When someone asks me if I am afraid of something I naturally think of a horror movie title or some kind of Halloween image scarred me as a child. Just the other day, I saw something on TV that scared me to death. It was the first few seconds of a show called "Ghost Ship". It was a 20-second mistake, 20-seconds that I will never get back but will remember it for a long time. Those fearful 20 seconds scarred me for life, now I have those images in my mind. So when I think of fear, I think of stuff like that (that I never watch).....or mice.This week in church Pastor Craig challenged us to think about fear in spiritual matters also. Fear is all around us with the different life situations that we face. Think about....losing someone you love, failure to measure up at work, maybe you feel rejection by your friends at school, or elusive unknown factor in your latest medical diagnosis. Life is full of hurting people, feeling hopeless and suffering anxiety because of one fear or another. This crazy life we live, full of so many difficult circumstances, presents us with a host of scenarios in which fear has a big part.
So.....how do we handle it all? With this advice:
- What you fear reveals what you value the most.
- What you fear reveals where you trust God the least.
First thing when I got out of church, I texted the talk notes to a good friend that has been struggling with a few life issues. That will really help I thought. I was doing ok until later when we talked about the notes, I was asked...what's your fears? I didn't think I had any until it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have made some of my fears into an art form. So much so that they were disguised into just plain old inadequacies that I thought I would never overcome. I faced the big issue of failure head on. That was uncomfortable. So basically, yeah.....I was NOT trusting God on something that I know he has called me to do. Now how ridiculous is that??? What in the world? If he has called me to do something, why would not I trust him to help me through it? Because, as if I could justify at this point, I was trying to do the task on my own strength. And wasn't trusting God to complete His work in me, thus resulting in the fear of failure. Ouch!!
So a few tears later, and the truth revealed to me by asking the What if questions....I admitted my mistrust in God and repented. It was hard, and humbling to say the least, but that is what you have to do to face your fears. God is bigger than any fear or crisis of belief or situation or anxiety you might encounter. You have trusted Him with your salvation, which is the most important life issue ever, you can trust everything else too.
Acknowledge your fear and choose to trust God. Ps. 56:3-4 "When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I will trust; I will not be afraid. Seek God when you are afraid until He takes away your fears." Isaiah 26:3 . "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." Go have a face off with your fears. God.Is.Trustworthy. Believe it.
Which fears have been a constant over the years and you just can't seem to get over them? What will you do to seek God and be closer to Him?
1 comment:
So many great thoughts for looking deep into ourselves about what we fear. Our world is so full of hype and the media has us captive constantly to keep us whipped up into a frenzy about the latest earth-shattering issue. Sometimes I think we just need to tune it out and keep it in perspective. I have been through many things in recent years that have made me fearful and I swore this year with God's help I was going to be more "Fearless."
We place so much credence on what our peers or others think of us, but who cares? We can never really fail unless we forget to rely on God, the only one who really matters and with him we need not fear anything! Keep up the good work, Janelle... God's blessings! Love the work of Pastor Craig!
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