The Sunday News
Sunday Sermon, with Apostle Chisale
Greetings beloved nation in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Isaiah 41:10 NKJV says, “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Other versions of the bible say, “don’t be discouraged’, ‘don’t be afraid’, ‘don’t be intimidated’, ‘don’t be terrified’ and ‘do not anxiously look about you’. The word of God in the bible tells us not to fear. This is repeated many times in the scriptures, ‘fear not’.
Why would the word of God tell us over and over again not to be afraid? This is because God knew we would often find ourselves as believers in situations that cause us to be afraid. We are living in a world where the things that are happening around us cause us to be very much afraid. There are many things that cause us as human beings including believers to be afraid. It could be the loss of jobs and income, breakdown of marriages and relationships, loss of loved ones, stories of brutal and senseless killings and many others issues.
Of late the entrance of Covid-19 has brought unimaginable suffering in the lives of many people with illness and the death of our loved ones including the death of many believers. This has caused some fear among some believers where they are starting to question the word of God and whether God cares about us. What are we talking about when we talk of fear? There is the fear of God which means, ‘to reverence, to have reverential awe’. As believers we are commanded to have the fear of God in our lives. Then there is another kind of fear which I would like to dwell on.
This kind of fear is described as, ‘to be in apprehension of evil, to be afraid, to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil’. This is the fear that unfortunately has taken a hold in the lives of many believers because of the challenges and suffering that is taking place in their lives. Ladies and gentleman the bible tells us in the book of 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.” So meaning fear is a spirit and it can control you.
The spirit of fear can paralyse you, it can imprison you, it can cause you to lose your focus, it can cause you to listen to outside influence and not what the word of God tells you, it can cause you to doubt the word of God and it can keep you from facing your battles and living a victorious life that God wants us to live.
We see in the book of 1 Kings 18 and 19 the story of Elijah. Elijah was a powerful prophet who confronted the evil king Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. The bible tells us that because of their evil acts Elijah declared that there would be no rain in the land for three and half years and he also challenged the wicked prophets of Baal which resulted in their death.
After this display of the power of God, Jezebel then threatens Elijah with death and the bible tells us in 1 Kings 19:3 that Elijah was afraid, fled for his life and even wished he could die. In spite of what God had done to demonstrate His power through Elijah the spirit of fear overcame him, he ran for his life until he was exhausted.
This is what the spirit of fear does in our lives, it causes us to doubt God and what the word of God says concerning our lives. We begin to lose our trust in God and in His plans and purposes for our lives. I would like to encourage you all, especially those who are going through calamities, who are faced with illness, who have lost loved ones or lost a source of income and even those who have lost their trust and faith in God.
God is still in control, God is still seated on His throne. The kingdom of God remains powerful and unshakable demonstrated by power, dominion and authority. That is the kingdom of God our father. I would like to encourage you to continue to trust in God in difficult times.
To trust means to believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of something. So meaning trusting God means we believe in His reliability, His word, His ability and His strength.
The bible tells us that in Numbers 23:19 NLT, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” So the bible tells us that God cannot lie and that He always keeps His promises. So when the bible tells us in Isaiah 41:10 that, “Fear not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you,” that is a promise that God makes to us. Trusting God means believing what He says about himself, about the world and about you is true. Trusting God is not about ignoring your feelings and ignoring reality, it is not about pretending that everything is fine when it is not.
Yes we might be going through difficult times as individuals, as families, as churches and as a nation. Trusting God means believing in His promises to us when the bible tells us in Psalms 46:1-7 that, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most high dwells. God is within her, she will not fall … The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Once again I would like to invite you to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, and you shall be saved. May God bless you all and this beautiful nation Zimbabwe. Amen
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