Elevation Point Church

When Jesus was preparing to ascend to heaven after His resurrection, He told the disciples that He was leaving them His peace. Jesus knew that the disciples would face scary days ahead, just like He knew we would face difficult days. There are legitimate reasons to fear all around us…when we try to face it on our own. Jesus said — rather than trying to face fear with things you think will bring peace, make the decision to embrace MY peace. While we may find peace in things on this earth for a moment, the peace that Jesus provides is forever. There’s a better way to face fear and find peace; and it’s by embracing the peace Jesus already gave us.

Fear arises when we lose our confidence. We lose our confidence when we lose our faith. This is almost never done intentionally, but it takes place when we begin to trust in the wrong things. For many of us, it’s not that we’ve completely lost our confidence — it’s that we’ve put our confidence in the wrong things. Life isn’t easy…the life of a follower of isn’t easy. The enemy is always busy, and he knows if he can cause us to misplace our confidence, he can get us to stop walking in what God has for us all together. This is why we have to ensure our confidence is resting in the proper place — Jesus.

It seems as if there are always reasons to fear, always reasons to be afraid. We feel weak, and we automatically assume we’ll fail. We get a bad report from the doctor, and we automatically assume the worst. We lose our job, and we automatically are tempted to believe we’re going to lose everything. However, it doesn’t matter what it looks like — it matters what God said. In His word, He told us there may look like you have a reason to be afraid; but with Him, there’s no reason.

All throughout the Bible we are instructed to control our words. This is even more important in times where we may be upset, discouraged, or hurt. The more we speak, the more we risk saying the wrong things. Our response to this is often, “I didn’t mean it.” But the Bible also says, “out of the heart, the mouth speaks.” This gives all the more reason for us to guard what we allow ourselves to say. It is up to us — not others — to control our words.

Trusting in God is easy to say but often difficult to do. The reason it’s difficult is because it generally involves unknown moments, scary moments, and uncertain moments. While most followers of Jesus would claim they fully trust in God, their actions reveal the opposite. At the very least, their actions reveal a limited trust. Yet, in order to fully embrace God’s plan, purpose, and direction — it requires total and complete trust. As we lean all the way in to that, we begin to see the bigger picture He had planned all along.

God is always leading and directing. For many of us, we listen and obey His voice once…maybe twice. We follow one instruction, and then we feel good about ourselves. And because we’ve become so comfortable, we’re no longer listening to his guidance or direction. So when he gives us another instruction to go to another place where He will provide, we miss it. And then we wonder why those areas of our lives dry up. God led Elijah to Karith Ravine, for a season. And he provided for him there, for a season. But then He came back to Elijah and told him…there’s another place to go now. Karith Ravine has been good, but don’t stop there.

Zacchaeus had an undesirable reputation. He was known to be a shady tax collector and crook, among other things. We all have our undesirable characteristics or past events that we’re not proud of. When we allow those things to become what we focus on, or our identity, then we begin to believe the lie that the goodness and grace of Jesus doesn’t apply to us. While we may not verbally admit it, the evidence is in how we live and what we believe about ourselves. While Zacchaeus had flaws, he didn’t allow them to hold him back from seeking Jesus. The amazing thing is, Jesus was seeking him too. Because Jesus is always seeking us, even when we feel messed up or undesirable. It’s time to stop looking at the wrong thing — who we were — and look at the right thing — who we are in Jesus.

There are seasons of waiting, and then there are seasons of moving. While seasons of waiting bring their own challenges of patience, trust, and peace…seasons of moving can be even more difficult. While we’re waiting, we can talk about doing great things for the Lord. However, when it’s time to move into those moments, we have to actually do great things for the Lord. And that is when fear and discouragement can creep in. What if we’re not strong enough? What if we’re not good enough? What if we fail? This overcomplicates what God has already made simple. He’s already shown us by example as the Bible says He goes before us. All we have to do is follower the leader.