TREPIDATION

“Fear not!” “Trust God!” “Do not be afraid!” all words from the Messiah himself, yet, we all struggle with trepidation. Trepidation: (n) a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may or may not happen. Synonyms, fear, apprehension, dread, fearfulness, fright, agitation, anxiety, worry, nervousness, tension, misgivings, unease, uneasiness, foreboding, disquiet, dismay, alarm, panic. Yes, the kind of stuff that keeps us up at night, affects our health and or emotional wellbeing. Yup, we have all been there—done that!

Trepidation has no boundaries. It doesn’t care if you are young, old, wealthy, poor, slim, overweight, smart, well educated, uneducated, single, married, single parent, a two parent household, employed, unemployed, Caucasian, African, Asian, Latino, Hispanic, African American, Jewish, Middle Eastern, British, Australian, Italian, Irish and the list goes on. Trepidation does not care who you are or what you have or don’t have—by no means is it a respecter of persons. It is out to get you! Your social or economic standing doesn’t matter, just as long as you are a Child of the King and it can steal your joy and peace—and make you doubt God. That is all it cares about.

With each new college semester my youngest daughter has a tendency to worry about her classes the very first day and what lies ahead. And now that she's in the spring semester of her junior year, I see that from time-to-time, she is having trepidation about her senior year and what will come after graduation. This all boils down to “needless” worry, but nonetheless it is common place for us as humans. This is why Jesus instructed us to stay focused in each day we are living and not worry or have trepidation about tomorrow.

You might be one who prides themselves as not worrying a lot about things, but let life unscripted show up and you can find yourself battling trepidation just like anyone else. You’re young—healthy—have your whole life ahead of you and—Bam! You have cancer. Next thing you know, you start to plan your funeral. The rumor mill on your job has the company laying off or even closing down. You begin to envision yourself homeless and living in a shelter. The weather is treacherous and your husband and kids are late getting home and you can’t reach him on his cell phone. If you don’t rein in your thoughts, you will have them lying in a ditch dead somewhere.

Trepidation is a sneaky little devil for sure.

If only it were a minor battle of our thoughts and we could easily rein them in and move on—but not so. James tells us, we must “resist’ the devil he will flee. The operative word here is resist. To resist means we must, weather the storm, endure the hardship, cope with, stand against, bear the trial, be brave, hold out, tough it out, bear up against the adverse circumstances. Hum, so it seems that the act of resisting is not something that necessarily comes easily, especially depending on the severity of the circumstances at hand. So, how do we resist and win the battle? James instructs, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he shall flee, draw close to God and he will draw close to us.” See (James 4:7-8)

And how do we submit to God?

By doing exactly what the Messiah has instructed us to do. Believe God—Trust God—Fear not!

And how do we do that?

We must study the Bible! We must meditate on what it says, until it easily flows from our hearts—until it can beat trepidation down with the quickness. It is imperative in the life of  the Believer to fill up our emotional and spiritual storehouse with the Word of God until it overflows into every aspect of our lives. That way when you are sitting in the doctor’s office receiving a bad report, you will not be overwhelmed by what you hear, but overtaken by the peace of God. When you are sitting around with your classmates and the “fear of” starts to control the conversation, you are able to encourage them and yourself to “not worry” about tomorrow and focus on trusting God. No more precious time spent on worrying about things to come—that never do.

There is only one thing that can beat down trepidation and that is our Trust in God.

Sisters, it is time to stop letting the spirit of “trepidation” cause us sleepless nights, knots in our stomach, constipation, anxiety, fatigue, stress and steal our joy and hope in the Lord. It is time to rise up and work on renewing your mind. It is time to know how to resist the devil before he shows up and overpowers you.

First—read your Bible! And if you could use help or instruction on how to apply what you are reading, I suggest Joyce Myers book, The Battlefield of the Mind! It will be some of the best monies spent. Amen!!

Blessings & Hugs

Until next week......