   
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed the set of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, you 'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troubled times of my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why you would leave me when I needed you most."
The Lord replied,"My child. My precious child. I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
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~Footprints of my Life~
 When I am afraid, what’s taking place? Fear isn’t that simple or rational. We can often fear things that are not dangerous. Fear can sometimes keep me from enjoying something good. Fear about loneliness, about being single. Fear of not ever finding a spouse. Fear of losing your spouse. Fear of failure Fear of not being able to finish your work Fear of sickness Fear of losing our mind Fear of not having enough money for retirement One common factor about all these fears is that we fear losing control. We want to be able to take care of things and handle things. What do we get angry about? That is an indication of what we are fearful about. The reality is that we live in a world that we cannot control, a dangerous world, a fallen world, a world filled with sin. We see sickness, death and bad things happening and there are no easy answers to it. We have a very good reason to be afraid. What should I do when I am afraid? In Psalms 56, David says, “I will put my trust in You”. You might think of this as the oh as usual simplistic Sunday School answer but David models something significant here – the connection between fear and trust. Fear is often a manifestation of a lack of trust in something. Another connection is fear with improvement. For example: If fear is related to money, then you will try to accumulate wealth for yourself. Overcoming fear by improving yourself….will ultimately lead to breaking point. The more aware you become, the more you realize that you can’t get yourself safe. Trust in God. It’s not just some nice answer. Otherwise, who else can we trust in? He is the only one who is trustworthy. In Psalms 56: 4, David says, “What can mortal man do to me?” It’s an uncomfortable question because when I reflect on it, it seems that man can do a lot to harm me! The purpose of this question is to put all our fears in perspective. Because if you trust in God and You know his awesome power and who He is, what then is your fear compared to Him? He has the power to judge us and send us to hell. And what can man do to us? Man can destroy the body but not the soul. If you want to understand your life, you must start fearing the true living, Almighty God. It doesn’t mean that our fears will go away, but if we put our fear of God first, all the other fears will be put into perspective. How do I put my trust in God? It is not a one time thing. It is a moment by moment decision. It means saying that Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. Even if it is the 10 millionth time that you have to do so, you will still choose to put your trust in God. To do this, it will require knowledge of God. You can’t trust something that you don’t know. God calls us into a knowledge of Him. David’s trust of God in difficult circumstances was based on his knowledge of God. He knows that God knows every one of his difficult moments. Are you pursuing a greater knowledge of God? Do you know God? Do you reflect on the ways that He has acted to save and deliver you? Often, We spend more time meditating on our fears than we do meditating on what God can do. Seek to know him. The last question: Why should I work to overcome fear? Let us start questioning about our fear. Where is fear keeping me from doing what God wants me to do? Fear becomes a big problem when it has more say in guiding our lives than what God’s word says. Has God given you a desire to do something but you are not doing it because you are afraid? Is your fear of what other people think keeping you from exercising your spiritual gifts? Fear can keep us from the good that God has called us to do. And that is why we must work together with God to overcome it. We don’t need to have more self-confidence, we need more God confidence. When we do that, people will see how Almighty God uses weak vessels like us and give God the glory. You might not know that the most common command from God in the bible is ‘Do not be afraid’. God comes to us in compassion. He is for us and not against us. The one who told us not to be afraid was afraid himself as he prepared to face cruxification, judgement from God and alienation and torture from men. He understands our fear. We don’t have to be afraid anymore because Jesus has come and He has shown that God is for us, with us. Our souls will not be condemned to hell because of our sins because Jesus has conquered sin and overcomed it. This is the greatest fear and it has already been taken care of. --- sermon by Joshua Harris at Covenant Life Church 130408 (edited at some parts ) MaRGaReT left her footprint @ 10:36 PM
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