Fear No Fear

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6, MEV). Jesus died for us and talks to us so that we can know He loves us and can trust in Him. He does this so that we can understand that God is not here to punish us. He is not here to put sickness on us. He is not here to force us into some painful scenario in order to teach us a lesson. No. God USES our circumstances to teach us things because God uses EVERYTHING to teach us things. But God doesn’t PUT it on us. He doesn’t BRING it on us. God is not the SOURCE of our trouble. God want us to understand that He wants to BLESS us. That He wants to give us GOOD THINGS. That He wants us to live ABUNDANTLY – from the inside out (3 John 2). God is a REWARDER not a smiter. Without understanding that, we won’t expect it. Without understanding that, we won’t get excited about it. We won’t look for it. We may not accept it when it comes our way. We need to eagerly expect to see the GOODNESS of God every single day (Psalm 27:13). It’s not a weird expectation. It’s not strange. It only seems strange because we don’t think of God as good. But He IS. He isn’t a disciplinarian. He’s a BLESSER. He even blesses those who DON’T follow Him because He is GOOD and MERCIFUL (James 1:17). Imagine how much He rewards those who DO follow Him. Who seek Him and worship Him and put Him first in their lives. God is GOOD and God REWARDS our trust. He is a loving Father and He dotes on us. He really does.