{"id":7242,"date":"2017-08-25T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T23:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/?p=7242"},"modified":"2017-08-23T17:01:29","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T16:01:29","slug":"relax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/2017\/08\/25\/relax\/","title":{"rendered":"Relax!"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7242-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/August-25.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/August-25.mp3\">https:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/August-25.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/ISA.43.2.nlt\">Isaiah 43: <\/a><em><sup>2<\/sup><strong>\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty,\u00a0you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression,\u00a0you will not be burned up;\u00a0the flames will not consume you.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do not be afraid! Instead have the kind of confidence, the God kind of confidence that is hinged in God\u2019s truth. Why? You should not be afraid because as a child of God, you never go through crisis alone. The choice to tap into God or not is another thing entirely. But be confident about this very thing, you never go through crisis alone. <em>Nothing can separate us from the love of God.<\/em> If God is near then there is no fear. Since God is near then there is no fear. You and I must be focused on God\u2019s closeness.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The second practical way to banish the fear of unexpected crisis is to <strong><u>relax in God\u2019s care.<\/u><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/MRK.1.38\">Mark 1:<sup>38<\/sup><\/a> \u201c<em>Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, \u201cTeacher, <strong>don\u2019t you care<\/strong> that we\u2019re going to drown?\u201d<\/em> [with emphasis]. When we go through crisis, the first thing we tend to do is to question God\u2019s care and God\u2019s love for us. Why do I have to go through this if God loves me? Do not question God\u2019s care because God\u2019s love is unexplainable. None of us can really wrap our minds around <em>how wide, how long, how high, and how deep<\/em> God\u2019s love is. Focus on the fact that God is not only near but God cares, and just relax!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalms+112%3A6&amp;version=TLB\">Ps.112:<sup>6<\/sup><\/a> \u201c<em>Such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. God\u2019s <strong>constant care<\/strong> of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. <sup>7<\/sup><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is <strong>settled in his mind<\/strong> that <strong>Jehovah will take care of him<\/strong>. <sup>8<\/sup><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>That is why he is <strong>not afraid<\/strong> but can <strong>calmly<\/strong> face his foes\u201d <\/em>[LB, with emphasis]. Settle it in your heart that God will constantly take care of you. And let this truth, the truth of God\u2019s perfect love, banish fear from your life completely.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that the disciples did right was that they took their fears to Jesus. Even though they prayed the wrong prayer and they questioned God\u2019s care, at least they went to Jesus. They did not pray to St. Peter, or to Mary, or into a candle, or chant, or rely on a talisman, or a prophet; they went to Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Prayer<\/strong>: Be still my soul for the Lord Jesus is near and He will take care of you, even until your hair is grey, in Jesus Name!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isaiah 43: 2\u00a0\u201cWhen you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty,\u00a0you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression,\u00a0you will not be burned up;\u00a0the flames will not consume you.\u201d &nbsp; Do not be afraid! Instead have the kind of confidence, the God kind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,145,207,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acknowledge-god","category-confidence","category-contentment","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7830,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242\/revisions\/7830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}