The only thing to fear is............

Revelation 2 (The Message)

 ⁸Write this to Smyrna, to the Angel of the church. The Beginning and Ending, the First and Final One, the Once Dead and Then Come Alive, speaks: ⁹"I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan's crowd.¹⁰"Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won't last forever.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his famous speech about fear at his Inaugural address on March 4, 1933. Here is that transcript:


"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.


I wonder if he read Revelation 2:10. They sound similar in tone and power.  FDR gave his famous speech before attacking the problem of the Great Depression. He knew that unless we addressed our fear of what was to come, we could not move forward. We would be paralyzed.
We are now and have been facing one of the most difficult times in our nation's history. Unemployment may not be at the same levels of the great depression, but they are very high. Our nation has been paralyzed, maybe not by fear, but by lack of openness and candor of our leaders. The same frankness and vigor of our leaders is just not present. They are too busy destroying each other to think about healing our nation. Many Americans fear what is going to happen to them. They are close to losing their homes to foreclosure, they are struggling to put food on the table, many are either unemployed or underemployed. You can sense the stress level of the nation when you follow the present election campaigns. It wasn't just FDR that told us we don't have anything to fear. God has also told us we have nothing to fear. The Devil has no power over us. We might have some suffering down hear on Earth. Their will be poverty, dire poverty, and pain, constant pain. But, we have the power of the almighty God on our side. We know that we have the victory. Our life here on Earth is only fleeting in terms of the Eternity we are promised. Praise God, he loves us and cares for us. We have nothing to fear with God on our side.


Dear Lord, Thank you for your love. We know we don't deserve it and our faith is weak. We count on your strength, we count on your perfect wisdom, to guide us through poverty, pain, and all of life's troubles. We love you. We worship you. We adore you! Amen!