What Moves You?
And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:21-24
Paul, compelled by the Spirit, was on his way to Jerusalem. Other believers, by the Spirit, told him that chains and tribulations were his future in Jerusalem. For that reason, some of those believers told him not to go. Yet Paul was not moved by these predictions.
What moves you? Though most of us will not live our lives as Paul did, there are things the enemy brings against us to move us away from our faith. How easily we are moved speaks to how rooted we are. In the parable of the Sower, the seed sown in the rocky soil could not hold up under the heat of the sun. The heat of the sun a metaphor for tribulation. As a result, the heart of this person was moved away from their faith.
Jesus said in this world we would have tribulation but not to fear, for He has overcome the world. Fear is based on the uncertainty of how something will end. Jesus offers us peace in the face of trials, a contrast to the uncertainty fear brings in the face of difficulty. Jesus gives us peace enabling us to stand and not be moved no matter what comes. Paul tells us peace is like the soldier's shoes, which anchored him to the ground in the day of battle.
Since fear is what allows us to be moved. How do we overcome it? How is it Paul could not be moved even after the warnings of chains and tribulation? The answer is in the above verse. He did not count his life dear. In other words, he did not fear death.
There is something immovable about a person who no longer fears death. Look at this verse in Hebrews 2:14-15, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
The fear of death is the baseline for all other fears. Jesus knew once He eliminated this fear it would be the key to overcoming all fears. It is the primary fear that gave the devil hold over us. As Christians, once we get a revelation we no longer have to fear death Satan loses his power over us. We have been released from that bondage!
This bears out in Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." I am not sure if I can adequately describe the power released in our lives when we are no longer loving our life.
As Jesus said in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." It sounds counter intuitive but what I can tell you it is the secret to becoming immovable, the secret to finishing your race. The path to overcoming every other fear.
