1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

I do not fear for my own life. I know  without a moment of doubt or hesitation where I am going upon my exit from this life.

This morning I put what I had written from the first chapter of Joel in the trash. I did so because I was afraid that it was not God inspired. His words were, my thoughts were not. I was afraid of failing my God. 

I see death and destruction everywhere these days. The news is littered with it. I cannot pray enough to cover all that misery. Feeling bad, being anxious for others is not the fear which John is speaking about in this opening verse. At least it is not as I perceive it today.

His abiding love has done wondrous works in my life. He has changed me. I am not perfected, at least not yet. That is for another life I think. In this life I struggle to keep on task. I have my marching orders and everything around me is a distraction.

I am not at perfect peace. If I were I would praise God in all things, even the things that trouble me so much in the world. When I see what is going on, I believe that God’s Word is true. He warned us of all this and it seems like no one is listening. If they had been listening then their minds would have been transformed and their hearts would be full of love.

My hope is that what I hear in the Spirit will serve God and my response in obedience of faith will accomplish God’s will, which is beyond my control. “Thy will be done.” Obedience of faith does require us to understand His will before we act on it. Faith only requires that we believe God.

Is this the right Word for today? I know what I put in the trash was not. Perhaps that is the message for today. Can we lay aside what we are thinking and seek God’s message for us today?

Don’t let fear distract you.

Luke 15:9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

• Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
• Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

In this post, please give me grace in the telling.

When we use our faith like flipping a coin to discover what to do in God’s will, we are substituting hope for faith. Faith doesn’t have two sides—a coin does. This attitude is as old as religion itself.

Joel 3:2-4 (English Standard Version)

“2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. 4 What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.”

My thoughts here on the coin toss are that we often try to discover what we hope for, assuming it’s what God wants. Faith doesn’t work that way. Faith isn’t a coin toss.

At this point, it might sound like I’m judging how others have used their faith inappropriately. That’s not my intent—at least not from my vision of faith. Joel’s prophetic word comes from a long line of bad attitudes about the choices people make when they seek their own satisfaction and ignore God’s will.

Examples in scripture are often outrageous in their rhetoric to shock the conscience of good people. Joel 3:3 is meant to slap some of us awake.

• Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
• Romans 4:14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
• Romans 4:16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,