When my daughter was around two or three she would say, “There’s a monster.” We would answer, “Ask Jesus to tell the monster to go away.” She would say with childlike faith, “Jesus, please send that monster away!” We would ask, “Is it gone?” She always answered, “Yep, it’s gone. Jesus made it go.”
Fear began at the moment of the Fall. The first man answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid” (Genesis 3:10). Can you imagine living in the Garden of Eden when fear did not exist?
The news reveals we live in a scary world. Satan wants us to live paralyzed with fear; incapable or unwilling to follow through on the commands of Christ. Today, I struggled with fear, and I felt the desire to huddle up my family in a sweet, quiet town. Instead of huddling however, I was preparing to go. My mind began to do the “what ifs,” and I instantly knew I was running down the wrong path.
The barber shop didn’t help this internal struggle I faced all day. The lady cutting my son’s hair said, “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to get on a plane today!” The retired pilot sitting next to me said, “Oh, don’t worry! There are thousands of planes that fly in the sky and most go up and down the way they are supposed to.” I said, “I don’t fear planes. I struggle now with fear of those who sit on planes!”
A friend recently bought me a necklace that says sabai jatika which means all peoples. She told me in my Christmas card that she felt God impress upon her to purchase the necklace for me. When people tell me things like that, I really listen. What was GOD trying to say to me through my friend who served as the messenger? All peoples.
God’s message? The beautiful reminder that God loves all peoples. Therefore, his Church as His body must care for all peoples. No matter how scary the world is, no matter how uncertain the times, I have a choice. Will I listen to God and His heart, or the world and its screams? God’s heart… world’s screams… God’s heart… world’s screams.
Today as I scurried around finishing preparations to travel, my struggle continued. God’s spirit kept reminding me of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
My mind kept pondering how if I really see myself as crucified, then I realize that I simply live a life that Christ lives in me. And how does Christ want to live in me and His church? In a body fully focused on His mission – his kingdom proclaimed among all peoples.
So today, the monster of fear kept raising its ugly head. I keep going back to what we told our then two year old and her child-like response of faith to trust Jesus to send the monster away. So today, I found myself in my own way of asking the monster haunting me to go away! The Lord’s sweet whispers came, “Go…Sabai jatika… all peoples…I am with you… Go…Sabai jatika… all peoples…I am with you… Go…Sabai jatika… all peoples…I am with you…”
