I am no longer a slave to fear

"He reached down from heaven and took hold of me; He pulled me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me."

Psalm 18:16-17

        Powerful enemy is a strong word to describe someone or something. When I think of powerful enemies, images of superheroes and supervillans come to mind, images of gods like Thor and Loki, or Doctor Octopus and Spiderman. When I read through this passage in the psalms I envisioned a great army surrounding David, something far beyond anything that just regular people like me would experience, but that couldn't be more far from true. 

         Yesterday I graduated from high school, and with that entails a great amount of decision making and stress that comes with that. Everyone is asking, "What are you doing with your life?" "Where are you going?" To those who don't know, I am planning to attend Moody Bible Institute in the fall, but they don't send out their financial aid letters until June. So right now I have no money and $2,000 is due at orientation in August. So i've been searching and applying for as many scholarships as I can, hoping that some come in this summer. Every day is now becoming a battle, a battle against fear and against worry that threatens to overtake me. I feel like I am walking around blind, not knowing where the next step is, or how to get there. 

        A few wednesdays ago, I led worship with the high school at my church like I do many wednesdays, but this wednesday was different. I entered that church building feeling weighed down with worry over how I would pay for school next year. Before church started, I met with my mentor and we read scriptures and we studied God's word and what it tells me about fear and about God. As worship arrived, those chains of fear were slowly falling off as I meditated on who God is, and what His word says that He is. Then we started off and we sang oceans, and those words, "You've never failed and You won't start now," pierced my heart, I realized that God may be calling me out into the unknown, but He is holding me every step of the way. As we progressed through the set I felt fear completely leaving as I declared God's truth in my life, and declared His word in song. The last song we sang was a new song by Bethel Music called, "No Longer Slaves." The words of the chorus say:

I'm no longer a slave to fear.

I am a child of God.

As I sang those words, I was completely free of the fear that had held me down walking in earlier that day. I am a child of God. If you are child of the King, you can't be held as a slave, you are royalty. Christ sent His son to die on the cross to make us God's children once again, and to break the chains that hold us.

        God has never failed me, and I have to wake up and remind myself each day that He will not fail me now. In Psalm 18 David gives us imagery of deep waters, he was in a place so far down that the only one who could reach him was God. And guess what, God came through. My powerful enemy right now doesn't consist of something that only a superhero would encounter, my powerful enemy right now is fear and doubt. Honestly, I'm afraid of the future. I'm afraid of walking in blind, but I take comfort in the fact that the One who is leading me is not blind, and plans good for my future. 

        I challenge you to think about what your powerful enemy is, what is trying to bring you down, and pull you away from God? Then combat it with scripture and truth. I can now sing that I am no longer a slave to fear, because I am a child of God. He reached down into the deep waters of fear and doubt that I was in, and He pulled me back up into His light and His truth, and all I had to do was take hold of the hand that was waiting patiently for me. His hand is waiting patiently for you too. No matter how far you feel, no matter how deep your waters may be, God can reach you and He already has by sending His son to take the price for your sins. Now let go and let God do the heavy lifting.