Fear Not Friday – No Place for a Spirit of Fear of Tomorrow’s Bad Weather

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

Today, Friday, March 14, 2025, in the state of Alabama we are preparing for a significant weather event for tomorrow, Saturday. We live in a state where the conditions of heat, cold and moisture are favorable for long track tornadoes. Our city of Tuscaloosa was impacted in 2011 with the devastation of such a tornado as well as over 200 in our state on that day. There is heightened awareness and many are afraid.

Our news media work diligently to spread a healthy fear to motivate people to be prepared to take actions for life. Tornadoes are incredibly destructive, but are narrow in their path of destruction. A ½ mile away from its path can have limited damage. So we prepare as if it may come directly toward your home. Where should you be in your house?  The smallest room, usually a bathroom.

My purpose for this blog is to help each of us navigate the fears of “what may happen” as sons and daughters of God. We prepare, but not from a place of fear. We listen to the reports for wisdom, but not to stir up more fear. We are responsible to speak and act as those who are no longer slaves to fear, but as ones who have a mind filled with power, love and self-control.

How might this attitude of power, love and self control find expression right now, today in my world, in my life? First, see preparation as an aspect of wisdom and not fear. When I am about to take a trip, I fill my car up with gas. Not because I am afraid I am going to run out of gas, but it is wisdom to have enough to start.  Then I watch my gauge to keep enough in it to make my trip. It’s wisdom, not fear that stirs me into action to stop and put more gas in…well that and a bathroom break at Buccees.

I start with actions of preparedness, flashlights, shoes, checking the generator, helmets, phones charged. These are things I need to do to be prepared. Fear is not the motivation, but wisdom.

BUT equally important as preparedness of actions are things I need to be speaking.

We really do not realize the power of the spoken word to help with our thoughts and to influence the world around us. Jesus spoke to the wind and the rain and it stopped. The disciples noticed the authority of His words. What authority has God given to us as His children? Jesus said ALL authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me, and I am sending you into the world in that authority. WOW.

We only speak with the authority that He has given. But we can speak to the mountains and we can cry out for mercy. Our words can bring life or death…so choose life. The Bible says that we will have to give an account for every idle word we have spoken. What you and I say coming out of our mouths matters. It creates legs of its own to bring life or harm.

Let’s bring this back to the issue of our severe weather event for tomorrow. How then should I speak? I speak life and not death. I will speak God’s word and His ways that faith may rise up in my heart. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Let me illustrate

• NOT – Tomorrow has me really scared, I think it is going to be bad
  • BUT – I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4
• NOT – I’m really scared
  • BUT – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9. Remembering that God is with you, right now, right at the moment, changes everything. When He is present, all that He is, is present. Peace, calm, wisdom, courage, strength, light and life. It is truly amazing how perspective changes when we remember that God is present with us.
• NOT – So many people can be hurt if its this bad
  • BUT – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 12:27

I honestly, had a hard time coming up with the NOT’s because I try not to let my mind and mouth speak those things. Let me share how Pam and I are praying. Throughout her day, she is constantly saying, “God bring friendly weather.” I agree.

“Lord, we ask that you dry up the conditions which are favorable to produce long track tornadoes. You are in control of the heat, cold, moisture and wind. Change those elements so that the weather outbreak is minimal. Lord, if a tornado starts to develop, help it rise back up into the atmosphere and not stay on the ground. Lord Jesus, we speak to the wind and the rain to calm down and to steer away from our house and from other’s homes.

Lord, we thank you that you speak to us during storms. We ask that people hear you clearly about actions they need to take to be safe. May they know when to move to a safe place and even where to be in the home. Again and again we have heard stories in which you helped people be in the right place to save their lives. Do it again Lord Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for our weather men and women who have skills to track potential storms, But you O God direct its path. With sadness we have seen destruction of homes and church buildings in the past. Still, we believe that you are good and are at work in the middle of our sorrow and pain. We know that the devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy, but you have come that we may experience life and peace. 

Lord, we claim and ask for the mercy of the protection you give as revealed in Psalm 91 over our homes, family and friends.  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

Lord, when I start to be afraid, let my mind be stayed on you. For you have said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Today, I speak to my mind to receive Your peace and to remain in your peace. Amen”

When Pam and I walk through our day and we hear someone speaking from a place of fear, we quote some of the scriptures back to them. Not in a preachy way, rather like this.  Someone says, “I am really afraid”. We respond, “God helps us with that fear, He says he gives us His peace which is different than the world offers us, but it can calm our hearts and minds. Let’s pray for His peace to be over us now.”

Jesus is with us in our storms, but we also speak to the storms to not be able to fulfill all of the damage that it is trying to do. Pam is fully convinced that prayers caused our April 27th tornado to shrink for about 200 yards which kept it from destroying our hospital. Even the tracking footage shows a change in its path that is unexplainable. We can speak and pray toward storms.

On this Fear Not Friday, we are not to be anxious about tomorrow. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Preparedness is wisdom, not to be done out of fear. 

Blessings and favor be upon your mind and heart. May His angels protect us, in Jesus name.

Share this with others if you find it helpful. Also, I would love to hear your comments how you were able to navigate your thoughts about fear of things to come.