Most of us eat every day, some of us too much because yesterday's food
is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do some
of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.
It is Sunday, October twenty nine, twenty twenty three. Hello,
my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
your Daily Portion where we give you God's Word every single day, and today
is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series. God's mission,
my mission, and our caption for today is our excuses, and here's
one of them. Fear. Sometimes we use fear and an excuse. We'll
get into that in just a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome
to you and ask you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com.
Please join our online community. Please also please also share where you are in
the world and pick up your Daily Portion book at your Daily Portion dot com.
Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway. Father
in Heaven, thank you for giving us the privilege to open up your word
today. Please give us the fullness of your holy spirit, and never allow
fear to short circuit our faith. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen
and a man again. Let me just say two things very quickly. One,
fear is natural, but God is sovereign. He's supernatural human. Fear
is natural, but God is sovereign. He is the creator. He is
super natural. When we have fears, we surrender our fears to Him.
Simple as that. Now, there are examples in the scriptures of people who
did not allow fear to rule him. David, as he was facing Goliath,
when the people of God were frozen in fear, he did not allow
fear to subjugate his faith. Daniel, when he was to be thrown into
the den of lions, did not allow fear to subject his faith. Huh.
The young men, the three Hebrew boys, who were facing a very
hot trial to be thrown into the fiery furnace because they would only choose to
serve God, did not allow fear to short circuit their faith. And I
could go on and on and on. Now, fear is natural. The
body does have a response that God built into it called the fight or flight
response, where adrenaline is secreted so you can run fast if you need to
run fast, or become strong like in the moment, if you need to
become unnaturally strong, Yes, that happens, but that has nothing to do
with when God gives a command to move forward on a mission. If a
truck is barreling down on the road and you see it coming and you suddenly
have this natural fear and you're able to run quickly out of the way or
jump higher than normal, then that is a response that God put into our
bodies for our benefit. But if God says go and you don't go,
that is unholy, That is ungodly fear. This is not a physiological response.
This is a spiritual response. No excuses for fear. Now, let
me read from the book Prophets and Kings, page two hundred and sixty five
to give a real view of what was going on with Jonah among the cities
of the ancient world in the days of divided Israel. One of the Great
Tests was Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian realm. In the time of
its temporal prosperity, Nineveh was a center of crime and wickedness. Inspiration has
characterized it as the bloody city full of lies and robbery. In figurative language,
the prophet Nahum compared the Ninavites to a cruel, ravenous lion, upon
whom he inquired, hath not thy wickedness passed continually. That's from the Book
of Naom, chapter three, verses one and nineteen. That's the end of
the quote. So we are not going to be naive. There was reason
that people who struggle with faith might be fearful of the Ninavites, the Assyrians,
and the Ninovites in particular. I get all of that, got it.
But but even though they were ruthless, even though they boasted that the
filled streets with the corpses of its inhabitants, young and old, and relief
carvings found during excavations depict scenes of soldiers impaling victims. Even though that was
the reality, that was no excuse for God's man Jonah to do the opposite
of what God said. God said, go to Nineveh, cry against the
city, so that he could have mercy on them and not to destroy them.
God was sending him with a warning and an opportunity for the Ninevites to
turn away from sin, but he decided he was going the opposite direction.
And so the first thing we want to do in context of that story is
acknowledge the validity of fear. When I say validity, I'm saying that humans
are fearful at times. I'm not saying excused, okay. And so the
action, well, let me just read this one and verse three and verse
one, the full passage, Woe to the bloody City. It is all
full of lies and robbery. The prey did parteth not so anybody that they
wanted they got them. They were so wicked that anybody they wanted to destroy
they got them. And it was messy, got it. So the scripture
says very clearly who these people were and what they were about, and there
was so much more. You can read that in your spare time. The
action is, though, that we must recognize and acknowledge the fact that we
are afraid, yes, and that it's a human thing. But we want
to surrender that to God. We do not want to allow those fears to
hinder our obedience to God's call. Fear happens, yes, but we must
not allow that to hinder our obedience. Number two, embrace God's sovereignty amidst
the fear. We're not acting like that the thing, the danger is not
there. We're not acting like things are not as bad as they look,
because sometimes they literally are. I could give examples, but it would probably
get our program knocked off of the Internet. Because there are things we have
seen in the news for the last many years, especially all kinds of wickedness
that people have committed against each other. Atrocities, nasty, messy, evil
atrocities committed against people. We have seen it even in our day. And
God is saying that when I send you into those situations to speak for me
a warning or a way to deliver, or a judgment, thou shalt go
and not allow fear to hinder you. Now, the Bible says in Naom
chapter one and verse two, God is jealous and the Lord Revengeth. The
Lord Revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance and his adversaries,
and he that reserveth wrath for his enemy. So the action in this case
is, in the face of fear and intimidation, I don't care how wicked
people can become, how intimidating they are. Embrace the sovereignty of God.
Ah that becomes crucial in moving forward in the mission that he entrusts to us.
Number three, prioritizing God's compassion. God's compassion over our personal apprehensions,
and the Bible teaches us in Jonah chapter four, verse eleven, And should
I not pity Nineveh, that great city we're in are more than sixcore thousand
persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also
much cattle. And so while whereas the city was wicked, yes, they
were cruel. Yes, God said, I will have compassion. And you
need to be the voice of reason that brings people to a point of decision.
Jonah, do not let your fear, do not let your prejudice,
do not let your mixed up view of who God is to deter you.
So we must align our hearts with God's compassion. And this means prioritizing his
love for people over our personal fears and apprehensions, and then finally turn our
fear into an act of faith. Sometimes we just have to convince ourselves through
the Holy Ghost that since God is the one who called us, that his
biddings are enablings, and that He will take care of us as he sees
fit. And so we have some excuses, yeah, but fear that should
not be one of them. A wonderful day, Peace. Thanks for joining
us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but
by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your
daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,