Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday August 25, 2009

My friend Dr. Tom Hall of Harvest Baptist Church in Cincinnati is a master at using humor to communicate his point. He recently preached on overcoming fear and in the opening remarks shared this humdinger with his listeners. I suppose he, like me, tries to get the really good stories in while the congregation is still awake.

"One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn out the light when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The Big Sissy!"

The Great Blonde just pointed out the above was near the end of Tom's sermon, I suppose to get everyone woke up for the offering.

Fear is a strange thing in that we think our fear is real and justified. Folks who have other fears are looked upon as at least a little less than spiritual.

The Bible tells story upon story to increase our faith in Him thus enabling us to go in spite of fearful enemies. Paul tells us that;

"He (God) hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake. So that we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

Knowing the Lord is with us in and through the various storms of life infuses courage to our heart. Dr. Tom Wallace taught this truth to me when I was a neophyte in the things of Christ. He hammered the truth of trusting the Lord to enable me to do the things the Lord wanted done. A favorite teaching verse was Joshua 1:9:

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

Tom often said in his West Virginia twang, "Now, Brother Lilly when you get dismayed, you are so afraid you can't get anywhere. The word means to disable through fear. Now, are you going to trust your feelings or the Bible?"

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit

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