BBD 05.31.13 Be Not Afraid - Classic
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The Burning Bush Devotional
There are 16,000 Subscribers to the Email Devotional
Classic from 2006
05.31.13
Be Not Afraid
Fear
not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen
you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. -
Isaiah 41:10.
Jack
is not afraid. He is not even afraid of bears. To prove it, he chased a black
bear up a tree that wandered into his yard. Actually, Jack chased the bear up a
tree, twice! Amazing! Who is this Jack? Jack is a fifteen-pound white and
orange cat who resides in West Milford, New Jersey. Jack had often chased small
animals out of the back yard and his owner, Donna Dickey had joked about Jack’s
being on duty as a guard of the house. But, she had never thought Jack would
actually be able to chase a bear up a tree!
Over
the past few weeks, I have been dealing with something that I never thought I
would be facing as a preacher. For the past year and a half, I have had
increasing difficulty with my voice. It would often fail and I would drink some
water or place a cough drop in my mouth and it would come back. However,
beginning with Easter Sunday, my voice failed and did not immediately come back
at least, not soon enough to finish the sermon. I limited the frequency of my
preaching but eventually had a specialist take a look and he found a couple of
polyps on my vocal cords. The polyps were removed and after two weeks of rest,
I cautiously began to speak and preach again but, I still encountered problems.
I am resting my voice again, for a few weeks, hoping and praying that it will
be well soon. My fear, that I have been contemplating, is that I will be unable
to continue preaching which would then require some major changes in our lives
if it were to occur.
At
the Pastor’s Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention tonight, I believe
that God had a message for me and possibly for many of you as well. That
message was delivered by Chuck Kelley, President of New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary. He described some of the unexpected challenges that he
and others at the seminary faced as a result of the hurricane. Also, he
described how God was sufficient to empower them to face and overcome those
challenges and crises. My mind had kind of wandered away as Dr. Kelley was
speaking but then his words caught my attention as it seemed God was speaking
directly to me through him as he said, “Do not be afraid of what ever path or crisis God has
ahead for you.”
We
can learn from the example of a fifteen-pound cat named Jack. We need to do the
same thing with our fears that the enemy places in our minds. We need to chase
them away and replace them with the truth of God’s Word. The truth of God’s
Word is that if we know Jesus as our Savior then He is with us through the Holy
Spirit’s indwelling presence. The Spirit is speaking and He is saying, “Do
not be afraid.” “Fear not.” Not only is He saying, “Fear Not” - He is saying not to be depressed, or
dismayed. Why not? Because He promises to “strengthen us,” “help us,” and “uphold us” with His “righteous right hand.”
Copyright © 2013. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and hopefully will have more time now to write the
devotional and to pursue other ministry opportunities. If you would like to
hear his testimony in your church or at your event please fill free to make
contact. Ed is also interested in preaching revivals if there is an opportunity
to do so. You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or WratherEd@gmail.com
Prayer Requests: Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request
page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in
need of prayer - please pray for me.).
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