can prepare us for the challenges we encounter. Isaiah 26 reminds us:
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
When we are beset by external turmoil, it doesn't help us if we are eaten up internally. Fear can completely take over our minds and render us ineffective in dealing with our challenges. We need the truth we find in God's Word to burst through. That is why a working knowledge of the Word of God is beneficial for us. His perfect peace can mitigate the fearful thoughts and impulses that can shut us down - His resources enable us to overcome.
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In Psalm 56, we can read these verses, written by David the Psalmist when he encountered opposition:
3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
4 In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?
It was a routine after-church visit to a local drug store for a woman in the Dallas area recently. Carrie Coy had visited the store to pick up a birthday card and was in line when, according to a story on the Christian Today website, a young man ran into the store, grabbed her and began to drag her to the back.
This man, according to WFAA.com, was a suspect in a series of robberies at fast food restaurants, as well as a carjacking. SWAT teams were dispatched to the scene to apprehend the man after he took Carrie hostage. The store was evacuated. The man, identified as Joe Torres, had been placed on probation last year on three counts of sexual assault of a child and was in danger of losing his probation because of failing a drug test and violating terms of his designation as a sex offender.
He held Carrie at gunpoint, and according to Christian Today, she stayed calm and turned to prayer. She even talked to Torres. According to KHOU.com, she said: "When he pulled me back and we were on the floor, and he kept saying, 'I have done some bad things, but I have never hurt nobody,'" adding, "He says, 'I have never hurt nobody,' and I said, 'If you ain't going to hurt nobody, would you move that gun from the side of my face?' He did."
She said, ""I never felt fear and I said to myself, 'God does not give us a spirit of fear. God does not give us a spirit of fear."
Christian Today reports that Carrie Coy also shared the truth of God's love with her captor. She related, "I said, 'You know, God still loves you. I don't know what you have done, but you are going to make it worse, and remember God still loves you.'" Torres settled down and eventually surrendered to police; Carrie left the store without being harmed and rejoined her husband of 46 years who was waiting outside. She said, "All the time, I felt peace. God was in control and that He was going to take care of me and everyone else." He held Coy captive for over an hour, according to KHOU.com.
Remember what Carrie Coy said to herself in the midst of the ordeal: "God does not give us the spirit of fear..." In the time of need, she relied on the Word. A specific word for a specific situation and emotion. It's important that we have hidden God's Word in our heart and rely on it to come to the surface when we encounter difficulty, when we need guidance, or a measure of His strength.
Fear paralyzes, but faith liberates. Our minds can completely be locked down when fear is preeminent in our consciousness. To break free from that lockdown, we can turn to the resources of our Savior, whose perfect love casts out fear. Our faith in Him will set us free.
In order to experience that, we can develop a mindset of looking to the Lord first. He is a source of courage to do what needs to be done in the circumstances we face. Rather than regarding our faith as the final option, we can turn to Him as our first option, unleashing the resources of heaven to invade our earthly challenges.
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