WHAT EVIDENCE?

 Hello everybody, I hope you're feeling fine? Hello everybody, I hope you're feeling, feeling, feeling, I hope you're feeling fine?

Welcome to today's gist. 

When I was younger, there was this dilapidated house standing near my father's house in the village: it was made completely of mud bricks. By the time I noticed it, it's walls were cracked and had holes in them but were mostly still standing, it's roof was still intact but had holes in it, the outer doors that I could see were either unhinged completely or barely holding on. For years, I was equal parts intrigued and terrified by the house and I let my imaginations run wild with different theories of what the house stood for, who lived in it, the rooms it had and the contents of the rooms… everything. 

Then one year we were at the village again and I decided to go lay truth to my claims. There was a lull in activity that afternoon, lunch had been eaten but it wasn't time to start preparing dinner, so I slipped quietly out of my father's house, went out the gate, then found my way to the back where this house stood, all the while with my heart in my throat. 

I stood by one outer door of the house and imagined all sorts of scenarios about what would happen when I went in; the native doctor who lived there would either wake up from his sleep or appear in the house, lock me up and use me for sacrifice, or I'd get stuck in this house, lose my ability to speak, be unable to call for help and die alone in the house while staring at my father's house just the other side of the fence, of course no one knew of my fascination with the house so no one would come looking for me there. 

As I thought through this and other really scary scenarios, which I cannot remember now, I decided that I was still going to check out the house either way; like Esther of old, if I perished, I perished. 

So I took the first step through the "barely there" door into the house. Lo and behold! I didn't see anything inside. I continued my exploration from one room to another, which was over fairly quickly seeing as it was a small house with just a few rooms in it, and the entire place was empty! There was absolutely nothing in the house, it was just an old abandoned house. 

I came out through the other outer door, realizing that there was nothing in this house that should have made me as terrified of it as I had been for years, it was simply just a sad, old house that was no longer inhabited. 

Just a few days ago, I randomly remembered this incident. And when I remembered it, I thought about how scared I was by a house that was completely harmless and in my fear, I let my imagination run wild. It reminded me of what my father always told me about fear when I was younger; he said fear is simply False Evidence Appearing Real: untrue facts that have begun to wear the cloak of truth to make you believe the lies that they in actual fact are.  You see, because I had let my mind believe that such a house couldn't be harmless, I had thought up plenty scenarios to back my belief. 

As I continued to think about this, I realized just how debilitating fear can be: it has the unrivaled ability to make you believe the absolute worst about everything and expect bad and terrible outcomes to the extent that it paralyses you and keeps you from taking the steps you ought to be taking. Fear is a power tool the devil uses to prey on us; it makes you doubt God's word, albeit unknowingly, makes you question the abilities God has given you, makes you unable to believe the truth and ultimately keeps you from growing, it takes false evidence makes it appear real to you and then causes you to begin to work in aberration of what you ought to be doing because the facts with which you're working are inexistent and false. 

But you see one thing about fear, no one will be able to convince you that your fears are not real or the true statement of fact, the devil preys so much on your mind that you become so convinced that you're the one seeing the truth and only the grace of God will be able to deliver you. And with fear, comes anxiety, worry, depression, self loathing… an endless list of negativity stemming from that one thing, fear. It keeps you in a never ending vicious cycle of negativity and bondage.

I came here today to encourage you to face your fears today. See, there's no "healthy fear", there's a difference between caution and fear, and the bible tells us in 2‭‭ Timothy‬ ‭1:7‬ that "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."(NKJV) This means that fear is not from God, it is something the devil tries to smuggle in to counteract what God has already given us which is power, love and a sound mind. So I encourage you today, please do not let the devil win. Whenever you are confronted with your fears, please remind yourself that they are merely false evidence attempting to be real and face them head-on! Ask God to help you each day to remember not to give in to the lies that the devil tries to feed you. 

I pray that God will help us not to give in to the temptation of letting our fears get the best of us. 

NLS HOT GIST: We got 2 days break for Easter, good Friday and Easter Monday, and I can tell you without a doubt that I have never anticipated a break as I did with this one! Law school is not for the faint hearted is what I can say, the rigour is unparalleled and this chance to unwind is one I'm very grateful for, even as I pray that I do not laze around and undo all the seriousness that I've been serious for these past weeks. 

So that's that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week and have a wonderful Easter celebration; focus on Jesus and what He has done for you, don't use sin to celebrate Christ's death and resurrection. 

Love,

Achenyo.