Don’t Be Afraid or Discouraged

Isaiah 41:10(NLT)
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Our Heavenly Father is our Refuge, and He tells us not to be afraid. For those that are in a relationship where domestic violence is occurring, believing this may seem like a tall order. Fear is often used by an abuser to keep the abused in a state of powerlessness. To those that have endured an abusive relationship for a while, words like victory, comfort, and everlasting peace might seem to be a reality that is far away, but it's not. As God's children, we can have a life filled with God's blessings and goodness. He doesn't want anyone to be abused or mistreated. As individuals that have been hurt and heartbroken, we must come to a place where we trust His desire to bless and help us more than we trust any other thing.

Marriage between a man and woman is the first relationship that God created for humans. This gives us an indication of how He blesses marriage and delights in its unity. It's His institution, and it's a beautiful one. God never intended that one person in a significant relationship would abuse and mistreat the other. Marriage serves His purpose of spreading His divine unity and love in the earth. However, since Adam's and Eve's betrayal of God's Word, many of us have misunderstood or neglected God’s purpose for marriage, and we haven't done so well with it.

Abuse is an evil weapon against marriage and other relationships. Men who abuse have used a debilitating combination of terror and apologies with the significant women in their lives. Prior trauma, heartbreak, and emotional immaturity has caused many women to give up their power and authority in Christ. Sometimes, we misread the toxic and dysfunctional treatment of domestic violence and abuse and mistake it for a man’s deep devotion. We must open our eyes about this and see the truth.

There can be a lot of reasons why we remain in an abusive relationship, and they are sometimes deeply rooted in the emotional and mental behaviors we’ve learned over the years. There can be no mistake in realizing that unlearning some of these behaviors and becoming more emotionally intelligent are the first steps towards living the life God wants for us. We have to come clean about the fact that we’re placing an abusive relationship above our own right to live a life of freedom and peace. Freedom and peace are God given rights that no other can give, and it is our privilege to walk in them by walking in Christ. 2Corinthians 3:17(NLT) declares, “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” We must begin the business of throwing out all the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors that keep us from wholeheartedly believing and trusting in the liberty and other rights we have received because of our union with Christ.

Many women have made the mistake of placing their relationships with men over their relationship with God. This goes against the commandment of Christ when he tells us in Matthew 6:33(NLT), “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” This verse makes it plain that we should never allow ourselves to be more emotionally dependent on what we’re receiving from the man than we are on our Heavenly Father. That’s a costly mistake. God tells us in 2Corinthians 3:5 that He is our Sufficiency. He’s the Source of all goodness in our lives. We must depend on His strength and love, and never place any person or thing above our commitment and devotion to God through Jesus Christ.

Some of us become addicted to relationships, obsessed even, and we need to repent from this behavior. I’ve personally known women that will leave their jobs in the middle of a workday to hunt their boyfriends down. These men were dishonest and had emotionally abandoned them, but the women couldn’t accept it. They would not trust and believe that God wants better for them. Making another human being our everything indicates that we’re out of balance, and we need to renew our minds to what God says in His Word. We need to take authority in our lives through Jesus Christ as we pray and have faith in God for solutions, healing, good judgment and wisdom.

We can become spiritually malnourished and betrayed by our own selves because we’re seeking the man when we should be seeking God, the Giver of all good and perfect gifts. As the strong women that God has made us, we can never allow ourselves to be completely wrapped up in another individual to the point where we lose Godly perspective and direction for our lives. God will deliver us, hold us up with His mighty right hand, and give us the victory, but we have a part to play as well. We must learn to love ourselves through the pain. Self-love means that you will be an active participant in your own healing, and that healing starts with trusting and believing God. When you honor Heavenly Father first in your life and in all that you do, you’re honoring yourself as well. Don’t let being insecure, afraid, and discouraged take a front seat in your life. Let the love of Jesus Christ be your source of joy. Put him in the driver’s seat and place all your faith in the love that he has for you. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Don't Be Afraid or Discouraged”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.