Fear Not!
Is 43:1 ¶ But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
This whole chapter is beautiful in its encouragement to me, and to you, personally, if you will let the Lord speak it to you.
Some years ago, while running our construction company, we experienced a typical Oklahoma thunderstorm, a real ‘gully washer’ with the sky black as night, and lit up with spectacular bursts of chain lightening. It was a Friday night, after a brutal work week, and I was bone tired, and so into my truck I jumped, headed for the house, 20 miles away. Our office and shop were located behind Jenks airport on 81st or Peoria or Elm, whatever the same street is called along there. (Oklahoma humor…). I decided to take the shortest route home, following 81st behind the airport, knowing that this section of road often flooded, but in the hope that I could beat the rising water. It was raining real hard, a driving rain, with explosions of thunder so close it seemed to shake the truck. As I got to the little bridge culvert there behind the airport, sure enough, the road was flooded completely, and I looked down the corridor of water, to see, at the other end of the flooded section, a Ford pick-up enter into the water, and begin to proceed towards me. I figured if that guy could make it in his Ford, my Toyota Tundra would surely go through, and I was too tired, to want to drive the extra couple of miles around the airport to get on the highway the safe way. Had a thought flash across my mind, from a minister named David Hogan, of a story that I had heard on his ‘faith to raise the dead’ tapes, of how he drove right through a swollen river, with the truck completely submerged, emerging from the other side, without a problem, just a good testimony.
So, like a red-necked idiot, I proceeded into the water. As I drove, I noticed that there was a pretty good current flowing across the road, and that it was getting deeper. Of course, the road was underwater, and it was really dark, so it was difficult to keep it between the ditches, cause I couldn’t see where they were. Well, I noticed that the water level was now bumping the bottom of my side mirrors, and I was a little concerned. As I came up alongside the guy in the Ford, the current caught his truck, and swept him into the ditch, putting his truck off the road, under water. I touched the brakes thinking I might stop and help him, but when I did, seems I had created a pretty good ‘bow’ wave, and the water swept over the hood, and a wave went over the windshield. So, I punched the gas, and thought ‘hope that other fella can swim’, and amazingly the truck windshield cleared, and I drove right on outta there!
So, I called my wife on the cell, and she was weeping. Said that God had spoke to her that I was in danger, and she had been crying out to God repeatedly: ‘2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:’.
Musta worked, because the truck became a submarine that day, and did not stall, nor get swept off the road…(I know, it would be a good place to insert a Toyota Tundra ad…LOL!). I believe that God supernaturally delivered me that day, with no harm to me or the truck, simply because my wife prayed. Good to have a praying wife…(In hindsight, I sure hope the other guy could swim…not a lot of love on my part)
Let’s Pray:
“Father, the devil is defeated by the blood of the lamb, and the word of our testimony. I pray that you bring these verses to mind and out of the mouth, in violent faith, in the lives of any of your children in danger, now, or in the future, in Your name I pray Lord Jesus, Amen”