TargetPoint Volume 15 of 32
Todays Verse/Thought: Giants and Grasshoppers
DREAD: To be in terror of, to anticipate with alarm, distaste, or reluctance; pessimism, feelings of doom, apprehensiveness, fear.
Life Implication:
When we are walking in fear, PROBLEMS LOOK LIKE GIANTS and WE BEGIN TO FEEL LIKE GRASSHOPPERS. Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the concerns of the day; overwhelmed when you look ahead to the future? Perhaps you feel engulfed with fear and apprehension, defeated before you start, like a small craft amidst
enormous waves.
A classic example of this kind of FEAR AND DREAD can be seen in Numbers 13:31-33. God had clearly told the Israelites to go take the land of promise, it was time and He would help them. But here these guys return, after checking out the land, full of dread and fear and say: We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are! . . . All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there . . . We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that's what we looked like to them! A quote from President George W. Bush puts it so well: The fearful build walls. The confidant tear them down. These Israelites built walls of fear and dread among the people.
In order to overcome fear and dread in our lives, WE NEED TO FOCUS ON THE TRUTH OF WHAT GOD SAYS TO US. He says: I will never leave you or forsake you. Perhaps you grew up in a home where your father was not dependable. Maybe you were exposed to fearful situations that were no fault of your own. Often we find we react and don't know why. FEAR, DREAD AND FEELINGS OF DOOM, COULD HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED INTO YOU AT AN EARLY AGE. BUT GOD CAME to seek and save the lost, the fearful, and He promises TO REMOVE THE DREAD FROM YOUR HEART.
Life Application:
As you look to Jesus to remove the feelings of dread in your life, start with this prayer and finish it in your own words: LORD, I DESIRE NOT TO BE HAUNTED BY APPREHENSION. YOU ARE MY CONFIDENCE AND I BELIEVE YOU when You say in Your Word that You are my Helper; that You will never leave me; that You will fight my battles for me; that You are my hightower and see all that is to come; that You have good plans for me that hold a future and a hope; that you will never fail me. I CHOOSE NOT TO SUCCUMB TO FEAR, the enemy's way of trying to paralyze me . . .
Tomorrow In TargetPoint:
I'm So Stressed Out