Navigating with Jesus Through Fear and Lack of Control

Jun 14

The following words I heard for us in prayer. They form the invitation for this Encounter.

xo,

Jennifer

It is challenging to live unafraid and present to both the memories of the past and the dreams of the future while also fully awake to the present moment. Let Me explain.

Picture your life as a house. The house’s rooms cluster around a central room, your heart. Your heart is the central room; its warmth heats the other rooms. What do the other rooms represent, you ask? They represent your life’s moments:

The moments you’ve lived already.
The moments you are experiencing now.
The moments I know but you have yet to see.

The house represents everything you know while on earth. There are rooms in the house that you don’t visit often. And then there are rooms that you do.

Again, in these rooms are moments of the past and moments you have not yet lived. If you enter the rooms of the past or the future through your heart, the central room, you can experience these memories through my eyes. You see what I see. You feel what I feel. Everything is filtered through my wisdom and love, then.

But there are some rooms you feel hesitant to enter. The pain of memory is too great, and the fear of the unknown is too intense. Here is where you need Me to guide you so you can live truly free, unencumbered, and truly surrendered to Me.

It requires much–everything–to feel and not numb, to live awake while holding onto nothing but Me to get through.

But you can. You are made to live this way. So, will you come with Me?

Let us journey into each room of your life together–rooms of the past, the future, and the present. You can trust Me. All that is required now is that your heart is open–that your heart comes with us on this journey–not just your mind, imagination, logic, and ideas. On this journey, we need your posture of openness, childlike faith, and trust in Me.

Ready?

First, let’s go together into rooms of the past:

Step in with Me.
Take a deep breath.
What memory do you want to visit? (What comes to mind?)
Stay here in this memory for a while with Me.
What is hard–painful–about that memory? What is joy-filled and beautiful?
I want to show you my presence in the memory. Remain here for a few minutes in this room, this memory, with Me.

Spend 10-15 minutes listening to Jesus and documenting what you heard him say in your journal. Notice how you feel while visiting this memory. Notice how Jesus invites you to experience this memory in a new, fresh way.

Now, let’s venture forward into rooms of the future:

What worries do you have about the future? What frightens you or makes you nervous? Over what situations, people, or dreams do you feel you have no control–but you wish you did? Tell Me about it.

Stay in this room and spend another ten or so minutes with Jesus. Feel his closeness, his kindness, his overwhelming love for you. Have a conversation with Jesus and write it down in your journal.

Finally, exit the rooms of the future and let your attention settle into this moment, the present. Let your mind and heart speak out the following Psalm–Psalm 118. Sing it out to Jesus.

Psalm 118
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
    His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let all Israel repeat:
    “His faithful love endures forever.”
3 Let Aaron’s descendants, the priests, repeat:
    “His faithful love endures forever.”
4 Let all who fear the Lord repeat:
    “His faithful love endures forever.”
5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord,
    and the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.
    What can mere people do to me?
7 Yes, the Lord is for me; he will help me.
    I will look in triumph at those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.
10 Though hostile nations surrounded me,
    I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
11 Yes, they surrounded and attacked me,
    but I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
12 They swarmed around me like bees;
    they blazed against me like a crackling fire.
    But I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord.
13 My enemies did their best to kill me,
    but the Lord rescued me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
    he has given me victory.
15 Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.
    The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
16 The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph.
    The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
17 I will not die; instead, I will live
    to tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me severely,
    but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
    and I will go in and thank the Lord.
20 These gates lead to the presence of the Lord,
    and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer
    and giving me victory!
22 The stone that the builders rejected
    has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing,
    and it is wonderful to see.
24 This is the day the Lord has made.
    We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Please, Lord, please save us.
    Please, Lord, please give us success.
26 Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
    We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, shining upon us.
    Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you!
    You are my God, and I will exalt you!
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
    His faithful love endures forever.