Tag: fear God

fear

Fear Not!

meghanewhite

img_3060

I went to clean out the pool skimmer basket and jumped back. This terrifying looking snake was waiting for me. I quickly realized it was not alive. Phew. I was safe but still freaked out knowing a snake had been in our pool. The same pool we swim in freely. Now I was questioning if I should ever swim in the pool again.

There is an epidemic running rampant these days. No, it’s not that one. Fear is out of control. We are told in hundreds, if not thousands of ways, every single day to “be afraid”. Fear the virus, fear the new variants, fear getting the vaccine, fear not getting the vaccine, fear inflation, fear the potential food shortages, fear losing your livelihood if you disagree with someone, fear natural disasters, fear the rise in crime, fear the government, fear your neighbors, fear travel, fear pollution, fear standing up for your convictions.

These fears are based on potential outcomes that are legitimate. I call these, “What if’s”. It’s the worst case scenario that runs through our mind. It does not mean any of it will happen, but it could possibly happen, so we need to operate in fear, right? Wrong.

All of this fear comes from the enemy. The devil is real, and he loves to spread fear by lying. He’s very good at it. Jesus does not mince words when talking about the enemy.

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44, NASB

As followers of Jesus we are to be wise and discerning. Don’t let fear motivate your decisions. Make decisions based on Godly wisdom and discernment. How do you do that?

Pray. Ask God for wisdom and clarity on those things which cause you fear. He will show you what is really going on. He will give you peace and comfort. He will also help you know how to respond.

Trust God fully. You can stand firmly on The Rock, even when you cannot see. He sees all. He knows all. He loves you.

Stay in The Word. God’s word is the truth. With the bombardment of lies we must go to the truth.

Worship. Turn up the worship music and turn off the news, social media, and all the other stuff that fills our minds. Praise God simply for who He is.

Fear is a spiritual battle so we must use our spiritual weapons.

When you feel afraid let that be a reminder to take your fear to Jesus. If you have to take your fear to Jesus a thousand times in one day then do it. He is always available and able to help you.

We are in a fearful time in history. There are plenty of very real things to be afraid of. As Christ followers we are not to live in fear. Sounds easy. It’s not always easy, but it is possible to stand our ground in faith without fear. You can guarantee the scary stuff will come. It’s our response to it that makes all the difference.

You belong to God.

For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26, NASB

Jesus intercedes for you.

Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Romans 8:34, NASB

Jesus is always with you.

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:20, NKJV

The Holy Spirit will help you.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you. John 14:26, NASB

God will never forsake you.

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5, NKJV

The Lord is your helper.

So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6, NKJV

Things are not always as they seem. Remember my creepy snake? It was actually just a baby snake. Discernment is essential when there is so much deception.

img_3061

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Praise Your holy name. Thank you for your faithfulness and goodness. I lift up every person who is gripped with fear. Give them peace, comfort, and wisdom. Help them to see with their spiritual eyes the truth of Your soverignty. May they experience Your incredible presence in new ways. Lift their heads and their eyes towards You. Give us all wisdom and discernment to know truth from lies. Let us hear Your voice above all the noise of this world. Shine Your light through us to a dark and hurting world.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Women in the Bible

The Heroic Hebrew Midwives

meghanewhite

img_4766

Pharaoh and the Midwives, James Tissot, C. 1900 WikiArt

When admired women of the Bible are discussed, names like Esther, Ruth, and Deborah are mentioned. These faithful women were used by God mightily. But these aren’t the only Godly women in the Bible. There are many women who obeyed God and impacted history. Some were named, and some remain nameless in the Word of God. 

Shiphrah and Puah are heroes of the faith. Two ordinary Hebrew women used by an extraordinary God. Shiphrah and Puah were Hebrew midwives. Puah means “splendid or radiant” in Hebrew. Shiphrah means “beauty or harmony” in Hebrew. What beautiful names for two Godly women. 

In the first chapter of Exodus we learn about the oppression of the Israelites by the Egyptians. The king of Egypt did not like that the Israelitess had grown to such a large number. He feared that if war broke out, the Israelites would join an enemy army, fight against Egypt, and leave the country. So Pharaoh put slave masters over the Israelites and forced them into hard labor.

Pharaoh’s oppression backfired. The more the Israelites were oppressed, the more their numbers multiplied. The Egyptians dreaded the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. The Israelites had to make bricks, and work in the fields. This was hard backbreaking labor.

Pharaoh came up with another plan to decrease the numbers of the Israelites since harsh labor was not working. 

The Hebrew Midwives obey God.

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”  Exodus 1:15-18, NIV 

Pharaoh vastly underestimated these women by thinking they would follow his orders. Shiphrah and Puah took an enormous risk by refusing to kill the male babies. They were just lowly midwives, yet what they did was daring. Because of their fear of God they protected the Hebrew baby boys. 

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” Exodus 1:19, NIV 

It’s assumed that Shiphrah and Puah lied when answering Pharaoh. This may not be the case. Many Bible commentators say the midwives lied, and some say they did not. Verse 19 gives their answer, and we are not told anything further on whether or not what they said was true. Maybe it was partly true. If the midwives did lie, was it justified?

20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Exodus 1:20-21, NIV 

God blessed the midwives because they feared Him and obeyed Him. God did not bless them for lying. He blessed them for their faithfulness. God always knows our heart and what is motivating our actions. Shiphrah and Puah were rewarded for their incredible faith with families of their own. 

And so the Israelites just kept increasing. God blessed the Israelites during harsh oppression by continually multiplying their numbers. When Pharaoh’s oppression increased, God’s goodness increased more. These two incredible ordinary midwives were a part of God’s extraordinary plan. 

Shiphrah and Puah stood up to evil because they loved God. As a result, the Israelites grew in great numbers, and the groundwork was laid for Israel to be set free from the Egyptians. The stage was also set for the birth of Moses, the prophet who would lead his people out from Pharaoh’s enslavement.

God used two seemingly insignificant regular women to participate in His perfect plan for Israel. 

These precious women inspire me to fear God, not man.

Love you all,

Meghan 

If you need prayer send your prayer request to meghanewhiteauthor@gmail.com

References

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Puah.html

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Shiphrah.html

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/shiphrah-midrash-and-aggadah

https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/3555182/jewish/Who-Were-Shifra-and-Puah-the-Hebrew-Midwives.htm

How Two Midwives Tricked Pharaoh

Obedience

Do Not Fear Man

meghanewhite

img_4055

Hello, my name is Meghan, and I am a recovered people pleaser.

The disease to please is deceptive. It looks really nice on the outside. But it hides an awful, sinful truth. Pride. Wait a minute, people pleasers are so nice. They only want what’s best for others. No, not really. 

As a former people pleaser I can tell you the ugly truth. You please people to make them happy and like you. I thought I was doing good. I was motivated by my own needs. It’s all about me. I did not see that at first, and yes, that sounds really harsh. Sure, the facade is niceness. But, it’s actually selfish. The motive to people please is fear of man. That is wrong.

I was not aware of my people pleasing ways until I was a teenager, maybe late teens. Once Jesus opened my eyes to my problem, He then showed me how dangerous it was. We are to fear God, not man. 

The motive to please people is fear and insecurity. That is not from the Lord. I could jump through a million hoops and still disappoint many people, and I have. When Jesus began to unravel me, and reveal all of my ugly prideful ways, He set me free. There is freedom in fearing God and only God.

I am to please my Heavenly Father. He never shames me, guilts me, or turns me away. When you put God first and pleasing Him first, there are times you will offend people. It was hard for me to disappoint others, initially. Now, I’m pretty good at it. Hahaha!

People pleaser me: What will they think?

New creation in Christ me: What does God think?

Everything changed for me. My motivation used to be what would others think of “fill in the blank decision”. My motivation now is pleasing Father God.

The Bible is quite clear on this topic. We are to fear God and not man. 

The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6, NASB 

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25, NIV 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31, NKJV 

Now I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Luke 12:4-5, NASB 

If you are struggling in this area I feel your pain. I was in that same place. There is hope in Jesus for total freedom from pleasing people. You can start today. Ask God to reveal areas where you are fearing man and not fearing God. It will be difficult at first. 

No is a powerful word. Begin with saying NO to things that you know are wrong. Pray about your decisions. Read the Bible and stay grounded in the truth of the Word. Ask God to give you strength and courage to say NO to the fear of man stuff in your life. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say when you have to tell someone NO. 

Fearing God does not mean we are rude, heartless robots. God fearing people love, forgive, show grace, and mercy. We just aren’t motivated by fearing man. We do what’s right and sometimes that means we are going to tick some people off. That’s OK. If we are obeying God and following His Word He will help us. 

God first, always. 

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for your patience, grace, and love. Help all of us to stop fearing man. Forgive us for the times we have put other’s desires above Your desires. Help us to stay focused on You and pleasing You. Stop us from the disease to please people. Set us free. Help us to love others and honor You in our lives. We praise You, the One true God. You are Holy!

In Jesus name,

Amen 

Parables, Prayer

Always Pray and Never Give Up

meghanewhite
brown mountain near body of water
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com  

Have you given up? Have you lost hope? Have you stopped praying?

It’s easy to get down and discouraged. Life is hard, but God is good. There are no perfect people, including Christ Followers. We are not super Christians. We are ordinary people, who serve an extraordinary God.

We can all take a deep breath and know that it’s perfectly normal to get down sometimes. Being down is a great opportunity to be lifted up by Jesus. When I am down there’s one direction to go, up.

Jesus is the ultimate encourager. He was consistently encouraging the disciples to have faith and to trust Him. One great example of this is a parable in Luke.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Luke 18:1-8 NIV

This unjust judge who has no faith in God, ultimately answers the widow’s plea and serves justice on her behalf. How much more will our perfect Father God answer our pleas? God is the true judge, without corruption. God who is just, will help His children. God loves us beyond our comprehension and delights in helping us.

Sometimes we give up on praying. We stop asking because we aren’t seeing any results. We may think, “Does God hear me?” “Does God see me and my struggle?” The answer is yes! God sees everything and knows everything. God sees our pain, and heartache, and trials. God has answers to our prayers in His perfect timing, in His perfect way, according to His perfect will.

Praying can be hard. Persistent prayer can be even harder. The unjust judge answers the widow because she persisted. We are to pray fervently. We are to be in a spirit of prayer. It’s a continual reliance on God all throughout the day, all the time. We are weak, needy humans. The only thing that can satisfy us is Jesus Christ. Persistent prayer strengthens our faith, and changes us to be more and more like Jesus.

Do not give up.

Things may look hopeless in your life today. Your circumstances may be impossible. God does some of His best work in impossible situations. God has no limits. He really wants our hearts more than anything. Ask Him for help. Ask Him for peace. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask for His will to be done in your life.

Always pray.

God loves you and has good things planned just for you. Trust God.

Love you all,

Meghan

I love to pray for you. Please send me your prayer requests meghanewhiteauthor@gmail.com

Faith, God, Uncategorized

Do It Afraid

meghanewhite

landscape-4587018_1920

The room was filled with seemingly perfect looking young moms.

They have it all together.

They are the perfect Christian moms and wives. 

You don’t belong here.

I walked up to the check in table where I was met by a smiling face. After sticking my name tag on my shirt, I took a deep breath, and walked into the unknown.

That internal dialogue went on for many weeks. I can recall walking into that Mom’s Bible Study and hearing the same words each time, You don’t belong here. Yet, I walked in, afraid. In spite of my feelings, in spite of my fear, I kept coming. I was afraid of rejection. A group of women is intimidating. For an introvert, a large unknown group of any type is panic inducing.

Why did I do it? Because the potential reward was greater than the risk. Because God was calling me to it. I needed a mom-community. I needed friendship, discipleship, mom-help.

And guess what? Doing it afraid paid off big time. It was the best group of Christian women I had the privilege to be a part of, as a young mom. It was run like a small church service with weekly worship, teaching, Bible study, small group time, and prayer. There was intimacy, accountability, and a whole lot of fun. We became like family to each other.

When God is leading you somewhere that makes you uncomfortable, trust Him. God is a good, faithful, loving God. He is going to ask you to step out of your comfort zone. It will stretch you and stretch your faith. But, there are rewards and blessings waiting on the other side of the fear. If I never came back after that first visit to the Bible study I would have lost out on so much that God wanted me to experience.

We gotta do it afraid, with God’s help.

This does not mean we stay afraid all of the time. It just means we don’t let our feelings dictate our decisions. God knows we will be afraid sometimes. For some of us, it’s a constant state of fear. He knows. The Bible talks about fear hundreds of times. It’s how we respond to our fear that matters.

There is not a single fear we have to face alone if we’ve got Jesus.

So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?”

Hebrews 13:6 (NET)

Another big fear I had to confront was writing a book. I was terrified. I avoided writing for years because of my fear. God called me to write, and I ran. I didn’t know how to write, let alone a children’s book, and I was definitely not a good enough Christian. Come on Lord, you know there are better people out there to do this. He was unrelenting in his pursuit of me to write for Him. I could not live with myself if I didn’t do it.

I faced my fear of completing the huge task of writing a book one step at a time, one day at a time. And yeah, it freaked me out most of the time. Honestly, writing still scares me. It’s vulnerable, especially blogging. I have gotten stronger, thicker skinned. I have learned that God will give you exactly what you need. We have to step out first though.

God-sized things require God to accomplish them. We can’t just pull ourselves up by the boot straps and do it alone. Sure, you can do quite a bit that way, and many people do. When we rely fully on God to carry us, way bigger things can be accomplished. It’s quite freeing. It’s not all on me. I just step out with God, and He’ll keep guiding me and leading me. Step by step. Not running ahead of God, and not taking God out of the equation entirely. Just He and I together. That’s my awesome God. He loves us that much!

What have you been afraid to do that God is calling you to do?

Write it down. Pray about it. Step out. Even if it’s one teeny, tiny baby step. You are not alone. God is with you every step of the way. It’s O.K. if you feel afraid, do it anyway. Do it afraid. God is 100% with you and for you. Remember, the Lord is your helper!

Love you all,

Meghan

 

 

Father God,

Thank you that you are always with us and we don’t have to be afraid. Please give an extra dose of courage to the person who needs to step out and do the thing you’ve asked of them. Bring comfort, peace, and confirmation of your will for them. You are a loving God who cares about every detail of our lives. Help us to trust you more, and follow where you lead.

In Jesus name,

Amen

 

 

Why Did I Write A Children’s Book?  by Meghan E. White

It Only Looks Scary by Meghan E. White

 

My interview with Kids Stuff Podcast.

http://kidsstuff.libsyn.com/interview-with-childrens-book-author-meghan-white

 

Photo credit enriquelopezgarre fromPixabay