Psalm 27:1

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I  fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

What an awesome declaration of faith!  We usually think of the Apostle's Creed as the universal statement of faith, but Scripture gives us so many more and so many are found in the Psalms.  The 23rd Psalm is a mighty, mighty statement of faith for the living.  Open your Bible to this psalm and read it out loud, one sentence at a time, with emphasis on every personal pronoun.  Hear what you are saying, and believe it in your heart.  Incredible!

The Lord is MY light and MY salvation;  whom shall I fear?  Absolutely no one.  So then, what can man do to you?  He can beat you up, steal your possessions, maybe even take your life.  But he can NEVER steal the joy of your heart, the light of your life, the eternal salvation of your soul, UNLESS you give it up to him.  These things can never be forcibly removed from you, they can only be taken with your express permission.  And I don't know about you, but I'm not about to relinquish ANYTHING of my Lord and Savior.  Nope.  Not this girlfriend.  I belong to Jesus and He belongs to me.  And that's that.  I'll share Him with you, but I'll never let Him go.

There is a saying I heard years and years and years ago, and it has been burned into the back of my forehead so that it is ever-present on my mind:  "My love for God must become greater then my fear of man."

Think about that for a moment.  What is "fear of man?"  It's that people-pleasing spirit that sits on our shouldes, whispering in our ears things like "they won't like you if you do that" or "that's not the lastest fashion, you won't fit in" or  " you are sooooooooooo fat, no one will love you" or  "you're not pretty/handsome enough to go with us" or "if you don't do it their way, you'll be left out" or "you're not famous enough" or "you're not rich enough" or fill in your own hurt. . . . . . . . . . and the list goes on and on and on and on.  We want to do things to please people so that we will be accepted.  But my love for God must become so intense, so great, so loving, that what man thinks about me doesn't even enter into the equation.  After all, just who am I living for?  What is my purpose?  Who is my light, my salvation, my strength?  Who loves me unconditionally, with no strings attached?

What is your statement of faith?  Have you found a scripture that states exactly how you feel?  If so, print it out, frame it and hang it up for all the world to see.  Everything on display in our homes tells the world what we are about.  If you haven't found a Scripture yet, ask the Lord to lead you to one, and claim it. 

After all, the Lord is MY light and salvation, and I don't fear anyone!!

Thank you, sweet Jesus, for being my all in all.  Everyting I have ever needed or ever will need is in you.  You are my Rock, my Anchor, the joy of my soul, the sparkle in my eyes, the song in my heart.  Praise be your Holy Name.  Hold me tight to your heart, don't ever let me stray.  I am yours.  I love you, Lord, I love you.  Amen.