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I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that’s funnier than a child being scared of a vacuum cleaner LOL! Every since I was younger, I can remember my niece, nephews, and even cousins afraid to go near a vacuum cleaner. In fact, it’s amazing that as bad as a lot of my cousins were, something like a vacuum cleaner can cause the worst of children to run for the hills! AJ tripped me out at his reaction to the vacuum cleaner, especially for the first time he saw it! AJ looked at the this strange thing like what in the world is that? But he was intrigued with the vacuum cleaner UNTIL we turned it on! Man……. when we turned that thing on AJ would stand still and not move as if the sound of the vacuum cleaner seemed to paralyze him. I even remember a few times vacuuming close to where he was standing and suddenly began to start shaking! I realize he was shaking as I touched him. I then turned the vacuum off, picked him up, told him it’s OK, and set him in a chair as you see in the above picture.
One of the things I began to pour into him once I saw how terrified he was, it won’t hurt you! Now of course he didn’t know what that meant, but in his own strange way knew I would not let it harm him. Also, it’s amazing that as a child he didn’t know was that he was seeing what he soon would be dealing with. So as he began to sit and look from the recliner (Amy and I laughing because he didn’t move) he was in awe making fun noises, but at the same time “ALRIGHT DADDY! KEEP THAT THANG AWAY FROM ME!”
It’s amazing that as it is with AJ, so is it with us in our lives! Oftentimes God will allow us to be exposed to things that we don’t discern to be a tool of learning, but instead we see it as an instrument of fear! Isn’t it something how God will say things like he told Joshua in Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”? Or like he told Isaiah in Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”? Or how about the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”? And at the end of it you’re like how am I not suppose to be afraid of this? This is bigger, badder, louder than me, and completely above my pay-grade! And then to we oft times go as far as saying I can’t do this or take anymore when you already know what Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me!” and 1 John 4:4 “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
So the question is, How can I overcome fear especially when I’ve never encountered this opponent before? Or how am I going to weather the storm when I’ve been in this so long and I haven’t beaten yet? Understand that everything God does with us is constantly a reflection with how we deal with our own children. Let’s examine the lesson AJ taught us in the steps he used/learned to conquer the trial! God allows you to see things that are challenging to you because He’s trying to strengthen your faith and power! We move from faith to faith in our life! If you’re never challenged with opposition then don’t expect to be as powerful as you could be and wise as you should be. The trials in our life teaches us how to maneuver in times of adversity but unfortunately many of us haven’t passed the test because our reactions all wrong. Wrong actions prevents advancements in the Kingdom of God! Wrong actions will paralyze our success and keep us in a stationary position until we are consumed with the fear of the trial.
PICKED UP AND RE-POSITIONED IN A CERTAIN PLACE
Wherever we are in our lives sometimes has to cause God to relocate us in another place. He picks us up, encourages us, sits us in certain places, then causes us to reflect! This is what I did with AJ! I had to pick him up and set him in a place where he feels protected when truthfully he was never in danger. Most times we place ourselves in the heart of danger when we allow our emotions to cause us to over react! BUT God has you in a safe place! If God brought the trial, it was never designed to kill you. If you caused the trial, He has a solution on getting out safely! AJ as he was in a set place, watched, and saw what was going on! He started watching me!
WATCH AND LEARN
As AJ watched he began to learn that this tool served a purpose. Now he didn’t know what that purpose was but he saw I, his father could handle it! We as children of God have to learn to allow God to show us how to handle it! Our heavenly Father put us in a place and we see from His Word how He handled tough times, especially through the person of Christ Jesus! As we pray, read the Word, and ask him for His wisdom, we have to constantly watch that we don’t move from the place of learning! Always stay teachable! Whenever you get to a place that you stop learning from God, then you place yourself in danger! Psalms 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.”
Practice what you’ve Observed
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When the appointed time comes, then God takes us by His hand and shows us through experience how to handle the trial! 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Now sometimes we’re still nervous and terrified but 1 thing we stand on is MY FATHER IS WITH ME! God allows us to feel the vibrations of the trial, the task of the trial, the pain of the trial, all to show us the victory of the trial. We can’t always see The Father but know He is operating through us! He promised never to leave nor forsake us! And catch this everything we are experiencing, He’s already felt! Hebrews 4:15 “ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” As we keep dealing with the trial with what we learn from God it gets easier because if He’s conquered it already then Victory is our inheritance! But make sure you do what you learned from The Father and not from emotionalism or otherwise you will repeat the cycle. Now note that victory sometimes takes time BUT it still belongs to you!
THE INTENSITY OF THE SOUND
The reason AJ was afraid was not because of the new tool but rather the sound that came from it. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” Notice Peter says the devil is AS a roaring lion which means he impersonates the function of a lion. When a lion roars, he paralyzes his victim to ensnare the prey. The lion is not the strongest animal in the jungle but the roar can be felt and heard for miles! The bible says that Christ is the Lion of the tribe Judah and He has power, so the enemy assumes authority that mimics Christ! Now don’t get it twisted, the devil is a master hunter but if THE LION lives in you then when you roar with the WORD of the KIng then even Satan has to shut his function down! Don’t underestimate the roar of the enemy because from his mouth he has caused suicides, rapes, murders, drug addictions, divorce, wars, betrayal, etc… But this is why as a believer in God’s Word we have to sit and learn how to fight the fight of faith by staying in a set place that God placed us in until He put us in the trial! Learn to Sit and watch in God! Test time is Coming but don’t invite what you’re not ready for!
LESSON LEARNED
The more AJ was exposed to the instrument that once brought fear, he now has no fear and the thing that controlled him, he’s learned how to control it! Check him Out! Now we can’t vacuum without him wanting to do it!
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He still can’t operate a big vacuum but he can operate one his size! God will never drop you in a place that you can’t handle! And if The Father put you there, He’s going to show you how to get through it so you can handle it on your level. God made you so therefore He knows how much you can handle! We often say “I can’t take anymore!” My question is how do you know? If Christ carried His own cross bleeding to death, took on the sins of the world, defeated it, and resides in you then how dare you say what you can’t handle! No matter what God takes you through, it’ll never be greater than what He went through on Calvary! 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
So take a lesson from AJ, he beat fear of the sound of the vacuum by:
Depending on his father to rescue him from dangerSubmitting to the protection and the placement of his fatherStaying in the place his father put himWatching what his father was doing through the trialFlowing with his father through the trial by listening to the instruction givenExalted by his father to a place of conquerorerDoing by himself what he saw his father do
* God will expose you to a thing, pull you out of a thing, teach you how to defeat a thing, put you back in the thing he pulled you from, only so you can have a testimony on how you came out of a thing and say like AJ “I was scared! But now… I AIN’T NEVER SCARED!”*
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
“We stand on this declaration that what once had power over us, we now have reclaimed our power over it!”
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