Unfazed
From dreading the Monday morning alarm going off, to worrying about relationships, finances, paying the bills. Can we afford groceries this week? Will we be able to pay for the kid’s new clothes, shoes? Oh wow! The car needs gas. Again? For Heaven’s sake, a birthday or holiday is coming up! How will we manage that? The doctor’s report? Not to mention the normal every day stuff that goes along with co-workers, friends, “the boss”, birth, death, taxes. Did I mess that up? Did I say or do the wrong thing? Is he / she mad? Will I get to keep my job? Does he / she love me? I’m not good enough. Am I pretty enough? How did I get into this mess? Again!?
The list is endless. At least it seems that way to us.
These not so little things add up and become giant crashing waves in our lives.
We let life get in the way of living.
Worry and dread are nothing more than the devil attempting to distract us from being the person that God created us to be.
The new creation in Christ.
The born again power wielding believer.
The prayer warrior, minister, missionary, encourager, teacher, spouse, parent, child of God, over comer, that He sees when He looks at us.
I believe that God sees us as we are.
But I believe that He also sees us as the completed work that He makes of us.
He is unfazed by our lack of cooperation. He will have His way with His children. But it saves us a lot of work and time if we will just cooperate and trust Him and allow Him to change us from the inside out.
I like that word. “Unfazed”.
Fazed is defined as: Disturbed, disconcerted, daunted, worried, vexed, violent impact.
It comes from the Old English word “feeze” which means: to beat, to drive off, agitation, to frighten, alarm or discomfit, to surprise and create discomposure.
Please don't feeze me.
These definitions are all components of fear.
We let these mindsets creep into our lives, beat us down, drive off our faith, and determine our responses and actions.
So if I like the word “Unfazed”, why do I define “fazed”?
To demonstrate that being unfazed is the direct opposite.
Fear does not come from God. Fear comes from the liar, satan.
Peter was walking on the water, exhilarated and in awe! Until he took his eyes off Jesus and took note of the waves. Only then did he begin to sink. He let the devil distract him with fear.
Jesus wasn’t even paying any attention to the storm. He didn't have a care about it.
Again, He was unfazed by what should have, at least in our eyes, concerned and daunted Him.
We’re human. We get distracted. We encounter stormy waters on a daily basis. We get a bit vexed by it. We are daunted, frightened by the storm and wonder how we are going to make it with our heads under water because we sank once again.
Oof!
Let's plan to act on faith and rely on Jesus in advance of storms.
Let’s make a deliberate intentional effort to become so entrenched in our faith that we look first to Jesus when those distractions and storms come.
If God is unfazed by what we worry about, shouldn’t we also be without fear?
He does not give us a spirit of fear.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 )
So don’t be fazed by life. Don’t live in fear and dread of what a day may bring. Don’t convince yourself (or be convinced by the liar) that things are bad or terrible.
Yes, I know that bad things happen and we do go through a lot. But I also know that if Jesus told us to “...be of good cheer. I have overcome the world...” (John 16: 33) when troubles come, then we should trust Him to be with us and guide us as we go through these terrible, horrible, very bad days instead of being overcome by them.
We should be unfazed as He is unfazed.
No, it’s not easy .... until you do it.... step by step ... day by day.
Maybe you fail. Maybe you get overwhelmed by a circumstance.
But remind yourself of who you are in Christ and that He gives you power to overcome.
So you start again.... step by step ... day by day.
Because the faith and the power is still there in the middle of your bad day. It belongs to you because you are an heir of the One True God. He didn’t leave you.
In fact, you may find yourself being a little cheerful, or a LOT cheerful looking to Him to see what wonders He will do in your life. Again!
You may find yourself looking forward to what God might accomplish through you in a bad (or good) day when you live and trust in that spirit of power and love and a sound mind.
Look to Him. Trust Him. Believe Him. Take Him at His Word. All fear and worry will disappear.
He will give you peace.
Live life unfazed.
Kathy Thompson Ellis
All scripture references are from the NKJV.
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