How much does fear rule your world?
We’re seeing fear all around us, these days, pumped up by the media to a dizzying height until I’m reminded of this verse:
“… men fainting at heart from fear, and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”
Luke 21:26 (YLT)
It’s a powerful verse, when you unpack it in phrases.
I grew up being very fearful of many things, and my fear of the end times made me pray that God would lay me to rest so I wouldn’t have to endure it. I would be sick to my stomach thinking of it.
One day, as an adult, as I was communicating with God, I was inspired to evaluate myself with regard to fear. How many of the decisions I made on a daily basis were actually made from an underlying base of fear. I knew I had some issues with fear, but I never realized how many, until that day. Almost every decision I made could be traced back to a variety of underlying fears.
- fear of getting/appearing fat (and look at me now! lol)
- fear of making my husband upset
- fear of my children being hurt/unsaved/appearing untrained
- fear of cherishing sin and not being saved myself
- and oh, so many more …
Now, I know that most people believe that a little fear is healthy. But is it? Well, we don’t want people jumping off cliffs, or doing stupid things like that, but fear does not need to be the reason we make those good decisions. Better to understand the laws of gravity and the frailty of human anatomy, and make it from that basis, don’t you agree? Better to make my healthy eating choices because I understand how my body works and responds to what I eat than just my fear of becoming fat or dying of cancer. Better to claim God’s promises and believe them to be true than worry about the salvation of someone I can’t save, anyway …
In the Bible, every time God or angels meet with people the first thing they say is, “Don’t be afraid.” Why? We do dumb things when we’re afraid, like run away from Someone Who loves us, or becoming unable to listen to what He’s saying because fear is screaming too loudly in our ears.
Perhaps the first emotion in our hearts that needs to be surrendered to God, is our fear.
“There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is, there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love.”
1 John 4:18 (BBE)
Looks like love is the antidote, as it is with every issue we have.
In times of stress and strain we are being shown what is in our character that still needs the healing touch of God’s love, whether it is fear, anger, hostility, apathy, even just shutting down emotionally. God’s goal is to make us complete in His love. Only then can we make sound-minded decisions, and really be undisturbed by fear in this world that is getting more chaotic.
May God’s love complete you! I’m praying for you!
By Erna McCann
- The Gift - December 23, 2021
- The Perspective of God’s Will - September 29, 2021
- The Narrow Path - May 9, 2021
