Devotionals

Giving Up

by Antje Hill
05/29/17
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GIVING UP

I moved slowly to my desk by the window. The birds at our feeders were only a few feet away.  I felt sure these little wrens would fly as they saw movement through the window.  But not so.  They watched me, then continued their feast of seeds, looking up occasionally and chirping, no fear whatsoever.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but think of how we humans were given dominion over God’s creation. God has never changed His mind, yet we are slaves to things that hold us bondage, such as fear. 

As a child, I was fearful of dying. My sister laughs, remembering how I would say the Lord’s Prayer over and over late at night. As a young girl, I was fearful of not being accepted. Evangelistic sermons at our little church reinforced my thoughts that I could never be good enough to go to heaven. That fear and the misunderstanding of God’s love took me to baptismal waters more than once, as I tried to “earn” my heavenly home. How freeing when I realized that salvation is not dependent on my actions, but on God’s unshakable love that I had accepted.

Our heavenly Father knows all about Satan’s fear strategy and how he’s on a mission to discredit God’s love.   In 1 Timothy 1:7 we are told, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”(NKJV)   He waits to hear us say, “Father, I can’t do life without you. Be my strength, help me to overcome all that tries to entangle me, I give you control. Amen.  

Antje is a columnist for Parents & Kids Magazine.  She and her husband, Richard, spend time between Mississippi and Michigan.