Faith Over Fear - Isaiah 43:1

In this inspiring episode of Weekly Wisdom with Jeff Schreve, explore the power of faith over fear as we dive into Isaiah 43:1. Jeff shares a beautiful passage that reveals God's unwavering support in our most challenging moments, assuring us that he will always walk beside us through life's storms. Experience the calming truth of God's devotion, and let these reflections from Isaiah solidify your faith. Presented by Pray.com, tune in for an uplifting reminder of how you are never alone, no matter the trials you face.

Welcome to Weekly Wisdom, an inspirational series hosted by Pastor Jeff Schreve. Each week, Pastor Jeff illuminates different sections of the Holy Bible, meticulously extracting pivotal themes and life lessons that can enrich and uplift your daily life. 

This series invites you to delve deeper into understanding the scripture, offering a transformative platform for spiritual growth. As you navigate through this journey, you will be offered an opportunity to fortify your relationship with God, accompanied by Pastor Jeff's insightful guidance. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Isaiah chapter forty three, beginning in verse one. But now
thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and
he that formed you, O Israel. Fear not, for I
have redeemed you, I have called you by name. You
are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will
be with you. And through the rivers they shall not
overflow you. And when you walk through the fire, you

(00:21):
shall not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon you.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One
of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia.
And see before you, since you are precious in my sight,
since you are honored and I love you. Therefore I
will give men for you and people for your life.

(00:42):
Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring
your seed from the east and gather you from the west.
Let's pray together, Lord, What an awesome passage of scripture.
How wonderful to know that you are God, that you
will never leave us and never forsake us. And even
when we face the terrible, fearful waters, you say you

(01:06):
will not leave us, and you will be with us.
And when we're in the fire, Lord, You're not going
to let the flame burn us. Lord, you are the
God who is faithful and true, and we want to
trust you. We want to trust your word and trust
your promises. And we thank you Lord for Isaiah forty three.
And Lord, when we're in the terrible storms of life,

(01:29):
we thank you that you're with us and you will
never leave us nor forsake us. Hi, friends, and welcome
to this episode of the Weekly Wisdom podcast from pray
dot Com. I'm Pastor Jeffshree from Texarkana, Texas, and I
want to talk to you about the giant of fear.

(01:52):
Fear is a natural emotion that affects everyone at some
point in life. But as Christians, we don't have to
let fear con us. God knows that we fear, and
that's why he says so many times in his word,
do not fear. Thankfully, God doesn't get mad at us
for fearing. Instead, he speaks to us to comfort us,

(02:15):
to give us assurance and our fears so that we
would stop fearing and start trusting. Isaiah chapter forty three
is a great passage that shows us how the Lord
speaks to his people directly concerning their fears and gives
them assurances concerning their fears. The passage starts with God saying,

(02:35):
but now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob,
and he that formed thee O Israel. Fear not, for
I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name.
You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you, and through the rivers they will
not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you
shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you.

(02:59):
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One
of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Siba for you, since you were precious in
my sight, since you are honorable, and I have loved you.
That's a powerful statement that should give us great comfort

(03:19):
and assurance this passage of scripture. When God says I've
redeemed you, that word redeemed means to buy back. God
bought back his people with the blood of the Lamb,
took them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land,
and he does the same thing today in a spiritual sense.
It's through the blood of Jesus, our passover Lamb, that

(03:39):
the Lord delivers us from the domain of darkness and
transfers us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in
whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins Colossians, chapter one.
We have been set free in Jesus and have a
brand new life in Him. But not only has God
redeemed us in Jesus Christ, he is also with us.

(04:01):
How awesome is that the Lord says, do not fear,
for I am with you. And when we face trials
and problems and tremendous difficulties, the Lord is with us
every step of the way. When you pass through the waters,
he says, I will be with you. He does not
say if you pass through the waters he says when
this means that we will all face difficulties in life,

(04:24):
but we can trust that the Lord will be with
us through it all. Now, the word for waters in
Hebrew is maam m ay im. This word can be
used to describe floods and storm waters, but it also
can be used to describe wastewater or urine. Now, life
is like Miam because we face some difficulties that are

(04:48):
scary and come up out of nowhere like a flash flood.
But we also face some difficulties that are just unpleasant
and hurtful. We don't want to go through them. But
the Lord says, we've got a go go through this situation.
We've got to go through this water, and he will
hold our hand as we venture through together through the
hard and scary and ugly times of life. Here's another

(05:11):
assurance from the Lord. Do not fear. He says in
Isaiah forty three, verse four, for I love you. This
is an amazing, reassuring statement from God, especially when we
consider that he was speaking to disobedient people who are
facing judgment. God was giving them an invitation to come
to Him even in the midst of judgment. And God says,

(05:34):
we are precious in his sight, We're honored. The word
precious means highly valued, costly, prized, and the word honored
means to be heavy, to be weighty. God uses this
same word to express his glory. He says that we
have weight with him and that we are heavy hitters
in his book. Now, you may not feel very valuable

(05:57):
or precious, but remember this Truth is not what you
think or feel. Truth is what God says, and faith
is believing what God says. This is how you defeat
fear by faith fear is simply false evidence appearing real.
The little poem says it best, fear knocked at the door,

(06:20):
Faith answered, and nobody was there. May you and I
learn to cast our every fear and care upon the Lord,
knowing that he cares for us. Let's pray, Dear God,
thank you for your guidance and wisdom as we face
the challenges and fears of this world. Lord, we're grateful
for the assurance that you have redeemed us the moment

(06:43):
we placed our faith and trust in Jesus. We thank
you that you are with us always, and you'll never
leave us, and you'll never forsake us even in the
worst storms of life. And Lord, thank you that you'll
love us. The cross proves that you'll love us. The
cross proves that that you love me. So Lord, help
me to trust you and to remember that you have

(07:04):
said we as your children, are precious and valued in
your sight. Lord, give us the faith to believe your
word and to cast all our cares and worries upon you.
We ask for your wisdom during difficult times, and pray
that you will work all these difficulties together for good
and lead us to a place of abundance. We love
you Jesus, and we're so grateful for your love for us.

(07:28):
And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Well, thanks
for listening to this episode of Weekly Wisdom. I'm Pastor
Jeff Shreeve and I would love to connect with you.
Visit my ministry website at Fromhishart dot org for resources
and other opportunities to help you grow in your faith,
for more wisdom to last a lifetime, and to make

(07:48):
prayer a priority in your life. Download the Prey dot
com app, and if you enjoyed this podcast, please share
it with some one else in your life who might
also benefit from it. Hey, thanks again for listening, Make
it a great week, and God bless you.