Be Not Afraid

Devotion by: Andrea Sweet

Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:²³‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

My sister is very afraid of being alone at night. She says she is afraid of bad guys under her bed. So she calls out in the middle of the night to our mom or dad and sometimes to me to sleep with her. This has been going on for years. She still does it occasionally but hopefully she is getting over it. I think God was giving her a test and was seeing if she would know God is with her. We know that God is bigger than us and can save and help us but it is God's will to do what he wants. If that happens we need to believe in Him and come to Him in times of fear and know that he is with us.

Prayer: Dear God, please help us not to be afraid, for we know you are with us, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.