Fear is one of the enemy’s oldest, most effective tools for manipulating God’s children and manipulating those who would become so if they knew how much God loved them.
Fear is real. Fear is, well, scary. Fear is a spirit and it’s not from God.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
Fear makes us do crazy things. My friend once joked,
“Let’s say I have a fear of spiders. Which is worse, seeing the spider or breaking my leg trying to get away from one?”
Fear makes us see things that are not there. Unless we resolve our fears, they will continually deceive us. For many of us, our fears were born out of painful experiences that have stuck with us. We fear rejection, pain, disappointing others, and losing the things that we love.
But when we don’t resolve the inconsistent messages our experiences leave us with, we begin to trust and cling to our fears more than we trust and cling to God.
Charles Spurgeon wrote this about fear:
“Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire.”
Though our fears are real and we have legitimate concerns that wake us up at night, there must be a reason Jesus told us again and again not to worry, not to fear. We have to decide where we’ll fix our gaze and what will occupy our thoughts: Fear? Or Faith?
Choose faith. God loves you profoundly and completely. You can trust Him.
You are an overcomer! Take a deep breath in and gently exhale. With every breath you take, acknowledge your breath as a gift from God who wants you around because He has a plan for your life. Put fear under your feet and trust Him today.
A portion of this post was adapted from Susie Larson’s book, .
Featured Songs: No Longer Slaves – Bethel; Lion & the Lamb – Leeland; As It is In Heaven – Hillsong Worship
What are you afraid of?
