Friday, May 13, 2016

I'm afraid of... FEAR!


FEAR...

There are so many things in this world that get my heart beating too fast, and my pulse throbbing, not to mention my imagination racing to the possible finish line of whatever is causing the... fear.

F  false 
E  evidence
A  appearing
R  real

Isn't that true? 

When it strikes our hearts, it feels so drastic, and we almost get swallowed up in the nameless, faceless scenarios and possibilities, especially if it's in the middle of the night.

Satan works overtime during the darkness... it's where he is the most comfortable, in the dark places of our minds, and during the night hours when everything bad seems worse!

Do you know how many scriptures speak against fear? 

Lots! 

Why did God include so many 'fear nots' in His Word?

Because he knows the way our minds work. He understands how quickly we become fearful. He  understands that even when we don't WANT to be a victim of fear, many times we are. 

He also knows that the answer to fear is faith. He goes to the bottom of the whole fear issue when he says to trust him with everything. All of it! Like my dad used to say, when he studied the word 'all'.

All he could find 'all' to mean is 'all'.

(It probably goes without saying, but the kind of fear I am talking about is totally apart from fearing God, which includes all the honor and respect that he is due because he is God, the awe and fear of God is in our hearts as his children.) 

The fear of man, circumstances, finances, health, relationships and the whole bag of stuff that we deal with in our lives, that kind of fear is what traps us and trips us too often.

As the years have gone by, I find myself being more afraid of being fearful than daring to just plant my feet firmly and trust God. It's because the lessons learned from living with fear so many times have caused me to understand more quickly that fear is a black hole, and I don't want to be in that hole! It's for sure God doesn't want me to be there either! As I have held my ground in faith, I have learned new lessons and my faith has grown. Just like God knew it would. :)

It's a lifetime of learning, and re-learning... and it's back to the simple basics of what God says. Trust me with all of it! 

The great lesson is always that he is faithful, every single time we dare to trust him.

Sometimes I still try to take a shortcut and figure it out myself, or wring my hands and sweat over things, but before long, I know... LET IT GO... TRUST GOD. 

"For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Tim.1:7