Romans 8:31 (NLT): “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”
Fear is a universal problem and it takes away your joy. But the good news is you don’t have to be afraid. You have God on your side!
What’s your greatest fear? Is it failure? Disappointment, Embarrassment? Rejection? Not fitting in? Satan uses all of these fears to rob you of joy. He knows what will make you joyful, so he creates fears to oppose those things.
For instance, Satan knows one of the greatest sources of joy in life is when you share the love of Christ with an unbeliever. So he makes you afraid to tell people about Jesus. Satan knows doing what’s right will also bring you joy. So he makes you afraid of what other people will think if you do the right thing. He makes you worry more about your popularity than pleasing God.
Here’s the truth. If you are to find joy, you need only one thing. You need to live for an audience of One: God. That’s Jesus’ path to complete and total joy.
He said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11 NIV).
羅馬書8:31“既是這樣，還有甚麼說的呢？ 神若幫助我們，誰能敵擋我們呢？”
恐懼是普遍問題，恐懼會失去喜樂。但好消息是你不必害怕，你有上帝在你旁邊！
甚麼是你最大的恐懼？是失敗嗎？還是失望、 尷尬？被拒絕？格格不入？撒但利用所有這些恐懼來奪取你的喜樂。牠知道什麼會讓你快樂，所以牠會製造這些讓你恐懼的事。
例如，撒旦知道人生中最快樂的事，就是與不信者分享基督的愛；因此，牠使你害怕與人分享耶穌。撒旦知道做對的事情也會帶給你快樂；因此，牠會讓你擔心其他人會怎麼看你做對的事。牠使你擔心自己是否受人歡迎，而不是討神喜悅。
真理是：要找到真喜樂只需要做一件事，就是聆聽上帝的話，為祂而活。這就是耶穌的道路，也是完全滿足的喜樂之道。
祂說：“這些事我已經對你們說了，是要叫我的喜樂存在你們心裡，並叫你們的喜樂可以滿足。”（約翰福音15:11）。
～ Rev. Jireh Lin 林以勒牧師～