. Can you imagine the fear? You are not alone. God has you. Years ago Hezekiah had to speak these words to his people. They were getting invaded. He knew that the people were fearful. He knew where that fear came from. He knew they would forget who God is. He knew they would forget His almighty power and glory. Hezekiah knew that he couldn’t just be a good king and a skilled general. He knew he must also be a wise pastor to his people. 

As they were preparing for the Assyrians, he didn’t want the people of Judah to think that they were left alone. He wanted them to know that they had been blessed. And not forget God was with them. He told his people: “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side!”

Being fearful is a human experience. Chances are, everyone of us is going to experience it at one point or another. I know I have. Especially when the lives of my bride or my children were at risk. But I would also like to say this…even though fear is something that we’re going to face, experiencing God can get us past it. Hezekiah knew his people needed to hear that. I think we all need to hear that. I think we all need to know that God is present today. And he will be present in the future. So when you experience fear, or experience times of uncertainty, remember that God is here for you. And as the Bible tells us, “Be strong and courageous.” He will see you through. But it’s up to us to turn to him. It’s up to us to ask him. It’s up to us to let him take control.

Here we are beginning a whole new year. As we age, it’s interesting to me how we view New Year’s Eve. How we celebrate it. Or how we don’t celebrate it. Some of us stay up to watch the ball drop in our time zones. Others of us watch the ball drop in New York City, and then call it a night where we are. Some of us are sleeping long before midnight. So many different emotions that people feel as a new year begins. Excitement about it. Doubt about it. Determined about it. Or fear about it. These emotions are natural.

Sometimes we look at our lives and we wonder why they don’t like those around us. Because we envy them. It can be natural to do so since we are human. Sometimes we try to manipulate our circumstances to get what we want or desire. That’s natural as well. Wishing we had more things. Or more opportunities. More of this. More of that. Also natural because we are human. There are even moments that we will lower our standards because of disappointment that we are trying to avoid. Expecting less of ourselves to do so. And as we stated earlier, this is natural because we are human. 

But you want to know what we have in our arsenal. We have grace. We have grace from God. Which gives us the ability to have faith. Grace and faith. Incredible! These are gifts from God. Therefore, they are not natural. They are not human. Because they are of God. So as we will begin this new year, let’s realize that God gives us the power to believe. He gives us grace in what we are facing. He gives us hope and peace. He gives us the ability to look at this new year, this new beginning, as a new opportunity to grow stronger in him. And to serve others. Let’s build our lives on belief in him. Let’s boldly seek him. And let’s see where he takes us.