"Here am I, send me." Isaiah 6:8

Fear is contagious, but so is courage! God is looking for those who are willing to pray as the prophet Isaiah prayed.

Whenever God speaks to us regarding our call or destiny, it may seem that what He is saying will be too impossible to accomplish. We must always remember that God's perspective and our perspective are usually two different things. Words such as "impossible" and "can't" are simply not in God's vocabulary. Unfortunately, they are in ours.

By definition, courage is not the absence of fear but the "capacity to meet danger without giving way to fear." (Websters)

One should not feel condemned because fear is present; it is what you do in the face of fear that counts. Do you press through to freedom and victory, or do you give in, give up and retreat?

In order to embrace the fulness of our calling we must be willing to face our fears. The term "fear not" appears over one hundred times in scripture. Why? Because God knew, when He was writing to us that we would have cause and reason to be afraid.

In Joshua chapter one, God tells Joshua to go in to possess the land that He had already given to him. But he also told him four times in that chapter to "be strong and of good courage". Why did he say this so many times when He was clearly saying that the land was already theirs, and all they would have to do is go in and take it? Because God knew that there would be plenty of opportunities for Joshua and the people of Israel to look at the natural circumstances and become overwhelmed by the impossibility of the situation. After all, there were mighty giants in the land! Some of them even stood nine to ten feet tall!

God instructed Joshua to possess all that He had promised them and settle for second best on the other side of the Jordan. God was letting them know that he would have to face his fears and overcome them before he could overcome his enemies.

Many times God speaks something wonderful to us in the same manner that He spoke to Joshua. "I've given you your healing, your finances, your family, your ministry, etc... . Don't be afraid, go on and take it!! Oh, by the way, did I mention tht you'd have to face, and defeat, a few hundred giants along the way? But don't worry! Don't be afraid! I've already said you could do it!"

Most of us turn and run at the first sign of opposition. We then try to convince ourselves that the word we heard must not have been God after all. How many times have we sold ourselves short of reaping all the blessings and doing all the possessing that God has made available to us because of a stronghold of fear over our lives?

......to be continued......God Bless...