Confident, Defiant, Reliant: 3 Keys to Tackling FearSample

Reliant

After the outpatient surgery, a female nurse helped me dress while the head nurse, Carlos, called for my husband. After he arrived, they put me in a wheelchair. As God planned, our Airbnb was directly across the street from the private hospital where my procedure occurred. We went down the elevator, out the door, across the street, into our building, up the elevator, and into our rental unit. I got out of the wheelchair and into the bed my husband had prepared for me.

For the next 48 hours, I relied on my husband. He set alarms for my pain medication, kept me steady as I walked to the bathroom, and prepared all our meals. During that time, I was also reliant on God to manage my pain levels. When the waves of pain felt unbearable, I would rock back and forth, breathing deeply and telling myself that I could do all things through Christ. When I started to fear that the pain would never end, I told myself to calm down, breathe through it, and trust Him. Peace comes when we entirely rely on Him. It's the kind of reliance that comes in the stillness, in the surrender, and in the knowing that He is God.

Confident, defiant, and reliant—the psalmist in Psalm 46 is confident that God will protect him, no matter the disaster. He stands defiant against the spirit of fear and is calmly reliant on God to help him through any difficulty. We can have the same confidence, defiance, and reliance on God.

In the Passion Translation, 2 Peter 1:3 reads, “Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by His divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him through a glorious manifestation of His goodness.” We stand reliant on the One who has graciously lavished everything we need on us.

We can face all challenges in life knowing that He is our refuge, our strength, and our helper. And we praise the One who calls us by name and invites us into a life where we can stand confident in Him, defiant against fear, and reliant on Him!

Application:

Take some time to consider how you can become more reliant on God in all areas of life. What practical steps can you take to rely on God more fully in your daily life?

Prayer:

Lord, we know You. We trust You, and we love You. We cannot move, breathe, or live without You. You are our all in all. Lord, we are confident in Your power, defiant against fear, and reliant on Your grace for each day. Watch over us, keep us in the palm of Your hands, and guide us safely through each day.

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