Fear not!

This morning I heard a very good sermon on Isaiah 43:1-3.

I was told there are 365 "Fear not"s in the Bible, one for each day of the year. God really wants us not to fear at all. The reasons we do not need to fear are as follows:

1. God has an investment in us. Isa 43:1 says "Fear not, for I have redeemed you."
Redeem here is a banker term meaning to pay a certain amount of money to get the
title to a certain property from the bank. Often the value of that property
depends on the amount of money paid to redeem it. God has redeemed us with a very
high price - the life of His Son Jesus Christ. We are precious to Him and He will
always protect us because He has already invested so much in us!

2. God knows us. Isa 43:1 says "Fear not....for I have summoned you by name". God
knows each of us by name, even though there are 6 billion of us!

3. We belong to God. Isa 43:1 says "Fear not....you are mine." God will take good
care of us because we are His and we belong to Him forever.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isa43:2-3

The waters, rivers and fire here refer to the trials, troubles, testing and temptations that we face in our lives. In all of them, we need not fear because we have God!!!!