Fear Not Continues....

Isaiah 43

The Lord Saves Israel

 ¹ Family of Jacob, the Lord created you. 
      People of Israel, he formed you. 
   He says, "Do not be afraid. 
      I will set you free. 
   I will send for you by name. 
      You belong to me. 
 ² You will pass through deep waters. 
      But I will be with you. 
   You will pass through the rivers. 
      But their waters will not sweep over you. 
   You will walk through fire. 
      But you will not be burned. 
      The flames will not harm you.


I have to say, I love these verses. They offer so much hope. They offer so much compassion. They offer a reason not to fear! It is a command that God gives 365 times in the Bible and one that is so hard to keep at times. Why is it hard to fear? Well, I have to say that I think its because we are human and satan likes to get us where he knows we fear the most. Each one of us have different fears in life and some that feel like they can overtake us. At times our fears can seem to be the ruling factor in our lives. How do we fight off these fears that are in our lives? Well, Reading these fear not verses can help! Giving them to God can help too! Keep on trying to work through the fear and facing it head on can help! I love this portion of scripture above because  it first says "family of Jacob, the Lord created you, People of Israel, He formed you". If you think about the fact that God formed you and in Genesis it says He formed us in "HIS IMAGE"! How awesome! We were made in the image of God! If you look up what image means this is what you will find it is a "reproduction of the form of a person or object".This is what God did when making us. We are not the exact thing, but we have likenesses of God's character! God wants us to have traits of Him in us. This also lets us see that He loves us and that He took time and that He gave thought into making us. We are not just haphasardly placed here, but we are here for a purpose, we 
were made by Him for a reason and He loves His creation. It is like an artist who makes a 
great masterpiece and takes their times and thought into making this great work of art! It 
is their thought, their precious time, and their hard work put into that peice. They have a love for that peice in the end and know that they created it for a reason. Whether to show an emotion, or to show a time in their life or to show a loved one. There will always be a special place in their heart for that peice, and that is how we are with God. We are His great masterpeice! 
He then goes on to say "DO NOT BE AFRAID!" Then goes on to say "I will set you free". Like I already stated, sometimes our fears can keep us in bondage, but God wants to set us free from our fears so that we can live a life of faith and hope!
The next part says "I will send for you by name". How amazing is our God. He knows each of us by name! He knows us all personally! 
"You belong to me!" God made us, we are His masterpiece  and we belong to Him. We are His children! We are in God's family.  
It goes on to say "You will pass through deep waters, but I will be with you! You will pass through the rivers, but their waves will not sweep over you! You will walk through fire, but you will not be burned! The flames will not harm you." PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS PROTECTION! This talks of God's protection. This speaks of God's power. It doesn't say that we wont go through bad things, but it says God will bring us through safely to the other side. At times we feel like we are going through water, rivers, and fire. Life can be difficult. We live in an imperfect world, with imperfect people. God doesn't say that we will never have trials but He says He will bring us through to the other side. Through these trials God says "fear not! I've got you!" He wants us to live in faith even when going through the hardest times! Sometimes this is hard to do, but if we keep in faith and try to get out of the fear, God will bless. He reminds us here that He will take us through anything! We are His and He loves His masterpieces! You are God's masterpiece, FEAR NOT!