BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: “I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” - Psalm 34:4
The Power of Prayer to Deliver You from Fear
by Lynette Kittle
A few years back, our family of six attended an out-of-town conference, staying in a large hotel in the greater Los Angeles, California area. Like Ezra fasted and prayed before embarking on a journey, we fasted and prayed beforehand for safe travels and protection over our luggage (Ezra 8:21).
With a packed hotel busy with conference attendees and our room located directly across from the elevator, it was an active area with people coming and going 24/7. Because it was such a high traffic location, I asked my husband and daughters to make sure to put items away in their suitcases each day before leaving for the conference. Besides not wanting items to get lost or broken in the cleaning process, I didn't want us to leave anything out that might tempt an employee or guest passing by to be dishonest.
Needless to say, after attending conference events all week long, along with traveling back and forth between the hotel and conference location, we were tired and dragging between the numerous sessions.
Rushing to leave our room on the final night of meetings, I found myself the last one out of our room. Later on in the evening while settling into my seat to listen to the speaker, a thought briefly crossed through my mind. Did I close the hotel door completely on my way out? Trying to go over my steps and actions in leaving the room, it wasn’t clear in my mind.
As fearful thoughts started to invade my mind, I resisted the urge to let my imagination run wild with possible scenarios of an open room full of open suitcases. In the midst of my processing, Psalm 119:114 calmed my anxious thoughts by reminding me that God is our refuge and shield.
So rather than let my thoughts run away with worry, I let God’s word assure me our possessions were under His watchful eye.
Realizing it was too late at that point to do anything about it, I was comforted in remembering how we had prayed at the beginning of our stay specifically for the protection of our suitcases.
Like Psalm 34:4 states, “I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”
God delivered me so much so from all my fears that by the time we returned to the hotel later that night, I had completely forgotten about my earlier concerns. As we stepped off the elevator, all six of us stopped in our tracks in seeing our hotel room door unlocked and standing wide-open.
Walking into the room it looked like every piece of luggage had been left unlocked and on display throughout our room. For the four-plus hours we had been away, our possessions had been spread across an open hotel room and in full view of a busy hotel elevator. Yet it looked like everything was still there exactly the way we left it.
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, and more. She has an M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as an associate producer for Soul Check TV.
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