Second load is the weight of insecurity.
Running a marathon is not for everyone. Required is not only the obvious physical preparation, but also the mental strategies. Every runner knows that even if you have prepared your body for the toil of running over 42 kilometers, the mental challenge is even greater. Fatigue, boredom, and insecurity is all in the mind. Experts endorse mental strategies that include focusing in the certainty of the moment and not the insecurity of the future; staying positive by remembering the why; and asserting yourself of who you are and the victories from the past.
Remember what we have read yesterday in 1 Kings 19:2 that Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. Her message was direct “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
Although the message was horrifying, let me tell you something; who wants to kill sends an assassin not a messenger. Wouldn’t you agree?
Elijah was petrified thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’
Jezebel wanted more than just kill him, but to shame and taunt him. Otherwise, she would have hired a killer. Jezebel must have had second thoughts in sending an assassin to this great prophet. However, Elijah’s reaction was worse. He became insecure.
Insecurity will kill you! Sending a messenger was very effective, since it had undermined Elijah’s confidence in God. If you want to be strong, insecurity needs to be let go. Do not carry that extra weight in your life. Insecurity builds nothing, but it diminishes who we are. You have to be secure in God.
Do you know what was Elijah’s mistake? An incident happened to him; a failure. And because he went through a struggle, he felt he was a failure.
Let me tell you what you know but needs to hear again today: Just because you went through failures, does not make you a failure. Insecurity is a destructive emotion. "I think, then I am?" No! Be careful with modern philosophies. I am not what I feel. Feelings lie. Some feelings are trying to destroy us. And insecurity is one of the worst feelings. It comes to destroy.
Feeling a failure needs to be overcome.
Feeling you are far from God does not make it so! Fight this feeling of insecurity in order to run the race. God is very close to you cheering you on.
Feel secure in God and do not allow degrading labels to be thrown upon you. Be careful when you beat yourself down. As an example, when you fall and slip, don’t say to yourself “I am clumsy.” Do not bring that to your identity.
When you say to your children: “You are disobedient and have always been.” God is asking you today to not repeat that again. Do not impose an inferior identity on anyone in which God has not planned. Say instead “you have behaved in a disobedient way.” Because they are child of God, and that is their identity. They may not be obedient at that moment, but remember that God brings into existence things which were not there before. Claim our identity as the child of God. Be secure in God. Embrace your true identity. That which you embrace becomes who you are.
Insecurity is deadly. Let go today of yet another heavy load you do not need to be carrying. Assert yourself in your true identity as the child of the Lord and remember that you can be victorious in Him.
Pastor Lincoln Nogueira