Reflection Questions:
Sample Prayer:
Lord, I bring my fears before You and ask You to reveal what’s really going on in my heart. Show me where I’m struggling to trust You, and replace my anxious thoughts with Your truth. Lead me in the way everlasting, guiding me to walk in faith instead of fear. Thank You for being my anchor and my peace. Amen.
Well, hey friends, welcome back to another edition of the Weekday Podcast. This is episode 10 of 25, built around this idea of what only God can do. And I want to encourage you swing by eastern sugarhill.com eastern sugarhill.com to learn about all things Easter and also to hit the resource tab on that same page to go even deeper on today's devotion. Well, today I want to talk about something that we all deal with, and it's this one little word. Fear. Now, fear comes in many forms. Some of it's rational and a lot of it honestly isn't. But all of it can be a barrier between us and what God wants to do in and through our lives. And so I want to encourage you with this prayer from David in Psalm 139 where he says, test me and know my anxious thoughts. Now notice he doesn't say take away my stress. He doesn't say fix all my problems. He says, reveal what's going on beneath the surface. And that's what makes this a courageous prayer. See, anxiety often hides underneath the radar. What I mean is it disguises itself as control or perfectionism or people pleasing or hyper productivity. But David asked God to test him. Not so that God can know what's there. God already knows that, but so David can know what's there. Because God reveals what's on the inside of us. Not to discourage us, but to actually deepen us. So let me ask you something. What are you anxious about today? What is in your heart today? Are you worried that you won't measure up? Are you worried you'll miss your calling? Are you worried you won't find your people? Worried that your marriage won't make it, Worried that the future won't unfold how you planned? Here's the truth. What you fear the most often reveals where you trust God the least. Now, I had to learn this the hard way. I grew up thinking my grandmother was the worrier in my family. I'd watch her stress out over everything. Then one day, God showed me I'm not so different. It turns out I have my own version of fear now. It shows up for me as people pleasing and not wanting to disappoint anyone and needing to get it right. But if you live to please everyone, you'll end up pleasing no one, especially not God. Proverbs 29:25 says, it is dangerous to be concerned with what others think about you. So as I've prayed this prayer over the weeks and years that I've hung out around this verse, God made something really clear. He said, I have to care more about pleasing him than about pleasing the people around me being approved by others. So I've started replacing lies with truth. Like, instead of saying, what if I don't have what it takes, what if I replace that with God has given me everything I need? Or instead of saying, what if I mess it all up, what if I begin to replace it with God's grace is enough? Instead of asking, what if I'm not enough? What if I replace that with God's love? Says, I am already enough. Fear shrinks your faith, but faith shrinks your fear. When we invite God to reveal our anxious thoughts, he doesn't just leave us with a diagnosis. He actually gives us a way forward. That's why David ends this prayer with this line, lead me in the way everlasting. He's not looking for peace. He's looking for purpose. He's not asking to be comforted. He's asking to be led. So today, I just want to challenge you. If you'll accept it. Don't just pray for comfort. Pray for clarity. Ask God to reveal your fears and replace them with faith. You don't have to listen to your fear. You can choose to trust God instead. And when you do, you'll step into conversations you used to avoid. You'll stop comparing yourself to everyone else. You'll start believing what God says about you more than what others think about you. You'll find peace. Not because life gets easier, but because your soul gets anchored. So today, I just want to invite you to pray this prayer. I'm going to pray it, and I invite you to personalize it. God, would you test me? God, would you know my anxious thoughts? God, would you show me where I'm afraid? God, would you show me when I'm not trusting you? And God, would you lead me in your way, everlasting? Now, you don't have to walk through this alone. And you don't have to pretend you're not afraid. Just bring it to him. Because when fear meets faith, man, I'm telling you God moves. God moves. Well, thanks so much for being with us on episode 10. Again, we're going to go for 25 episodes thinking about what only God can do. And if you want to catch this resource or go even deeper. Go to easter and sugarhill.com and click the Resource tab. And of course, as always, you can go to weekdaypodcast.com to catch all the pack episodes. And I do want to encourage you, if we're not connected on social media yet, go on Instagram, Facebook, all the places and connect with us there. Have a great day and we'll see you back here soon.
