Life With Assurance

A friend came by for a visit, recently. We exchanged pleasantries about how each of our families was doing, asked if anything was new and how was business; you know, the usual small talk between old friends. Then he began talking about the issues plaguing the world, communities, and families with the current situation. One thing he brought up was how everyone, even him, is living in apprehension and fear and it was very concerning. These words surprised me coming from him because this is a man who, years ago, left everything behind to move his family to Africa, without any knowledge of where they would be living or how they would survive in a strange environment to do missionary work for 20 plus years. Although I thought he was taking a big chance, at the time, the thing that most impressed me about him, and his family, was that they were fearless and focused to endeavor to persevere in their mission to build churches, schools, and other infrastructure to aid the people in Africa. With the Church in support of them, many prayers, and their faith in Jesus Christ, they did just what they set out to do, make a difference and add value to others.

During our visit, the conversation began to stir up feelings of apprehension and fear within me, because, as you know, the past few months have been extremely stressful for all of us and our families; then to create more chaos, the issue with the demonstrations in different cities has compounded the uneasiness of the normally calm, cool and collected, guardian, alpha male in my family. I believe what has troubled me the most is knowing how our faith can falter or become unstable if we allow apprehensions to enter our thinking and we forget to take a deep, spiritual breath of God’s assurance. The only way to remove fear (False Evidence Appearing Real) from our lives is to listen to God’s assurance to us. Just saying…

Although I prefer to hold these feelings close, sometimes even a big boy like me becomes fearful and is filled with apprehension during troubled times. When this happens, I refer to our instruction manual, the Bible and in the Book of Hebrews verses 13:5-6, it states, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So, we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” In other words, we should not be obsessed with apprehension or fear. This does not mean we will not be tempted to fear or be apprehensive, but we should lean into God’s words of assurance to help us strengthen our resolve and not allow our faith to falter.

When I read this passage, I am reminded of the spiritual leaders and mentors who have blessed my life by sharing their faith, hope, joy, and unconditional love for me. They were always taking time out of their busy schedules to assist me when I failed and when I succeeded. They would politely listen then offer paths to solutions. They did not tell me what to do or how to do it, they simply helped me find my own way and helped me come to my own realization of what needed to be done. They supported my decisions good and bad, and helped me to grow and stretch. Sometimes I got “skin’t up” with some of my lame-brained attempts at growth, but overall, it was not too bad. 

As I ponder the latter, these Spiritual leaders and mentors are placed in our lives to remind us Jesus Christ is always there for us and He is the same yesterday, today and forever. In other words, the wisdom God placed into those spiritual leaders and mentors in years gone by, He can and will do the same for you and me! If we will lean into Him, He will liberate us from fear and apprehension, free us from worry and strife, empower us with knowledge, wisdom and skills that will help us to stretch and grow to reach our potential. Simply stated, they were there to make a difference and add value to us and as we mature, we will be able to do the same for others.

I encourage each of us as leaders in our homes, communities, and organizations to practice the discipline of self. Lean into the Lord who is the ultimate spiritual leader and mentor for our lives. People follow leaders because they see a life, they believe they can trust and one they want to emulate. Be that leaders. Believe, you are that leader. Understand when fear and apprehension begin to creep into our life and our walk, we have a solution, God’s assurance and when we yield to His assurance, we produce a life worth following. It will make a difference and add value. Hebrews 13:5-6

Have a wonderful day,

James Dodwell