i know i'm not the only person that is fearful of things, but sometimes it can feel as though i'm the only one. fear is a part of human nature, but i'm (slowly) learning that it's how i deal with my fears that determines how i live my life.
the pastor at my church gave a sermon on fear a couple of weeks ago and he made some incredible points on the topic of fear:
1. first and most importantly, fear is NOT FROM GOD. you can rest assured that God DOES NOT SPEAK TO YOU THROUGH FEAR, but through promise: "for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. on the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 corinthians 10:3-5). the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of me; He who lives in me is greater than he who is in the world.
taking every thought captive is incredibly difficult for me to do. the thoughts of fear creep in and before i know it, they've infested my mind and i've come up with the worst possible scenario. it's something that is definitely a work in progress.
2. i am fearful when Christ is not central in my life. i find that when i am at my most fearful, it's because i haven't been spending as much time with Him as i should be. by saturating my mind with Jesus and memorizing scripture and rejecting fearful thoughts, i can prevent a lot of worry from invading my mind.
3. fear is meant by the enemy to immobilize us. satan's job is to do whatever he can to keep us inactive and destroy our relationship with God. he uses confusion to paralyze our emotions and if left unchecked, fear can literally make us sick. i'm learning how to reject fear by reciting scripture.. "God is not the author of confusion but of peace." the great thing is is that satan isn't creative. he's actually pretty dumb. my pastor told us that to the degree that we feel fear, we should beat it with double the amount of prayer. (that's a lot of prayer for me..)
i was talking to my parents yesterday about fear and they reminded me that you can't sweep fear under the rug. you have to face your fears head on and you have to replace it with Christ and his promises.. and you definitely shouldn't dwell on future problems that may or may not ever happen. are they wise or what?
"you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you..." isaiah 26:3
"for God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love and of a sound mind." 2 timothy 1:7
"do not fear, for i am with you; do not be dismayed, for i am your God. i will strengthen you and help you; i will uphold you with my righteous right hand." isaiah 41:10
"now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way." 2 thessalonians 3:16
