These are notes taken during the third and final session with Andrée Seu (thanks this time to Kristin Tabb). If you missed them, the notes from session one and session two were posted over the weekend.
We plan on posting links to the audio when it becomes available.
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Session Three: A Suprising Discovery
The command that God gives us to love is our ticket out of fear. Focus on God’s love and on loving others (via God’s commands). God’s commands are given a bad rap. They are actually the ticket to our bliss. We want to manage our relationships; but God wants us to bring more people into his love.
Instantaneous obedience to the Spirit’s leading is key. Like Jesus in John 4, we will feel like doing God’s will in the Spirit is the equivalent of eating food, better than eating and more satisfying. When we recognize the Spirit’s voice, and obey it, doing God’s will is not forced but satisfying.
Answering Fear with Action
In the Bible, God commands us not to fear. And often that command is followed by another command, something you must do. “Don’t be afraid, just believe” (Mark 5:36). When you decide you don’t want to be afraid, then find the next thing you must do to obey God!
If you feel like you can’t love someone, for example, or you are afraid to love someone (say, a difficult spouse), then do good to them when you can.
For example, 1 Peter 3 – God tells us what to do with husbands (submit to them, win them over without words). There is a command that follows the instruction not to be afraid. God’s word takes the “guess work” out of “what to do” via the commands. Do not give way to fear in marriage, but do the next thing, obey the next command.
Ten Ways to Fight Fear
- Talk to God. Out loud. There is power in the spoken word.
- Praise. Psalm 8 – God uses our praise to silence the enemy.
- Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Jonathon strengthened David in the spoken word, and then David “strengthened himself in the Lord.”
- Watch the words you speak about God when you are not praying. No words are neutral; all words have consequences. Watch how you talk about God when you are not praying! Do you doubt, question, complain, to others about your life, his treatment of you?
- Always put the word of God above the word of man. Watch out for the “theories” of others (e.g., the new widow who was told by her friends that she was entitled to be angry at God for a period of time. She went to the Bible and found nothing on this “theory”, and decided not to “be mad” at God; and it probably helped her grieving process).
- Memorize the Word. “It’s a secret doorway to God’s heart.”
- Choose joy. Command: “Rejoice in the Lord always!” It’s a command! We’re commanded to be happy – do it, be free!
- Don’t always wait to be happy. "After this circumstance changes, then I’ll be happy." No, because there’s always something coming. Be joyful now; don’t wait to be happy!
- Talk to yourself, don’t listen to yourself. “A lie is still a lie, even if you’ve been believing it for 40 years. The truth is still the truth, even if you’ve only believed it for 2 weeks.” Also, don’t let a “no” answer deter you from continuing to ask God. Sometimes it is his will that we ask longer.
- Have a special place to pray.
Four Other Things That Have Helped Me
These are originally from Evan Roberts, the revivalist preacher in Wales at the turn of the 20th century who overnight became an evangelist due to the Lord’s gifting:
- Confess all known sin.
- Get rid of everything doubtful in your life.
- Obey the Spirit’s voice immediately.
- Openly praise Christ publicly.
Conclusion
1 John 2 says we have already overcome the evil one. Possess your possessions in Christ in order to be strong! God wants us to overcome. He is on our side!
