Let’s be honest, fear is a very common reality in our lives. We let our emotions to dwell in fear whenever something becomes out of reach, or when we feel we are not in control of something or someone. If we forget our keys, we immediately allow fear to creep into our hearts and think “omg! Did I loose them?” Images of all kinds of scenarios will run into our minds until, we find the dreaded keys that decided to hide in the pocket we never use. We can replay this scenario throughout the day many, many times and in many situations. 

Our society has changed the word “fear” in many instances to “stress”. We allow fear or stress to be a cushion for our emotions. We let it be the cup that holds our coffee. 
What if I told you, that as God’s children we must be intentional on resisting fear inside our hearts? That God wants us to not be afraid of anything? God has a way for us to handle the darts of fear and stress that attack us every day.
Jesus, our perfect example, was never swayed by fear. He did not permit fear to be the standing ground for anything that he did. Not even when he was a child. 

At 12 years old, he traveled to Jerusalem with his parents and headed to the synagogue to learn from the elders. In the process, he is “lost” by his parents for 3 days. When they ultimately find him at the temple, he is very clear to his mother, who is frantic (I would have been a hot mess) about loosing “the son of God” and demands an explanation from him. He replies to her, “mother, Didn’t you know I will be about my Father’s business”. He knew what he had to do, and he wasn’t afraid, not even at that young age.  
So let’s think about what are the places that fear creeps in and how to stop it. 
Fear will immediately show you the worse case scenario. It’s task is to render you hopeless. Expectation is a fruit of faith, so if you allow expectation to grow to counter the fear of being hopeless, you are allowing faith to grow in your heart, thus dissipating what fear could have caused inside of you. 
Fear has no place in your heart when you are secure in your actions. Even though we might not know where our solution comes from, we know that “all things work for good for those that love Him”. Regardless of the outcome, this is where we grow in faith! We KNOW wholeheartedly that God is acting in our favor! Fear is easier to ignore when you have a way out.
The most important part is to be intentional and recognize when fear is at work! Catch it, recognize it, and reject it. 
The enemy recognizes that if he keeps you looking at the fear, you will not grow in faith. Fear is the number one thief of the goodness of God. Not because the goodness of God is not there, working for us, but because we can’t see it! Sometimes we are so afraid of what might happen that we are not willing to consider steps to move into the promises that God has for us! And that’s what the enemy attempts to do through our whole lives, confuse us with fear, letting us assume that “stress” is actually part of who we are, but it’s not! Fear and stress are not yours, and they MUST BE DEFEATED! 
To live a life without the influence of fear is a hard task, but not impossible. It’s an exercise that we can take on,every day, on the smallest of things. That way, when the bigger ones come, you my friend, will be ready to allow the fruit of hope and expectation to do it’s job in your heart. If you feel overwhelmed today, ask God to give you bravery, to open your heart and mind to His thoughts, and to remind you when you have to reject what’s in front of you. Don’t worry, God is on your side. And if He is with you, who can be against you? 

My worth is not dependent on the amount of friends I have.
My worth is not dependent on the eloquence of my words.
Or how many people think I’m smart and funny.
My worth is not dependent on my successes or failures, nor any public or private achievements.
My worth is valued on the life of One Man.
He, who gave it all for me, is all the worth I ever want and ever need.
He, who did not stop at anything to pay the price I could never pay.
He is my worth.
He is my standard.
He is my beginning and end.
With Him, there’s All. Without Him, Nothing.
If I find my worth in Him, and He gave His life to give you worth, how I can not value you?
Your worth in my eyes is not dependent In the amount of friends you have.
Your worth in my eyes is not dependent on the eloquence of your words.
Or how many people think you are smart and funny.
Your worth in my eyes is not dependent on your successes or failures, nor any public or private achievements.
Your worth in my eyes is valued on the life of one man.
He, who did not stop at anything to pay the price You could never pay.
He is your worth.
He is your standard.
He is your beginning and end.
With Him, there’s All. Without Him, Nothing

The disciples were petrified through the storm. Everything around them was saying that they were going to die. They did have one “small” advantage against the winds and the waves though. Jesus was on the boat.
Right after Jesus puts the storm in its place, he asks this question to the disciples, “why are you fearful? Have you lost faith in me?”
When we lose faith, the automatic response from our hearts is FEAR. 
But how do we beat fear? Can we have advantage against fear? 
Let’s bring our attention to what happened just after Jesus took the disciples from one side to the other and brought this storm. They are brought face to face with 3 completely different types of fear, and 3 completely different outcomes. 
The first one is the meeting with the man with 1000 demons. The word of God says that after Jesus sets him free, the people in his town were afraid. They ask Jesus to leave, they’re scared of what other stuff can “come out” in their land. 
Fear will keep you seeing the freedom we can have in Jesus.
The second happens right after this encounter, as they head back home. The woman with the 18 year sickness finds a means to touch Jesus and be healed. Jesus feels the surge of power come out of him, and asks “who touched me?” Full of fear, she says it was her.
To step out of your fear out of obedience to the call of Jesus, will bring you peace and healing.
The third comes as Jesus utters these words to the woman. Friends of Jairus, tell Jesus not to bother coming to see his daughter, because she just died. Jesus says to Jairus directly:

 “Jairus, don’t YIELD to your FEAR, have FAITH in me, and she will live again”
Fear wants you to surrender to it, because the only way fear wins, is IF YOU GIVE UP AND GIVE IT AUTHORITY. 
His response to Jairus is completely backwards from the response to the disciples when they came out of the storm. 
Counteract fear with faith. 
The definition of “yield” is: surrender, admit defeat, back down, give in, give up the struggle, show the white flag. 
Don’t surrender

Don’t admit defeat

Don’t back down 

Don’t give in

Don’t give up the struggle 

Don’t show the white flag
The opposite of Yield is RESIST.

Something very powerful happens when we allow fear to grip our hearts. It takes away our desire to hope, to dream, to believe in the impossible. It was not an automatic response from the disciples to know that he had authority over the storm. But they needed to live through it so they could KNOW. 
Storms bring out the authority of Jesus into your life. 

Fear wants to steal your breakthrough or delay your breakthrough. 

When we don’t YIELD to fear, our faith will grow. 

Hebrews 11:1 says “now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It’s the evidence required to prove what is still unseen”. What other things does God have in store for your life that you haven’t seen yet!!! Do you believe Him? Don’t YIELD to Fear! RESIST! 

Not many passed by the road where he was abandoned.It was all a blur, all he was trying to do was get home. 

Thugs had found him during the journey, and not just stolen everything that would have been worth something, they also beat him to a pulp. 

His thoughts were no longer to survive, but just to not breathe any more, and for the pain to end.

Coming in and out of consciousness, he knew he was close death. “Let it just happen quickly”. 

He saw someone heading his way from afar. He tried to signal, but he was in so much pain that it was to hard to move. He then noticed that he was a Jewish priest, and his heart skipped. ” I won’t die here!” He thought to himself. 

But when the man got closer, he noticed his predicament, and he purposefully made his way to the other side of the street.  

Then, after hours, a religious man, a Levite, made his way through the now darkened road. He, also, crossed the road to not deal with him.
Night came, and with it, the despair of knowing that there was no one that was willing to help him.  
Then, a Samaritan man, passed by the same road. 
He didn’t cross the road. 

He kneeled down beside him was moved with tender compassion for him. The man, in his weakened state started to cry. He wondered if it would be better to just die there, the pain was so unbearable that the slightest move caused him agony. His helper, without considering death an option, started to give him first aid. Pouring olive oil on his wounds, disinfecting them with wine, and bandaging them to stop the bleeding. When he felt he had prepared him well, he took him to a room where he can rest and heal. With that not being enough, he advised the innkeeper that whatever the debt of this stranger, he would repay him when he would get back from his trip. 

We don’t know the rest of this story, we don’t even know if it actually happened, but I have a feeling it did. Someone out there helped someone broken to the point of death, in that moment, he did not consider the repayment for his sacrifice, or the law of separation between Jew and Samaritan. He did not consider that the man was naked or that he was going to be late. He did not see the gravity of this man’s wounds as a reason to not help him. 
He just did it.

It is easy to carry a title beside your name, but it is better to have a soft heart, so when compassion knocks on the door, you let it come in and fill you. Jesus said we will be known by the way we love others, something I can say is so needed right now, right this minute. Let your actions not be moved by selfish propaganda but by a heart filled with love and compassion. 

How would your life change if this morning, as you woke up, 2 huge angels stood right beside your bed?

Big, strong, nothing can’t beat me angels. As you wake up they say “Good morning, ( your name)  your Father in heaven has allowed you see us, we are here to make your life easier. My name is Favor and his, is Grace. Whenever you need either one of us, just let us know and we will act upon any and all your requests. Now get up so you can start your day”. 
How would you respond to that and what would you do? How would it shake up your faith? The possibilities are endless right? 
Guess what! Favor and grace ARE right beside you. They will follow you till the very end of days, every single promise that God declared in His word are this tangible in your life. We can sit and stare at the circumstances that raise against us but I want you to be encouraged! Even though you might not see them with your human eyes, they are right there. The only reason favor and grace are not in a physical form around you is because without faith, we can’t please God. Because He LOVES us He wants to build that muscle that is called “faith” inside of your heart! Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. He wants you to TRUST in HIS word and KNOW that favor and grace ARE THERE! He wants you to believe that Provision and Healing will follow you around, every day, and are there too and they are God’s promises to us! 
What promise do you want to see today materialize? Which ever one it is, KNOW, that’s all of them are that real. 

When we blindly trust in Him, our faith stretches, and we are able to move on to the next place in our walk with the Lord. I think we have such a hard time sometimes trusting Him In the small stuff. Because small stuff sometimes are not things we pray about. But believing His hand is on the little stuff, day to day things that overwhelm you, make your character grow. Then, when the bigger things come, you are ready. We think He doesn’t care about the little things of life, but He does, care SO MUCH! He loves you unapologetically, and He will always make a way for you so you know His goodness. Today, I want you to be encouraged, so that way when you need any of these, Favor, Grace, Peace, Provision, Healing, Wisdom, think of them as big tall angels, waiting for your command. Even though you don’t see them, do not doubt, they are right there. They are better than angels, they are our inheritance that was bought with Jesus blood. And nothing, can ever take that away from you. 

I see it around me all the time. A bride comes in with a big entourage, finds a particular dress that she absolutely loves, comes out of fitting room only to get a motionless response from her group. They don’t like it. Their response questions everything she felt for the dress, and against her own emotions, decides this gown is not the one for her. Has this ever happened to you? 
Today I want to talk to you about discouragement. Discouragement is the killer of hopes and dreams. It will tie you to the things you desperately want to change in your life. It will keep you looking at the circumstance, not at the solution. It will not let you take changes, it will slave you. Discouragement is slavery and it’s contagious!   

Moses was called to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt. In this horrible time of slavery for them, Israel receives God’s promise of deliverance from a very unlikely source. This man was an introvert, he was hiding outside of the city because he had killed someone, he was afraid of what Pharaoh would do to him if he found him. He was not known for his faith, yet God places him in the right place for him to accomplish this task since childhood. We all know the story of Moses’ mom putting him in a little basket in the river to save him from being killed. After he got over himself (for 5 minutes), Moses delivers the news to the Israelites, 
“.. But they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and hard labor” Exodus 6:12
To hear the discouragement from the people brought back the feelings of inadequacy inside of Moses! He didn’t recognize himself good enough for the job because he wasn’t a fluid speaker. What he didn’t see in himself was that God was preparing him for this job throughout all his life! Who else could have walked in palace and gotten to talk to pharaoh? 
Moses had to go to pharaoh 12 times before he finally allowed the Israelites to leave. 12 TIMES! But guess what, HE LET THEM GO! discouragement is a reminder that breakthrough is at the door!
I want to encourage you today! Do NOT look at the mountain ahead, but look at Him who has promised you out of your darkest hour! Remember, He IS capable! He wants you to take ownership of your victory! The Israelites did not know God had started their exit strategy when Moses was born! So be encouraged that He, who delivered two million Jews out of the hand of pharaoh, He has an exit strategy for YOU! 

Isn’t it amazing that the time that Jesus spoke about faith He decided to compare our requests to a mountain, and our requirements of faith to a seed? This picture is a mustard seed. As you can tell, it’s really small. Yet, Jesus compared the faith we need for miracles to be “at least” this small. When the disciples asked Him to grow their faith, this was His answer! Isn’t this amazing? It’s kind of like when your kid asks you to give them the PlayStation of their dreams and you want them to know the value of money, so you sell it to them for a dollar.

Jesus wanted us to understand that it was not about how much faith you or me can have, but how capable He is to move any obstacle in our lives. He wanted us to understand that It has to do with ACTION. “If you have faith, SAY TO THE MOUNTAIN”! It’s not hope the mountain moves, pray the mountain moves, watch the maintain move, NO! He tells us to speak to the mountain and tell it what to do. It takes a mustard seed of faith for you to speak to the mountain. And what is a seed anyway if you don’t plant it? When we activate our faith by speaking it out it’s like planting your faith so it can grow. And Jesus said God will honor your faith! In HIS words, “It (the mountain, sickness, money issues, anything you feel is beyond your control) will move, NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU“. Matthew 17:20

So today, I want to encourage you, to step out in faith and speak out where you want to plant your faith. You can tell me, ‘but I don’t have much faith, Macky! I don’t even know what I believe!’. Jesus compared the amount of faith you need need to move a mountain to the size of a mustard seed… Which is pretty much nothing, so I think He wanted to tell you, you don’t need much, just speak to the mountain, my friend. Speak to the mountain.

Presidential elections brings out the politician in all of us. I was the first in line to post about how I felt about the candidates. This year, it has been much harder for me to grasp the intensity of it all for so many reasons. I am sure you all have things to say about this year’s choices. But this post is not about who to vote for or why. It’s about me, about how I am supposed to change my surroundings. What do people really see? Does anyone want to hear my words? Maybe, I think in my realm of work a lot of brides want my opinion, but I can’t make choices for anyone. We all have the opportunity to make our own choices.  As a lover of Jesus, it’s so hard for me not to constantly talk about Him. But I don’t want my words to be the only thing that screams Jesus in my life.  
“Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done” Matt 8:4
So my point is, regardless of who you vote for and why, always remember that it’s our lives that scream out God’s influence in our lives. That will always shout a lot harder than our Facebook posts.

Jesus said it so clearly that today my prayer is just this. “Father, please let me be an example to others of your love and kindness, let no word out of my mouth hurt anyone or keep anyone away from your kingdom, may my testimony show your goodness and faithfulness as I learn to walk in Your ways”