One of the service’s primary organizers was Mary Sue Ledford, who had been my English teacher my freshman year and my friend and supporter ever since. When she called to ask me if I would be one of the speakers, I was honored. But it was a particular quote from Mary Sue that stood out the most from that conversation. She said, “Russell, I will not live in a county of fear.” I had known her for years but had never heard her speak with that level of sincerity and passion. She meant what she said down to the core of her being.

Several years have now passed since that conversation, but I often find myself thinking back to Mary Sue’s quote. For obvious reasons, it comes to my mind when I am facing some daunting challenge or potentially perilous situation. When my first instinct is to shy away or pull back, her words remind me that fear is no way to live. That goes for not only living in a post 9-11 world but also many other seasons in life.

Of course, the Bible is certainly not silent on this issue, particularly when addressing the Christian. Consider the following verses:

-2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us (Christians) a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

-1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

-Romans 8:14-15: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

-John 14:27: Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

It’s been said that courage is not the absence of fear; it is doing what you ought to do in spite of your fear. I like that. And it is with that thought in mind, as well as Mary Sue’s quote and these verses that I have listed, that I ask you, Christian, “Are you somehow letting fear dominate your life these days?” Perhaps you are scared about an upcoming event. Perhaps you are scared of what some problematic person is going to do. Perhaps you are scared about the state of the world. I don’t know your circumstance, but I do know that people can be scared of all kinds of things. All I’m saying is, whatever your big, bad thing is, face it head on with a courage befitting a bona-fide child of God. Never forget that you are not alone in the fight. God is your heavenly Father. Jesus has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. And the Holy Spirit dwells inside you. So really, Christian, with the triune God right there in the fray with you, what could you possibly have to be afraid of? There is absolutely nothing that He can’t help you handle.

Truth be told, many historians doubt the truth of the legend. Some of them contend that Cortez did purposely render his ships unsuitable for sailing but didn’t burn them. According to the theory, he did this because he didn’t want his men to mutiny and return to the safe haven of Cuba. Others say that the idea of Cortez burning the ships stems from a poor translation of the Latin in which the story was written. But, hey, let’s not let the facts get in the way of a great story!

If you want to run with the idea of going full bore into something by “burning your ships,” there’s a Bible story that you’ll like. It’s even one that you’ve heard. It’s the one about God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to facilitate their escape from Pharaoh’s army. You’ll find it in Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14:21 says that the Lord divided the waters and turned the sea into dry land by means of a strong east wind that blew all night. In Exodus 15:8, Moses describes this wind as the blast of God’s nostrils. Isn’t that great? And so the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land. But then what happened? The Egyptian army pursued them into the dry land only to be drowned in the depths when the waters came crashing back into place once the Israelites were safely on the opposite shore.

Okay, now here’s where I’m going with this. When those waters thundered back down and closed the pathway through that sea, that was God slamming the door shut on the Israelites possibly returning to Egypt. You see, it wasn’t just His way of slaying Egypt’s army; it was also His way of forcing the Israelites to forge onward into a new day. Going back to Cortez legend, it was God burning Israel’s ships.

As you read this, perhaps God has pushed you out into a new adventure but you are considering returning back to more comfortable ground. All I’ll say is that if you genuinely believe the adventure is of the Lord, don’t try to return to Egypt. There’s nothing for you back there. It doesn’t take much faith to live in Egypt anyway. That life is what it is. But it takes a high degree of faith to let God lead you step by step into a new, uncharted land. So it might just be that a good prayer for you to pray right now would go something like this, “Lord, if you want me to continue on with this adventure, close up the waters behind me so that I’ll have to stay here in this new land. And then help me make it here.”

The spy thought about the choice and, in the end, chose death by the sword. After the execution, a curious bystander asked the general what lay behind the “big, black door.” The general answered, “Freedom, but they always prefer the known to the unknown. People are afraid of that which is undefined and less certain. We gave him a choice. Behind the door is freedom, but few men are brave enough to take it.”

Christian, could it be that God has recently placed some “big, black door” in front of you? And could it be that your fear of the unknown is keeping you from having the faith to walk through that door? Rest assured that God doesn’t operate like that Persian general. He isn’t playing games with you, and He’s not seeking your demise. What He’s trying to do is build your faith in Him. He wants you out of your comfort zone. He wants you to take a test you haven’t memorized from years of taking. He wants you less confident in yourself and more eager to lean on Him.

What am I saying? I’m saying that God-ordained “big, black doors” are portals to a closer walk with Him and a more exciting and invigorating life. But you’ve got to have the faith and courage to step through them. Satan wants you to spend your life fearful, unchallenged, underdeveloped, and wrongly satisfied with the status quo. Don’t let him keep you from experiencing all that God wants you to experience and becoming all that He wants you to become.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)

Upon first impression, the answer seems to be that, yes, we should pray silently. I mean, after all, Satan and the other fallen angels can hear, can’t they? And the sole purpose of their existence is to mess up what God is trying to do, right? So why give them advance notice of what we are asking God for in prayer? Isn’t that kind of like an army publicly announcing it’s battle plans to an enemy army?

But to find our answer my preacher friend and I turned to the Bible, and we quickly realized that we just couldn’t make a scriptural case for always praying silently. The simple truth is that the Bible gives us various instances of people praying aloud. Solomon prayed aloud in his great prayer of dedication for the Jewish temple (2 Chronicles 6:12-42). Eliajh’s prayer on Mount Carmel seems to have been aloud (1 Kings 18:36-39). Those believers who met in that upper room following Christ’s ascension prayed aloud (Acts 1:24-25). So did Paul and Silas when they were in prison (Acts 16:25). Paul also prayed aloud when he met with the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:36).

Now, it is certainly true that Jesus instructed His followers to go into a room and shut the door when they prayed (Matthew 6:5-6). However, His purpose in saying that was to get them to avoid the hypocritical way of public praying “for show” that was so common among the Pharisees. Basically, what He said was, “Hide yourself,” not “Shush yourself.” Actually, you can pray aloud even if you are in your room with the door closed.

So, in the end, we should understand that there is no Bible prohibition against praying aloud. Yes, Satan or some other fallen angel might be listening in, but that doesn’t mean they have the power to either prevent or delay God from granting a request. So, if you like to talk out loud when you pray, go for it. After all, what you say in prayer is much more important than how you say it.

The best way to describe yourself is like this: You are a soul; you possess a spirit; and you live in a body. Really, the only thing that others see of you is your body. Furthermore, whatever you get done in this world, you’ll do it via your body. As mysterious and wonderful as the spirit and soul are, they aren’t much for mowing the yard, cooking a meal, holding down a job, reading the Bible, going to church, witnessing, etc. You need body parts (eyes, ears, arms, legs, feet, a brain, a skeletal structure, etc.) to get those things done.

This is why, at the moment of a person’s salvation, God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person’s body, not the person’s spirit or soul (Romans 5:5; Romans 8:5-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:5). Just as a pilot flies an airplane, a captain steers a ship, or a driver drives a car, the indwelling Holy Spirit wants to be at the controls of the person’s body. Also, having God the Holy Spirit inside your body automatically turns your body into a temple. Please understand that everyone’s body is not a temple. That honor is reserved exclusively for the Spirit-indwelt believer (the genuine Christian). The body-builder, the yoga instructor, the fitness guru, and the health- food advocate may all have bodies that are in peak condition, but if these people don’t know Christ as Savior their bodies aren’t temples. Only Christians have “temple bodies.”

Still, though, just because a Christian’s body is a temple and the indwelling Holy Spirit is in there, that doesn’t mean that the Christian has handed over the controls to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul understood this and said to the Christians of the city of Rome:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

That term “living sacrifice” is an odd one, isn’t it? How can a sacrifice survive an altar of death? How can it live once it has become a sacrifice? The answer is: The Christian’s body remains alive, but the inner will, which is sin-tainted, corrupt, and prone to take destructive paths, dies on the altar. The body will now be used to carry out that which is “holy, acceptable to God.” The indwelling Holy Spirit will be given the controls unreservedly. He will now fly the plane, captain the ship, and drive the car.

But would you believe that even the indwelling Holy Spirit will not stop the aging process? Mark it down, the bodies of non-Christians and Christians alike wear down over time and eventually cease working. This goes back to the sin in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Hebrew scholars tell us that the original Hebrew behind the words “you shall surely die” literally mean “dying you shall die.” You see, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit their bodies began the long, long process of dying, and eventually that process culminated in their physical deaths. Genesis 5:5 says that Adam actually lived 930 years, but that verse ends with the words “and he died.” And the members of his race have been dying ever since, haven’t they?

But did you know that when all of the various stages of God’s sweeping, eons-long, prophetic program have played themselves out, not one body will be left unresurrected? This isn’t the time or place for me to go into every last detail of that prophetic program, but concerning the resurrections John 5:28-29 is a good summation passage. There Jesus says:

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Notice that Jesus spoke of two categories of resurrection. There will be the resurrection of life, and there will be the resurrection of condemnation. Scripture teaches that the saved believers from all of history will have their bodies resurrected and glorified, even though there won’t be one general “resurrection day” upon which it all happens. (As I said, there are multiple stages to God’s grand plan of prophecy.) But what about the bodies of the lost people from all history? Well, those bodies will all be resurrected too, but for them the resurrection will not involve glorification. Also, their bodies will all be resurrected on a single day. This day will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth, and it is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

You can read that passage for your homework, but I’ll go ahead and tell you that the bodies of the lost are called forth from wherever their final resting places are (graves, the sea, etc.). Each body is then reunited with the soul that once inhabited it, as each soul is called forth from that unimaginably horrific place we know as “hell.” And it is then that the lost person will be cast resurrected body and reunited soul into an even worse “hell” that is known as “the eternal lake of fire.” There the souls will not be annihilated and the bodies will not be burned up. Instead (and this is beyond tragic) each lost person will spend all eternity, body and soul, in that place of torment.

The Greek word for this eternal lake of fire is Gehenna, and Jesus says in Matthew 10:28:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).”

You see, the “Him” who is able to cast both soul and resurrected body into the eternal lake of fire called Gehenna is Jesus. But listen, He doesn’t want to do that to you! What He wants is for you to experience salvation by placing your belief in Him as your personal Savior. Once you do that, you won’t have to ever worry about the eternal fate of either your soul or your body, and you’ll be able to present your body as a living sacrifice to Him in this life and enjoy the awesome rewards of the afterlife. So, if you haven’t made this decision for Christ, won’t you do so right now? And, one last thing, get used to that body of yours because you’re going to be spending all eternity in it.

But the fire accelerated faster than he expected, and by the time he got the baby outside the flames had trapped the four-year-old in his second floor bedroom. Frantically, the father looked up to the window, and through the thick smoke he saw that the boy had raised the window and was trying to get out. The man yelled, “Jump, son, I’ll catch you!” The boy, who was now engulfed in smoke, said, “But I can’t see you, daddy.” The father’s reply was, “That’s okay, son. Jump. I can see you!“

Tell me, is God calling you to make some “jump” with your life these days? What I mean is, is He asking you to do something you’re not quite sure about? Maybe you’re arguing with Him about it. Maybe you are hesitating to obey Him. Well, I want you to remember that if you know for certain that it’s God who is doing the calling, you needn’t worry about not being able to see where you will land. You’ll land in the strong arms of a God who loves you more than you can imagine and knows what’s best for your life. And when it’s all said and done, you certainly won’t regret having made the leap.

Since this snow is one of those “heavy” ones, we’ve been living under the constant threat of broken branches falling down onto power lines. Fortunately, our house only lost power for about three hours on Friday night. But other folks in the area didn’t fare so well. Some were without power for over a day. As for church today, we cancelled, just like virtually everybody else around here did.

The thing that has fascinated me about this snow is the effect it has had upon my two boys. They’ve seen snow before, but they haven’t seen a big storm like this. These mountains of western North Carolina get a fair amount of snow, but you have to go back to the winter of 1993 to find a storm that dumped this much on us. 

Actually, when I was a kid, some thirty or thirty-five years ago, we got these big snows much more frequently. I’m being serious and literal when I say that one year we were out of school for virtually the entire month of January. But, alas, now our typical snows are in the two to four-inch range. That’s what made this one such an event for the boys.

Over the past couple of days, they’ve ridden their snowboards for hours on end, built not one but two snowmen in our front yard, and begun construction on a couple of snow forts in the back yard. I don’t think the forts will get finished, but the boys have never even begun such forts after previous snows. That right there tells you that this storm is one for the memory banks.

Ryan, the twelve-year-old, said something interesting to me yesterday. He said, “Daddy, I’ve never seen a snow this big. Is this one of those like you got when you were a kid?” I said, “Yes, son, it is. It really is.” Following that conversation, I thought to myself, “Here is a boy twelve years old, and yet he’s just now seeing a snow this big. What should I make of that?” What I made of it is that our weather seems to have changed even over the course of my lifetime.

But, please, don’t put me on the global warming bandwagon with Al Gore and the others just yet. I have no point of reference for the weather in other parts of the world. Furthermore, even if our planet is getting warmer, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the increase is the result of what mankind has been doing to the planet. Maybe we have simply entered into a different long-term weather cycle.  

What I’m absolutely, positively, don’t have a doubt in my mind about, 100% sure of is that global warming isn’t going to bring about the end of life of earth. I’ve studied Bible prophecy and I know how things are going to play out. Yes, the book of The Revelation describes ecological disasters and cataclysmic events, but they all take place under the sovereign control of God. Our weather operates inside His mighty hands.

So, Chicken Little, calm down and know that God is in charge of such big departments as the weather and life on earth. I don’t mean to convey a “don’t worry, be happy” attitude, because much of the prophesied stuff for this earth’s future is very grim. But let’s never forget that God is in control. Not man. Not mother nature. Not mother earth. Not big business. Not Greenpeace. Not the United Nations. There is no panic in heaven, and the whole situation down here is in no way spiraling toward some undetermined end.

I can’t speak for you, but that simple, childlike faith in a sovereign God gives me great comfort. It makes me feel “safe.” What’s even better is the fact that this sovereign God once took human flesh upon Himself and was crucified on a Roman cross for the sins of the world. Even better than that is the fact that He arose from the dead and ascended back to heaven. Even better than that is the fact that I have placed my belief in Him as Savior. So, come deep snow, wintry mix, rain, or sunshine, I can rest in the knowledge that I will spend eternity with Him. That should give anybody a warm feeling on a night when there is a blanket of snow on the ground.

“Giving new bedding plants some rough treatment at planting time may be the best thing you can do to help them survive in the garden. When I was new to gardening, I tried to set tomatoes, petunias, and other bedding plants in the garden without disturbing their roots at all. Nowadays I am much more ruthless…If the plant has been growing in its pot so long that the roots are circling the bottom, I jab my finger into the bottom of the soil and pull down to untangle the roots…If the whole pot is filled with circling roots, I have to be merciless. I don’t worry if I break some of the roots; that’s better than allowing the roots to continue to circle when the plants are growing in the garden.”

I think Riggenbach’s gardening advice about breaking up encircled roots can also be applied to life. Oftentimes, the worst thing that can happen to a person is to continue to live the same life year after year. Such a circling of roots doesn’t lead to health and growth; it leads to stagnation and rut.

Change can be a good thing, a healthy thing. God told Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6:5-22). That was change. He commanded Abram (Abraham) to leave his home in Ur and journey to a land that He would show him (Genesis 12:1-3). That was change. He commanded Moses to leave the safety of Midian, go back to Egypt, and lead the Israelites out of bondage (Exodus 3:1-10). That was change. He commanded Amos to leave Tekoa and go prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel (Amos 7:14-15). That was change. Jesus commanded Matthew to leave his job as a tax collector and follow Him (Matthew 9:9). That was change. Peter was instructed to eat meat that wasn’t kosher (Acts 10:9-15). That was change. On and on the list of Bible examples goes.

One of my favorite ones from the list comes from the life of Jacob. Through an incredible series of events, Jacob came to the point where he was prepared to load up his large family and his sizable holdings and move the whole show from Canaan to Egypt. He had learned that Joseph, his long-lost son, was now second in command of Egypt and wanted Jacob and the family to join him there.

Charles Spurgeon suggested four possible reasons to explain any hesitation that Jacob had concerning the move:

#1: Jacob was 130 years old at this time. Old people don’t like change.

#2. Egypt was a pagan land. It was well known for its pantheon of false gods.

#3: Egypt was the subject for bad memories for Jacob’s family. Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, had once gotten into trouble in Egypt. God had forbidden Isaac, Jacob’s father, from going there.

#4: Jacob had been warned of future evils. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and serve the people of that land for four-hundred years. Assuming that Abraham passed that revelation down to Isaac, and that Isaac passed it down to Jacob, it wouldn’t have taken much deduction for Jacob to figure out that Egypt would be that land.

Still, though, despite these four very real reasons for hesitation, Jacob pulled up stakes and made his way to Beersheba. That was pretty much the southern edge of Canaan. It was the jumping off point to Egypt. It was also a place that Jacob knew well. He and his family had a long history there. From what we can gather from the Bible’s record, Jacob had spent his childhood years at Beersheba.

But now we come to the best part of the story. While Jacob was camped at Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to God. That was his way of rededicating himself to God and saying, “Lord, I am about to make a major change in my life, and I want to make sure that this change is Your will.” What a great attitude! Jacob did a lot of things wrong in his life, but he certainly got it right on this occasion.

God must have thought so too because He spoke to Jacob that night and said, “I am God, the God of your father, do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” Let’s take these statements one at a time and examine each of them.

First, God said, “Do not fear to go down to Egypt.” God wouldn’t have said that unless Jacob was somewhat afraid of the change. Yes, Jacob had stepped out in faith and begun the move, but he certainly didn’t blow past Beersheba and head straight on down to Egypt. The fact that he stopped at that southernmost part of Canaan and offered sacrifices shows something.

Second, God said, “I will make of you a great nation in Egypt.” God did keep this promise. Four hundred years later, when the Israelites made their exodus out of Egypt, they were some two million strong.

Third, God said, “I will surely go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” There are a couple of possible ways to interpret these words. God could have been referring to where Jacob would be buried. When Jacob died in Egypt, a large group made a one-time trip back to Canaan and buried him in the family burial cave. On the other hand, God’s promise could have spoken to the fact that God would one day bring Jacob’s nation, the Israelites, up from Egypt and settle them again in Canaan.     

Fourth, God said, “And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” What a beautiful scene this describes. Upon Jacob’s death, his beloved son, Joseph, would be right there to close the eyes on the corpse. What a comfort it was for Jacob to know that he would die with loved ones gathered around him.

You see, God was breaking up the encircled roots in Jacob’s life. He was replanting Jacob in brand new soil by commanding him to make the greatest change of his life. It was a scary time for Jacob, even painful. But the change would produce incredible blessings and fruit that simply would not be produced if Jacob stayed where he was.

Perhaps God is dealing with you these days about a major change that He wants you to make. If He is, I encourage you to follow Jacob’s excellent example. Before you officially “take the plunge,” have your time at Beersheba. Rededicate yourself to God completely and let Him know that you don’t want to do anything that isn’t His will. But when He gives you the assurance and peace that the change is of Him, don’t be afraid to launch out with Him. Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from your “Egypt” blessings and fruit.

A Persian general once presided over the execution of an enemy spy. This general had an unusual procedure for putting prisoners to death. He gave them an option. They could either accept death by the sword or walk through a big, black door. After thinking the situation over, the spy chose death by way of the sword. Following the execution, one curious observer asked the general what was beyond the black door. The general answered, “Freedom, but they always prefer the known to the unknown.”