Strive to stand, not to fall. Though afraid
Stand and fight; leave fear behind, not ahead.
To fear is human, to shirk for fear inexcusable.
To be wounded in battle is not failure
To surrender to fear without a fight is hefty loss:
Whoever runs from fear never escapes except
He stops, stands, face it, beat it or be beaten
And take away the lessons for another day.
No matter how far you run, fear catches up
For as long as it sees your back, fear wins
No matter your speed, no one outruns his fears.
Fear is pitiless, never surrenders to anyone
Who won’t fight and beat it: no one beats fear
By hiding and running from it: this enemy
Is overcome by faith-fueled-confrontation;
Be prepared, let it catch up, face it, fight it to death
Fear won’t quit until it consumes those it pursues.
Reserve your only fear for God alone.
For every dart fear launches, fire back with faith.
For every dart that knocks you down, get up, clean up
Give thanks, keep fighting and don’t ever give up.
Food For Thought: I was going through a difficult time and as if that wasn’t bad enough, I was woken up by 3am by this scary vision. It was everything I hated coming to life and I panicked. Overwhelmed, I knew I needed help; not later, but immediately. The timing was odd, but my life is surrounded by pillars that I can always reach out to and they cover me. I know that everybody is dealing with something more than they can handle so I do not use mine as an excuse to barge in and overtake the priorities of others, even if they are one of my pillars. I am sensitive about timing so I probed; my brother was in the middle of something but when I related that I needed to talk (at that time of the day) he knew it must be serious and was right there for me. He listened and when I was done painting my fears, He smothered the fearful image I just recreated with faith; he spoke faith into my heart and prayed faith into my head. I returned to bed not only relieved and restored, I was revived to stand my ground, fight that monster and walk away with my victory. Fear attacks all and sundry, how you take it determines how you emerge from that furnace. Face fear with faith and victory is sure.
Scripture: Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Ephesians 6: 16.
Prayer: Dear Lord, from this day onward, I reserve my fear for You and You alone: every other I lay at Your feet, grant me strength to overcome, amen.