Guilt

Guilt can be as stern a motivator as any outward force; in many ways guilt is a more potent taskmaster than the confines of a job or even the assignments given you by others.  Obedience is very nearly the opposite of guilt-induced action.  Obedience involves submission while guilt is like an attempt to smother a fire that refuses to die completely.   

Other human beings may set a small fire of guilt either by manipulation or just through a sharing of difficult circumstances, and you then have a choice: either allow the flames to spread or smother them instantly by turning to the Lord for instruction.  You get into trouble when you take some action in an attempt to quench guilt in your own power. 

Abide in Grace

You are not to continue in sin so that grace may abound, but you must abide in grace before this is even a danger.  Prior to entering into grace, human beings attempt to attain freedom by their own efforts rather than through participation in the freedom purchased by Christ’s Blood.  Apart from the freedom of grace, complacency is not an issue;  the sin that needs repentance is trusting to your own strength rather than that of the Almighty God. 

Faith: A Firm Scaffolding for Reality

Fears are like mist rising from a field; they are insubstantial and scarcely real, like a mirage.  But fear has power to cripple your faith, contain your joy, and to turn you into a furtive, sleep-deprived shadow of a Christian. You mistake faith for fear and fear for faith.  Faith is the firm scaffolding upon which your reality can be built, but no reality can be built upon fear. 

You do not cause bad things to happen because you are afraid they might, nor do you prevent bad things from happening because you superstitiously refuse to allow certain thoughts and words to be spoken.  

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"Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare, and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge...He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him, with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”"  (Psalm 91:3-4, 15-16).  

"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat...You silence the uproar of foreigners as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled" (Isaiah 25:5). 

"I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them (Psalm 34:4-7). 

Note:  This was written in 1997 when I was suffused with fear as my young daughter boarded a plane with a few other teenagers and a sponsor for a school trip to California.  

Fear Leads to Sin

Fear will cause you to sin. You must operate from a faith perspective or you will continue to struggle with this cycle of sin and self-condemnation. 

Fear does not keep you safe. 

Freedom from fear doesn't come through striving, but is a gift appropriated by faith.  The gift is already given.

Your memories can't be trusted.  Apart from faith you remember the events, but not the sweetness of the Lord's sustenance.  You must know Him in your present in order to believe Him in your past. 

Regarding Laziness

Laziness is a sin of hopelessness.  Find your hope in the Lord, and your paralysis will depart. 

 The Lord is with you.  

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“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us...."  

"....The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have..."

(Judges 6:13-14)

God's Reality Vs. Your Own

When you put your emotions into words you lend them a reality they don’t deserve.  Focus on what is real, and that is the Lord's unfailing love for you.  Every circumstance of your life must be viewed in the light of your knowledge of His great love, else you will draw erroneous conclusions.  You will, in short, build your house on sand rather than rock.  It is always safe to assume your circumstances have come to you through the filter of God's love for you.  Operate from this premise and you will remain true, your course sure, your focus accurate. 

News Stories

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Stories of disasters “far removed from your tent” serve no purpose at all for you.  The only possible benefit would be if you used your knowledge of a "Bad Thing That Happened" to intercede for those who have been hurt. Unless the Lord calls you to minister in this way, do not read stories with upsetting or sensationalized headlines.  Spiritually this is an almost literal opening of a can of worms; the niggling little imps of fear that make their way into your heart and mind are worm-like and parasitic.  
 

The news stories you read are sensationalized in that you do not know the full scope of details.  There is rarely a crime or an accident that is as horrific in reality as it appears in print. Most are none of your concern. 

  

None of the softening nuances of the Holy Spirit’s presence enter into news stories.  He doesn’t show up on film.  Factual accounts do not include Him.  And yet God's Spirit is the most real aspect of any trial borne by those who are loved by Him. 

 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).