BIBLE STUDY FROM NLC LEADERS - JANE BENTLEY
Hi everyone, God is good!
Here are a few more studies from our leaders in New Life Church.
Please know that you are loved by us. We continue to pray for you, strengthen you and help you in your faith in Jesus.
God’s blessings and lots of love.
What’s it all about?
‘Don’t be afraid, just believe’ Mark 5:36
I’m going to be really honest now! There are times at the moment when I feel rubbish – I don’t spend all day using this ‘free’ time in reading the Bible, or listening to worship, or getting closer to God. There are times when I do, and it’s great, but there are also times when I feel down, and that I’m just about holding on to things by the skin of my teeth! It’s easy to put yourself down when you start to get into that frame of mind – and I know I’m not the only one who feels that.
Yet God says we don’t need to be afraid, or worried, or dismayed. As Max Lucado says in his book
‘Live Loved’: - ‘The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. Even Christ was afraid [deeply distressed and troubled] (Mark 14:33). But make your fear a visitor and not a resident.’
God reminds us all the time throughout His Word that we have the means to overcome fear and troubles – David says in Psalm 28:7 ‘The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped.’ And again in Psalm 121:2 we read ‘My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth’. Psalm 50:15 says ‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.’ Finally, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:8 that ‘Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.’
Yet despite all these promises we can become overwhelmed by the things happening around us – sickness, anxiety, financial difficulties, relationship issues, mental health issues; but that’s all right! We don’t have to be on top of things all the time, and if we’re not feeling right about things, then we don’t need to beat ourselves up about it. God loves us, He will never leave us nor forsake us – He is with us when we are feeling close to Him or if we are feeling all adrift. We need to recognise that fear and anxiety can come on us at any time, but if we refuse to allow it time to settle in and dwell in us, so it will leave as quickly as it came! As we call on God, He will deliver us. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul writes:- ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’ Recognise where the fear and anxiety come from – that comes from the Devil. God has given us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind!
So, whilst we may have bad times, sad times, despondent times – they don’t have to define us or control us. If we have asked Jesus into our lives, then we have the gift of God’s Holy Spirit living within us to help us overcome and take control of our feelings.
Something to do:-
When you are feeling good and positive, then take the time to find and write down all the promises that God has made for you in the Bible – there are over 350, so there’s plenty to find! Then, when you are having a bad day, take those promises out and read them, putting your name in them. God’s promises are for you today, not just for the time and people they were first written for!
Jane Bentley