Focus: Fear Not! (Pt.3)

Text: Ruth 3:11

"And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman."

God means it when He tells you, 'Fear not!' It means that it is needless being fretful. It means that God is capable of taking care of whatever could make you afraid. Greater than Boaz says to you now, "I will do to thee all that thou requirest." In your life, God will disarm fear of its potency, strip it of its harmful effects, and disable its base of operation. God is the deactivator of fear in your life.

God's angel says to Zachariah, "Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John" (Lk.1:13). God came through for Zachariah and Elisabeth. They would hear the cry of a special baby in their home. Elisabeth would no longer be called a barren woman. The jinx of not having a child ever in her life was broken. John the Baptist was the product of a barren womb and the answered prayer of Zachariah. 

Child of God, fear not, for God has finally answered your prayer of many years. God has lifted your burdens and taken care of your concerns and conditions.

God says to Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost… Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife" (Mt.1:20,24). Fear is based of a false premise. Joseph thought or felt that Mary was pregnant by another man, and based on that, he contemplated of privately discontinuing with the marriage. But God comes to him in his night dream and says to him, 'It is not what you think. What you are thinking is farther from the truth.' Joseph was suffering from the crisis of divine origin or kind. 

Christ comes into our lives with crisis. No one escapes crisis of a divine kind and origin who has been called to give Christ to the world. That person is often misunderstood and avoided.

God says to Joseph, 'I am responsible for your wife's condition. I orchestrated everything. I take absolute responsibility for the holy baby growing in her womb. Joseph, be my partner; I am using you to save the world. The baby in your wife's womb is the Savior of the Jews, and indeed, of all mankind. Save her the unnecessary shame, embarrassment, and death by stoning. Be the human father to that child in her womb.' Joseph woke up from sleep and immediately yielded himself to being a part of the divine plan. He kept God's secret until it was time for the world to know. Everyone around them thought that Jesus Christ was Joseph's biological child.

Fear results from believing a lie. It was not true that Mary slept with another man, and it is not true that you will die in that trouble. Your debt will not kill you; you will kill it. The troubled waters of this life cannot drown you. Fear not! Pharaoh says of Israel, 'They will be trapped in the desert, and we shall overtake and return them to Egypt as slaves.' Did it happen to Israel as Pharaoh had thought? No, not at all! Child of God, fear not!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter