“Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”   ~Psalm 91:9-11

When God becomes our hiding place, our confidence, and dwelling, no evil will come upon us. Whatever happens, God will care for us and we will be in a safe place of refuge. And that means even when things look completely contrary!

Sooner or later everyone needs a refuge. In those times when life is just too much to handle—when we’re at the end of our emotional rope—we need to rest in the peace that only comes from running to God.

“And He said to them, come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while…”   ~Mark 6:31

We need to understand that He is our shelter in the times of storm—our place of refuge and peace. We must somehow learn to run to Him in these times and He will guard our hearts and minds. He will replace these fear-filled emotions with a feeling of peace and wellbeing.

“And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.”   ~Isaiah 4:6

In the Bible, those that choose not to know God are called spiritually poor. If we are without faith in a higher power we are at the mercy of a merciless devil. No one can afford to be spiritually poor!

“He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; He lies in wait to catch the poor; He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. So he crouches, he lies low, that the helpless may fall by his strength.”   ~Psalm 10:9-10

By understanding that running to God in prayer is the only way to keep from falling into Satan’s snare . . . we'll be far less likely to get caught up in fear and anger. We will see these situations differently when we become peace filled. Once we learn to get calm and quiet through leaning on and trusting in God, we can start to approach these rough times with a very different mindset.

“Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; preserve my life from fear of the enemy.”   ~Psalm 64:1

Preserve my life from fear of the enemy simply means, keep me from being afraid! Fear is always the bait, it might be disguised as something else, but it always leads back to some sort of fear. Fear of loss of control, fear of not having enough money, being physically sick or injured are all real feelings, but feelings are emotions, and emotions are not reality.

We get to choose our emotions by way of how we choose to react to our problems. If we feel upset or scared, we can choose to go with that . . . or we can turn from it and begin to thank God for all the good in our life. Instantly we will change our reality to a place of gratitude and peace, rather than a place of anger and fear.

When we are tempted to react with anger we can’t see the trap. That’s why we need to run to Jesus every single time we get upset, no matter what the cause. He will show us the way back to peace. We must have faith that He will fix it, whatever it might be. We must have faith that God will solve our problems and heal us. All we have to do is put our problems into God's hands and choose peace.

Troubles and problems are only temporary situations. If we keep our eyes on God and His promise to always take care of us, we will have no reason to fear. It doesn’t matter how crazy your current situation might appear, nothing is too great for God! There isn’t any calamity that He can’t overcome.

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”   ~Matthew 25:26

We’re talking about the Power of the entire universe here, the God that created everything, the Almighty Power that made blind men see, walked on water and raised the dead! How tiny is a cancer tumor or an empty bank account to this Almighty Power?

Staying in touch with God’s love and peace is the key to not getting caught up in fear when things go wrong. The only way I can seem to stay unstuck—not get caught up in Satan’s fear laced traps of anger and despair—is to run to God the very minute I get upset, no matter what the reason might be.

If I so much as acknowledge these feelings of anger as justifiable, I am going down the wrong path and will absolutely get caught up in an emotional trap.

Suffering through troubling times isn’t the end of the world. We all go through difficulties from time to time. Know this, there will always be a reason to get upset. These are the times that we must hold to our faith that God is in control, yes, even through these hard times He has a purpose. Even Jesus, in His humanity, suffered for a purpose . . .

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”   ~Hebrews 5:8

Q: Are you ready to surrender every problem to God (Please leave your comments below.)

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