Youth180 Devotions

Devo

Good morning Youth180,

Happy Thursday to you. I’m glad to be back with you this morning for our morning devos here at Youth 180. I hope that you all are doing great. While your home and doing school there that you are taking time to rest and chill during this really weird time we are all in.

I’m excited to share with you some thoughts about fear, our theme for this week. As with our other daily devotions our rhythm is that we read the bible passage together, talk about it a little and then pray together. Let’s jump right in. This morning we’re going to look at Isaiah 41:10, “

10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Such a good passage we have. Right at the start the writer of this psalm is saying do not be afraid. That is a tall order sometimes. We have fear right. We fear lots of things. Right now I’m fearful of what summer is going to look like. Not being able to hang out with people and to do the things that I normally like to do during any other summer. As I think about what this fear there is a lot of my own desires embedded in it. I’m afraid because I don’t want to miss out on the things that I want to do. Lots of I’s in there. There’s a lot of self in that statement. And the sad thing is that that sort of thinking will keep us down, it pull us away from where we need to be. Rick Warren has a great quote when he says, “Fear is a self imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapon of faith and love.” And this is what Isaiah goes on to say. And I love the next part of verse 10 because this is the person that we can lean on to help us with these things. Do not be afraid because God is with us. He’s there to be with us and help us and to guide us. And he does that because of his great love for us.

Maybe right now there might be a blessing in this, and hear me out on this, because instead of doing the things that I want to do maybe I’ll get on the things that I need to do? Like maybe this is an opportunity to work on relationships with folks in my family? Maybe this a chance to get caught up in some of my bible reading, maybe it’s a chance to slow down and to work on some aspects of myself.

And we can easily allow this fear to discourage us. To bring us down. And again Isaiah encourages with the reminder for us to not be discouraged because God is there with us. He’s got our back. We have some pretty incredible access to God through prayer. Prayer isn’t always the easiest thing to do. I know I’m easily distracted and so prayer for me is a challenge. But I know that God works through our prayers and so I gotta push through that distraction and put my fears and worries over to him.

And the second part of this short verse is the reason why we aren’t to be afraid and to not be discouraged.

Isaiah reminds us that it is because God will strengthen and help us, and he will hold us up with his victorious right hand.

What I don’t get from this passage is that our fear will be taken away. There will still be fear. Remember when you were a kid you’d be afraid of something and your parent would scoop you up and give you and protect you. That fear doesn’t go away but your protector, your parent, makes you feel safe.

We’re told that God will strengthen us, he’ll give us the ability and the willingness to get through whatever it is that we are fearful of. And he will help us, God will come alongside us. And maybe he’ll do that with the people around you. Maybe he’s put us or your small group leader or a friend in your life to be someone you can talk to and to help you. I know in my life in specific situations God’s put people in my path to help me through whatever I’m going through.

And he says he will hold us up with his victorious right hand. That is awesome. That God will prop us up. Sometimes it might feel like we are drowning in fear and discouragement. But God is that person is like a life jacket who will keep our head up and out of the water.

So today think about what you are fearful of. Think about what is making you discouraged. Right now there might be more things to be fearful of than you might’ve had before. Allow God to work through that fear and discouragement. Have faith to let God to give you the help and to prop you up. He’s there.

I want to leave you with a passage from Joshua 1:9 says, “9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Let’s pray.