BBD 06.12.06 Be Not Afraid
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
The old website is at http://www.theburningbush.org
Several devotional booklets are now available for free download
in PDF format at the new site. Just click on the "Free Book
Downloads" link.
Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer
requests and be a part of a great ministry. More than 400
wonderful people make up this group. To join send an email to:
BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1,732 new subscribers since November1, 2005!!
06.12.06
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 Jacks being on duty as in guarding the place.
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 could 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 then 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 began cautiously to speak and preach again
but still encountered problems. I am again resting my voice 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 Pastors 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. He
also 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 Gods Word. The truth of Gods
Word is that if we know Jesus as our Savior then He is with us
through the Holy Spirits 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 also 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 © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of
the devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.
The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful
resource. I would like to encourage you to visit this great
site at http://www.crossmap.com. Crossmap has added the Burning Bush
Devotionals to their site. You may visit Crossmap's sister
website, the online version of the Christian Post at
http://www.christianpost.com.
If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link
to my free links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free
links is near the bottom of the front page
http://www.theburningbush.org.
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your
friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are
posted at: http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html
There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the
devotionals are archived
associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a
complete archive at the Burning Bush website and the address
for the archive is http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You may subscribe to the pure text group by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo -subscribe@welovegod.org and you can
unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-
unsubscribe@welovegod.org
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank
email to burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may
unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-
unsubscribe@welovegod.org
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Prayer Group. Send and receive
prayer requests to over 400 members. Send a blank email to:
BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Inspirational Group. Send and
receive inspirational material to over 100 members. Send a
blank email to: bbinspire-subscribe@welovegod.org
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Restoration and Recovery Group
for those with addictions or recovering from addictions.
Receive devotionals and inspirational material directed toward
those with addictions. Send and receive prayer requests. Over
200 members. Send a blank email to: tbbrr-
subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Intercede Life Group and pray for and help in
practical ways those who need help. To subscribe send a blank
email to interclife-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.