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Weekly Wisdom Winnows

    by Lisa Mendenhall

I ain't skeert!
Date Posted: February 8, 2009

I have this friend, who has this saying "I ain't skeert!" That is South Arkansas, Joey Jones, Hillbilly, Redneck for "I am not afraid". Not everyone can talk like he can. I guess if you don't know him it would be kinda hard to understand his lingo. Oh yeah he can make these weird sounds that make me skeert too! I can be going along doing something and these strange sounds come from the vicinity of my friend Joey. After my heart skips a beat or two I realize (after everyone else I might add) that it is just Joey, sounding like an ambulance or a wild animal or any other number of things that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck!

Why am I telling you this? The Word of God states over 320 time, Fear not, or do not be afraid and phrases similar to that. That tells me God is serious about us not having fear! He did not create us to be fearful.

Now fear of things and people in the Bible does not mean the same as fear of God. While they are similar and started out with the same root word. Over time, the fear of God has come to mean reverence, awe and even a worshipful respect for Him. But that is not the focus of the fear I am talking about today.

The word fear in the Hebrew and Greek covers a wide range of emotions from mild uneasiness to stark terror, depending on the object of the fear and the circumstances surrounding the experience. It is no surprise that we get our word phobia from the root word. I have experienced in my life time the whole range of fear. I have experienced that 'nagging, at the back of you mind fear', like how am I going to pay this bill, or what does that person think about me and then I have experienced 'stark terror'. One example of stark terror would be the day I found my aunt, and faithful prayer partner dead, murdered in her own home. Now that was terror. And I experienced it for about 4 months afterwards. I had to take the word of God and literally meditate and walk my way out of that fear. But in reality that is how you deal with fear of any kind. You take what the word of God says about it, like

(2 Timothy 1:7 )- Christ has not given me a spirit of (fear)timidity or cowardice, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control.

Then you meditate on it and start walking by faith what you meditate. The Word of God is filled with encouraging words on not fearing and in walking in boldness and courage. God does not want us fearing in ANY area of our lives. He did not create us to be fearful. He created us to be full of love, joy and peace.

King James - 1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The Amplified Bible - 1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].

The Message Translation- 1 John 4:18

There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death- fear of judgment- is one not yet fully formed in love.

This shows us the closer we walk with God, who is LOVE, the less fear we will have. Immerse yourself in God, His love, His word and His presence and as you do this and think on these things it will turn fear out of your life. Jesus conquered fear in his death for us and we have the right to walk in total peace and in total victory over fear. Think on God's word and live in God's victory over fear. Do not go one more day with fear of any sort, WE DON'T HAVE TOO!

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Biography Information:
Lisa Mendenhall lives in Smackover, Arkansas with her husband of over 28 years, Chris. She has 4 grown children who also love the Lord, each serving Him in some capacity. As a teacher of the Word, Lisa, believes that she has a responsibility to use her God-given gift to teach those who have a desire to live victorious in Christ how to do so. She believes in order to live victoriously, one must get to know God and His character. His character is love. Therefore, Lisa has a heart-desire to bring people to a greater understanding of God's love. Her teachings explain that when His love is activated IN His children, it will motivate them to give just as His love motivated Him to give 'His only begotten Son', Jesus, to the world. God's wisdom does not always flow with the world's system of wisdom and His Word says, 'my people perish for lack of knowledge'. Lisa states, 'During meditation one day, I heard the word 'winnows'. With great curiosity, I learned it to mean,

'To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air. To rid of undesirable parts. To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate: winnowing out the errors in logic. ...separate grain from chaff...separate the good from the bad...examine closely in order to separate the good from the bad; sift...' (www.dictionary.com) 'This study gave me direction and focus for my teaching.  God had placed a longing in my heart to teach the body of Christ how to separate from carnal thinking and rid themselves of old ways that hinder their Spiritual growth. I desire to see them live victoriously, by the 'higher ways' of God's wisdom.'
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