"Flushing Out Fear With Faith in Jesus"

Dear friends,

The days of this new year seem to be quickly clicking by, and January will soon be “in the books.” So may I ask you to stop for a moment and look back over the little stretch of road just behind you? What do you see? Have you been making good progress in your personal holiness and in your service to our Lord’s Church? Are you encouraged about the prospects of a fruitful 2012? I hope you are. But if you are not, may I suggest that you consider the extent to which fear may possibly be causing a drag on your spiritual legs?

What fears might you have? Fears about matters pertaining to your children, grandchildren, parents, or spouse? Fears related to your vocation, finances, health, or church relationship? Fear concerning your ability to endure some great emotional pain? Or possibly fear of fear itself? What causes fear in your heart?

On Friday morning, January 10^th, I was meditating on John 14 in which we hear Jesus’ words to His disciples who were experiencing great fear on that singularly dark night before the crucifixion. His words to those men are ones that you and I should gather into our own hearts: “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me”(vs. 1) and “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (vs. 27).

Jesus tells His disciples to let faith flush fear right out of their hearts! He tells them to believe in God the Father and in Him. And He couples this loving command to have faith with some amazing words of promise and reassurance. Because, by grace, I am a friend (John 15:14) and follower of Jesus, I sought to receive His words into my fear-prone heart in the most personal way possible. I wrote the following in my journal last Friday (which I am only slightly altering here). Maybe you will find it helpful to take up these words (and/or other similar ones that you might write):

• Jesus has prepared a place for me. (vs. 2-3)
• I know the “way”. I know You, Jesus. (vs. 4-6)
• I know God the Father. (vs. 7-10)
• I believe that Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. (vs. 11)
• I believe Jesus when He says that I will do “greater works” than the ones He did when He was here 2,000 years ago. Why? Because He has gone to the Father where He is now my great Mediator in whose Name I can pray so that He will do great things through me! (vs. 12-14)
• I love Jesus; so I will keep His commandments. (vs. 15)
• Jesus has given me the Helper, the Spirit of Truth who will be with me forever, and I know the Spirit of Truth because He lives in me. (vs. 16-17)
• I have not been left as an orphan; Jesus has come and has remained with me. (vs.l8)
• I behold Jesus here this morning. (vs. 19)
• Because He lives, I live. (vs. 19)
• I know that not only is Jesus “in” His Father but also Jesus is “in” me and I am “in” Him. “I in you” – What amazing words! (vs. 20)
• I have Jesus’ commandments, and I keep them because I love Him. Furthermore, Jesus loves me, and His Father (and my Father) loves me, and Jesus will disclose Himself to me, even as He is doing right now. (vs. 21)
• Because I love Jesus and keep His word, God the Father loves me, and He and Jesus have come to me and have made their abode with me! (vs. 24)
• I have the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom God the Father has sent to me in the Name of Jesus, and the Spirit is teaching me. (vs. 26)
• I rejoice this morning because Jesus went to be with the Father. (vs. 28)

“Lord Jesus, I need Your ministry in my heart by the Holy Spirit to help me believe and fully lay hold of the things I have written above. Please work in me this morning.”

I share this journal entry with the prayer and earnest hope that you might be stirred to meditate on John 14 and that the Holy Spirit will enable you to hear the fear-shattering words of Jesus in your own heart!

Walking with you as fellow pilgrims in the Savior's love,

Rod (for Bec and me)

John Stott's Memorial Service to be held in London on January 13th

I TOOK THIS PICTURE IN EARLY 1985 AT THE LONDON

INSTITUTE. WHEN I RETURNED TO THE U.S., I REFERRED

TO THIS MOMENT BETWEEN JOHN STOTT AND THIS LADY

AS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I SAW DURING MY YEAR

IN THE UK.

It has been almost 28 years since John and I first became friends. I was only 33 years old when he greeted me with a warm embrace and with very kind, receiving words at the door of All Souls: "Rod, my dear brother, how good it is to have you with us." That brotherly welcome and the genuine, loving interest he immediately took in my life forever altered the pathway of our family. He and Martyn Eden had allowed me to attend the Clergy School at LICC, although I was not a clergyman at the time. During those days in May of 1984, John granted my request to do the Christian in the Modern World course (and other studies) at LICC, and he invited me to be in his tutorial group and to meet with him individually over the course of my time at the institute. Becky, the boys, and I then moved to the UK in early August and were there for almost exactly one year to the day. But when we returned to the U.S., the friendship continued between John and each one of our five family members.

Jim, John, Becky, Jake, Uncle John, and Rod - London, 1984

Birdwatching on the levee of the Mississippi River, 1987

Uncle John and "Johnny" (Uncle John was

called this as a boy, and so he chose to

call our John the same.) pause at the edge

of an oxbow lake near the Mississippi

River to look at waterfowl, 1996.

I want to write much more about John's great friendship toward us -- of how he encouraged me to pursue ordained ministry (on a particular evening at 12 Weymouth), of how he initiated a visit to our home in Baton Rouge and spent several days with us (with no ministry engagements on the schedule here), of blessed days of birdwatching in Louisiana and at the Hookses, of laughter (until tears poured from his eyes!) over the reading of Saki, of the invitation to be a part of the Langham work, . . . . Beyond any further mention of our shared experiences, I will simply say that John was a real friend -- a lasting friend -- to Becky, to me, and to our sons, Jake, Jim, and John.