Conquering Fear

I got the same fortune cookie message twice in a row at the restaurant last week.  Do you think God is trying to tell me something? LOL.

It said, "Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear."

This is so true.  When I started out as a Christian I started sharing with people  what God had done for me and I got ridiculed and scoffed at, by only a few people and it caused me to quit sharing. Fear set in.  I kept thinking, "What will people say?" or "What will people do?"

It took me a while to come to grips with that fear.  The Lord led me to start claiming that His love was shed abroad in my heart every day and that His love was perfecting me and casting out all fear (ref. Rom 5:5, 1John 4: 18)

When the Lord led me into street preaching and prophetic evangelism I really had to start fighting fear.  The Lord gave me 2 Tim. 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of Love, power and a sound mind." and Proverbs 28:1 "The righteous are as bold as a lion."

I found it much easier to start giving out tracts first.  One person at a time.  Living Waters tracts, especially the million dollar bill, were easy to give out.  I would just say something like, "Have you ever seen a million dollar bill? And they would say, "No." Then I would hand it to them with many smiles and tell them it was a novelty gift. If I felt led by God I would tell them about the million dollar message on the back.

Street preaching brought a whole new level of fear.  The first time I did it I got onto my step stool and my mind went blank, so I started singing, "Amazing Grace."  That really helped.  Then everything came back to me.

As I grew in Love it became easier and easier to jump outside my comfort zone.

When people first yelled at me I didn't know what to do. I asked the Lord what to say, and this wisdom dawned on me and I spoke exactly what I heard and they shut up, just like that.

I learned that it's far better to get an angry response than no response at all.  Apathy is horrible.  We want people moved out of complacency.

Fear will stop you if it can.  As soon as I realized that it's better for me to do the right thing, afraid than to stay comfortable and not make an impact, that first step towards a stranger or the step to get onto my preaching stool became an invisible curtain I was stepping through.  I would tell myself,  "Move aside fear, I have work to do for the King."

We have nothing to fear except fear itself.  In this country our rights are protected and free speech is  allowed. Let's make a difference while we can.

I bless you with more courage to step out of your comfort zone. May you know the thrill of making a difference for Holy Spirit and hear His "Well done, daughter/son" every day.

Big hugs,
Brenda Gale Thompson

Loving with Actions

Last Friday I heard that some people that we know were moving. They have three young children so I asked my husband, Roy if we could go help. He said he would go for the morning and I convinced him to take my 14 year old son. I couldn't go as my other two girls needed chauffeuring around town. My son wasn't too happy at first but I know it was the right thing to do. We did not have to help. We were not asked. We have not gone to that church in over a year and we live 45 minutes away -- but it was the right thing to do.

You see, I remember trying to move a three bedroom house when I was eight months pregnant. We had let all our friends know and the church know and when moving day came, only one of Roy's friends from Toronto showed up. (He drove five hours to help us).

I tried calling some people but everyone was busy. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I felt. The crew included my husband, his friend, myself -- as big as a house, and my twelve year old. She helped me look after my four year old and three year old while I moved boxes etc.

We somehow did it. I had everything packed up which helped. I was praying for supernatural help most of the day. I was crying out, "Lord! Where's the body when we need it?" That was a 12 hour move with a 29 foot UHaul van. It took us three trips. I drove because I'm used to driving big vehicles. We cleaned the house later. We didn't even unpack, as we were too exhausted. Nobody got hurt which was a miracle.

Ever since then, I make sure we show up when people are moving. I am not going to let that happen to someone else!

I am not sure why, but so many churches do not have a community spirit, when it comes to work. I'm not sure what to do about it. I really started praying that God would raise up the men out of their complacency. There's nothing wrong with a good day's work. You feel like you accomplished something at the end of it. Best of all, you make better friends when you work and take breaks together.

The church we are in now is different. Two of the members are great at calling the men to get help for big projects. That blesses me so much! The ladies are great at pulling together for funerals, baby showers and the like, but it really makes a difference when the men pull together. It gives me hope for Revival in our area because Revival is a huge team effort.

Anyhow, that's what was on my heart today. Incidentally, my son was quite happy after moving because Roy took him to Canadian Tire, to buy him a badminton racket for the school team. He was telling his dad how he whooped them on Monday. LOL!
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1John 3:18)