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"God did not give us a spirit of fear,
but a spirit of Life
is full of storms that challenge our faith in God. Wars, hurricanes, pandemics, and
global terror surround us, not to mention the personal storms of life we face each
day. Christ calms our storms and calls us to step out onto the water in faith and
trust that he has things in control. With God by our side we don't have to fear, just
believe and live by faith! |
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God is with us through the storm! Read 2 Timothy 1:7 (above) Self-control is knowing consequences for what you do. It’s part of being an adult, no matter how old you are! God wants us to be wise, and this can often mean making hard choices. Self-control means you have courage to follow where God leads! "The LORD himself goes before you and Read 2 Timothy 1:7-13 Conquer Your Fears! What is Paul feeling? (Delight about God’s true path / law. Frustrated
that he has sinful What “wants” do you have that are “at war” in your mind with God’s law? (Materialism, liking power over other people, popularity, wanting everything now, jealousy, fear, lust.) Are these things always bad? What can make them bad or hurtful? (Sinning – prioritizing these things as if they’re worth more to us than God.) When we don’t think ahead, we miss the really good things in life that God wants for us. Have you ever been afraid to trust God because you’d lose something? When? What would have happened if you would have trusted God? (or if you wouldn’t have?) If you were dying and had only one phone call to make, who would you call and what would you say? Go with the first person that comes to mind. What would you tell that person? Take a few minutes and write it down. Have you said these things to this person recently? What good things would happen if you said / wrote those things to the person? What bad things might happen? If you haven’t said it yet, what is holding you back? Our own fears sometimes get in the way of our relationship with God. Trusting and following might not mean telling that person those things now, but it does call us to be brave and step out of our comfort zone! We don’t need to be afraid to trust God. Doing or saying the “right thing” means whatever shows love for others – this is showing faith in the love Jesus shows to us. What do you think this means: “You can’t make an impact without a collision”? People
who always avoid collisions never make much of an impact on the world, or even on people
they love. But God can make a huge impact through us when we trust and follow him! Who
are some people who have made a positive impact on your life? How? Did they use faith to
overcome any fears in getting to the point of being a positive influence? Face
the Storm! How
was Jesus able to walk on the water? "There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We
love because he first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their
brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they
have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him
is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. Trusting God and actually stepping out of the boat, Peter believed in Jesus. Then the storm came up. Peter noticed the wind and the waves, and he was scared! As soon as he became afraid, he started to sink into the cold sea. But Jesus loved Peter, in spite of Peter’s weakness, and Jesus reached out to save him. When we trust and follow God, sometimes we get farther out on a limb than we thought we’d be, and we get scared too. When we only worry about our own lives, we forget God and start to sink like Peter did. But Jesus reaches out and grabs our hand. God tells us again that he’s there and we can follow him through the storm without being afraid! What
does “humility” mean? Humility
is seeing yourself accurately – not as being better/worse than you really are. If you
won a contest and got to play a game with the Chicago Bulls, humility would mean not being
a “ball hog” or being super aggressive against 7-foot-tall players. It would
mean playing with a good attitude. Seeing yourself accurately means knowing about
who’s around you, and that you don’t deserve more than others – but also that you’re
not worth less than anyone. Being humble
doesn’t mean being sad or scared at all. Humility means being confident –
because God saved you, despite your sins. Be confident in God’s love and who God
calls you to be! This means giving up your fears and your personal desires, for God’s sake. What is something you’re afraid to do that if you did, would bring you closer to God? If you’re scared or stressed out… “Don’t tell God how big your problem is; tell your problem how big your God is!” - Hank Hawkins |
Face
the Storm!