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Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute and check the background of every friend.  A family with no breathing room suffocates a child.

On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents.  Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fenced in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline.  They don’t realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.

Permissive parents.  Paranoid parents.  How can we avoid the extremes?  We pray. Jesus’ big message to moms and dads?  Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can entrust our kids to Christ.

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Parenting comes loaded with fears. Dangers buzz in the background. No parent can sit still while his or her child suffers.

Luke 8 tells us Jairus couldn’t. “Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying” (Luke 8:41-42 NLT).

Jesus heeded his fears. He still does. Jesus heeds the concern in the parent’s heart. After all, our kids were his kids first.  Even as they are ours, they are still his. We forget that fact. Wise are the parents who regularly give their children back to God. Parents, we can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors. And we can take our parenting fears to Christ.

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Here are eight worry-stoppers, found in the letters of the word P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L:

Pray, first. “Casting the whole of your care upon Him…”

Easy, now. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”

Act on it. Be a doer, not a stewer.

Compile a worry list. Keep a list of things that trouble you. How many have turned into a reality?

Evaluate your worry categories. Pray specifically about them.

Focus on today. God meets daily needs daily.

Unleash a worry army. Ask a few loved ones to pray with you and for you.

Let God be enough. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else.”

P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L. Peaceful!

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In Matthew 6:25 Jesus says, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough.”

On one occasion, Jesus had taken the disciples on a retreat.  Then came the hungry crowd.  Then the disciples issued a command to Jesus. “Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus issued an assignment, “You give them something to eat.” Do you suppose Jesus was hoping someone would count all the possibilities: “we have five loaves, two fish, and … Jesus!” (Matthew 14: 15-17 NLT)

Standing next to the disciples was the solution to their problems … but the disciples stopped their counting and worried. What about you? Are you counting your problems or are you counting on Christ?

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Do you know God’s grace? Then you can live boldly, live robustly. Nothing fosters courage like a clear grasp of grace. And nothing fosters fear like an ignorance of mercy.

May I speak candidly? If you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness, you are doomed to fear. Only God’s grace can remove it. Have you accepted the forgiveness of Christ? If not, do so. Your prayer can be as simple as this: Dear Father, I need forgiveness. I admit that I have turned away from you. Please forgive me.  I place my soul in your hands and my trust in your grace. Through Jesus I pray, amen.

Having received God’s forgiveness, live forgiven! When Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed. (John 8:36).

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“A person can request forgiveness only so many times,” contends our common sense. If the devil can convince us that God’s grace has limited funds, we’ll draw the logical conclusion. The account is empty. No access to God.

“Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” Jesus spoke these words to a paraplegic as recorded in Matthew 9:2. Jesus was thinking about our deepest problem—sin. He was considering our deepest fear—the fear of failing God. God keeps no list of our wrongs. His love casts out fear because he casts out sin. 1 John 3:20 says,“If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (NKJV).

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Do we matter? We fear we don’t. In Luke 12:6 Jesus says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God” (ESV). One penny would buy two sparrows. Two pennies, however, would buy five. The seller threw in the fifth for free. Society has its share of fifth sparrows: indistinct souls who feel dispensable, disposable, worth little.

It’s time to deal with the fear of not mattering, the fear of insignificance. Why does God love you so much? You are his idea. And God has only good ideas. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT).

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When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. We worship the risk-free life. The fear-filled cannot love deeply because love is risky. They cannot give to the poor because benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams fail?

No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear. In Matthew 8:26 “Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm.” The sea became as still as a frozen lake, and the disciples were left wondering, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (vs. 27 NCV)  What kind of man, indeed. Turning typhoon time into nap time, silencing waves with one word.

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In Matthew 8:26 Jesus asks, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (NKJV). That’s a good question. Sometimes fear is healthy. Fear can keep a child from running across a busy road. It’s the appropriate reaction to a burning building or a growling dog.

Fear itself is not a sin.  But it can lead to sin. If we medicate fear with angry outbursts, sullen withdrawals, or viselike control, we exclude God from the solution. Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door.  Just don’t invite it in for dinner. The promise of Jesus is simple: we can fear less tomorrow than we do today.

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Christ-followers contract malaria, bury children, and battle addictions, and, as a result, face fears. It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It’s whom we discover in the storm—an unstirred Christ.

Matthew 8:24 says, “Jesus was sleeping.” Now there’s a scene. The disciples scream, and Jesus dreams. “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (NKJV).  Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness. It unleashes a swarm of anger-stirring doubts. Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia. It makes us forget what Jesus has done and how good God is. Jesus takes our fears seriously. Don’t be afraid.

Read more Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.