Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you to another week of the month of February 2024 and pray that God will rid your heart of every thought of fear that is paralysing you and keeping you from taking the right steps to experience the prosperity that could be yours in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
In the parable of the man that gave his servants money to work with, which our Lord shares with us, the reason the servant that did nothing with the money he was given did nothing with it was that he was afraid. For years, preachers have taught us that the reason he did nothing with the money given to him was that he considered it too small for him, compared to what others were given. But there is nothing in the account that says or suggests that. (Cf. Matt 25:14-30)
First, as we see in the account, what this servant’s master gave him was much, even though it was a talent. That is because, during that period, a talent was a lot of money. Second, his master gave him and his fellow servants money according to their individual ability (Matt 25:15). So, it was not because the money given to him was too small or was not as much as what others were given that he did nothing with it. According to him, he did nothing with it because he was afraid of losing it (Matt 25:24-25).
In any case, because this servant allowed the fear of losing the money he had been given to possess him, he became blind to every opportunity that he could have utilised in using the money and multiplying it. So, while his fellow servants were multiplying their own talents, he was busy with irrelevancies, things that his master would not ask him questions about. That, of course, was how he lost his talent to one of those that worked hard with their own talents and also lost his place before his master, instead of being promoted. (Cf. Matt 25:24-30)
What is this teaching us? It is that fear paralyses. Fear opens people’s eyes only to failure. And when all you can see is failure, there is every tendency that you will forget that you have God and that He can show you how to turn failure around to success. So, you will find yourself giving up and surrendering to defeat, death or poverty.
But you don’t have to surrender to defeat, death or poverty. None of us has to surrender to these things. Yes, we may be confronted with all kinds of fear because of the circumstances of our lives or of our country. We may be confronted with the fear of hunger, the fear of our children’s school fees, the fear of house rent that has not been paid, the fear of an illness that is troubling our body, the fear of some unpaid debts, the fear of a business or job that is failing in our hands, the fear of a coming examination or the fear of losing someone dear to us.
Whatever form the fear we are confronted with may take, what we need to do is to talk to God about it. And He will handle it for us. David, in one of his psalms, says, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Ps 34:4NIV) Did you see that? When David sought the Lord about everything bothering him and making his heart afraid, He delivered him from all his fears.
How did the Lord deliver this man from all his fears? We would not know, for he does not tell us in detail. But his testimony is that when he sought the Lord, he was delivered from all his fears. So, if you did not know before, know now that God is able to deliver you from whatever fear you have that is filling you with depression, making you sick or making you want to run away or commit suicide. All you need is to seek the Lord’s face about it. And He will deliver you from it, open your eyes to see His provisions for your experience of success and victory and also give you great testimonies to share.
Have a splendid week.
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