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“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid...’” Matthew 28:5  | The most dangerous place on earth for the American military (other than active warfare) is the DMZ between North and South Korea. While in Seoul for our Just Give Me Jesus kick-off, I was privileged to tour it as a guest of Chaplain Mike Curtis (in the center with North Korea in the background). Chaplain Curtis also gave me the opportunity to share God’s Word with some of our soldiers during a prayer breakfast on base nearby. I challenged them to keep their focus on the God of Creation Who is greater than any challenge we will ever face.
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As I write this, I have just returned from the Korean peninsula where I was involved in preparations for Just Give Me Jesus which we will hold in Seoul in September. Although life on the surface appeared very normal, the tensions and fears underneath were very real as North Korea rattles nuclear sabres. One day after my return, President Bush gave a 48-hour warning to Saddam Hussein, and three days after my return, the coalition forces began bombing Baghdad in what is called Operation Iraqi Freedom. And all around me I sense fear.
Fear. It strikes young and old, rich and poor, great and small, of every nation, of every culture, of every generation, on every continent. Have you been struck by fear as you have watched and read an unrelenting stream of news accounts concerning war? Do the steady predictions of terrorist attacks and biological weapons leave you terrified? Are you living in fear even now? Fear of the future? Fear of the unknown? Fear of a desert dictator? Fear of disease?
Fear of the consequences of past mistakes?
Fear of failure?
Fear of violence?
Fear of exposure?
Fear of poverty?
Fear of old age?
Fear of loneliness?
Fear of a knock on your door in the middle of the night?
Fear of death . . .?
Do you need to hear the angel say once again, “Do not be afraid?”
 | Although the language and culture are distinctly different, the fifteen hundred women who gathered for our Just Give Me Jesus kick-off had the same heart’s cry as women throughout America. And just as Jesus used the Samaritan woman so long ago, we pray He will use the women of South Korea to bring their entire nation to a fresh encounter with Himself!
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Noah, the only man in his generation who walked with God in the midst of a wicked world, was exposed to the equivalent of a nuclear holocaust, yet he faced it with peace. While Sunday school stories and card store collectibles conjure up in our minds the picture of Noah as a quaint, folksy old zoo keeper with a plump, rosy-cheeked wife, he was in fact a very strong, courageous man of character and faith who could have been tremendously traumatized by the most violent world-wide catastrophe in history.1 The catastrophe Noah survived was a flood that destroyed every living thing on the face of the earth, except for himself, his immediate family, and the animals that were with him inside the Ark. And when the catastrophic flood came, it came suddenly.
The vapor canopy that apparently had been suspended over planet Earth since the second day of creation,2 ruptured as the skies rolled back, dropping billions of tons of water on the earth. The earth’s crust, which had been formed during the third day of creation to cover oceans of water in underground reservoirs and lakes,3 burst as the damned-up fountains of the deep sprang forth with violent force. Torrential rain then poured down for forty days and forty nights as the atmosphere went through drastic changes, overflowing the entire world with water.4 Just the sounds alone which Noah heard from within the safety of the Ark would have been terrifying.
What sounds…
of impending catastrophe,
of erupting crisis,
of violent circumstances,
of unavoidable change…
have robbed you of your peace? Has your terrified panic driven you to buy a gas mask and duct tape? Noah’s peace that enabled him to avoid panic as he not only maintained his sanity in the midst of the storm, but enabled him to come through it triumphantly, rested on his faith in God.
 | | In John 4, Jesus used one woman to bring an entire city into a fresh encounter with Himself. Jean Wilson (center) has almost single-handedly seized such a moment to bring Just Give Me Jesus to her city of London, England, at Royal Albert Hall, October 4th. She is joined by two gifted women, Sheena Gillies and Margaret McVeigh (r to l), who have caught her vision. Together as co-chairs they organized our thrilling launch on February 3rd which confirmed that Jean's original vision is His. |
Noah was totally helpless to change his situation. There was nothing he could do…except trust God as he stayed on the Ark and tended to the needs of his family and those of the animals. He had to keep his faith in God while simply waiting out the silence that followed the storm until God delivered him.
Has God been silent during your storm? Do you think God’s silence in your life means He has forgotten you? Oh, no! God says He has engraved your name on the palms of His hands!5 He says that a mother could forget her nursing baby at mealtime before He could forget you!6 You are in God’s heart and on His mind every moment. He is fully informed of your circumstances and will deliver you when He knows the time is right. God has not forgotten you.
And God had not forgotten Noah. In fact, even though God was silent in Noah’s life, we can be sure that since Noah and his family were the only living persons on the face of the earth, they had God’s total, undivided attention every moment! And so do you!
 | During the 100 years since the last great Welsh Revival, the decline in church attendance and the closure of churches in Wales has been the greatest of any country in the UK. Yet the official launch of Just Give Me Jesus was held in a church that was packed to overflowing with hundreds of God’s people who are earnestly praying that God will “revive us again.” Please join them and us in asking for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on October 11 at the International Arena in downtown Cardiff.
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Are you in a situation that has proven to be extremely stressful? It may not be as stressful as a nuclear holocaust or a universal flood, but has the pressure been great enough so that consuming fear and worry are your constant companions? Have you said good-bye to a loved one who has gone off to war -- with an enemy who has weapons of mass destruction? Are you facing life suddenly as a single parent? Is your business on the verge of total bankruptcy? With no prior warning, have you been fired from your job? Then ask God to give you a specific promise in His Word to which you can cling…a promise on which you can base your faith. God had promised Noah before the flood came that all those within the Ark would be kept alive. And Noah’s peace rested on his faith in God’s promise.
Faith that is based simply on what you want or what you feel is not a genuine faith. What people really mean when they say they have lost their faith or no longer have any hope is that they no longer feel things are going to work out the way they want.
 | William Wallace, of Braveheart fame, was a freedom fighter who gave his life to set his people free. A monument in his honor dominates the landscape surrounding the University of Stirling campus outside of Glasgow, Scotland, where I addressed 500 Scottish pastors and church leaders in January. I challenged them to lift high the name of Jesus -- the Freedom Fighter Who also gave His life to set His people free.
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Noah’s peace was based on his faith in God’s promise to him -- a promise that was fulfilled three hundred and seventy-one days after the flood began when, “God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark…7.’” We can almost hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background as Noah, his family, and all of those animals stepped off of the Ark! What a day of rejoicing that must have been! God had been faithful to see them through!
Like Jeremiah, who would serve God years later during another troubled time of judgment, Noah could say, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”8
Jeremiah’s God was Noah’s God and He is your God. He has not changed.
Just as He was faithful to watch over Noah and all those within the Ark, bringing them safely through the storm…
Just as He was faithful to preserve Joseph through thirteen years of slavery in Potiphar’s house and Pharaoh’s prison…
Just as He was faithful to preserve the little baby Moses floating on the Nile in another, much smaller ark…
Just as He was faithful to preserve the three Hebrew boys in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace…
Just as He was faithful to preserve Daniel in the lion’s den, God will be faithful to you!
Why? Because God is faithful! He cannot be less than Himself!
In the midst of your storm, as you face war, would you not only live in peace by keeping your faith in God, but join this AnGeL in encouraging others not to be afraid -- just trust Him!
 1The story of Noah is found in chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Genesis in the Bible. For added insight, read God’s Story by Anne Graham Lotz, Word Publishing, Nashville, TN, 1997, p. 137-192. 2 Genesis 1:6-8
3 Genesis 1:9-10; 4 2 Peter 3:6; 5 Isaiah 49:16; 6 Isaiah 49:15;
7 Gen. 8:15-17; 8 Lamentations 3:19-23
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