Stepping Stones: Fear Debilitates

Transformational Tip
We spend so much time and energy worrying. I have nights tossing and turning, playing different possibilities for the next day over and over, unable to fall asleep......worrying or nervous about that meeting, confrontation, financial dilemma, job decision, marriage conflict, or issue with a child. Not knowing what the outcome is going to be, or fearing that a "bad" outcome is guaranteed fuel a burning of wasted energy and effort.
Why do we waste time on situations that might not happen and we have no control over. Instead, spend your time and energy on facts and experiences you know.
Think about God, His sovereignty, His love for you, his power over all things, His ability to work miracles. Believe He can bring you peace during the adversity/opportunity He is allowing in your life just like He did for Daniel in the lions den and Shadrach, Meshac, and Abendego in the fiery furnace. Be excited about what He is teaching you and how you will be better after the challenge you will face.
Just imagine a life where you can transform fear and anxiety into productive energy and action. Seek today to achieve the "Mind of Christ". Rely on Your Lord's strength today, not yours.

Prayer
Dear Father,
I trust in You for You are my strength. Help me this day turn my fear and anxiety into energy that I can invest in trusting You and sing your Song. The battle of control for my mind is raging, and the years of worry and doubt make me vulnerable to the enemy. Please take control of my mind Lord. Help me Lord to not worry about my weakness...for I know you will use this weakness to draw me closer to you. Knowing that Your spirit is within me gives me comfort...that I do not fight theses battles alone. Help me build my faith that You can take what looks so often to be bad and make it good. I pray in the name of Jesus - Amen

The Truth
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord is my strength and my song.
Isaiah 12:2
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!"
And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?"
Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever!
My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm."
Daniel 6:16-22
22 Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king."
25 He answered and said, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods."
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.
27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.
28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way."
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 3:22-30
24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
25 And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing."
26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"
Matthew 8:24-27