Written
by Jean Murphy
"Fear,
Meet Your Source"
"What
are your fears?" Fears for the well being of
people you love, fears of being abandoned or living
alone, being attacked, being misunderstood, being
taken advantage of, not finding and marrying a godly
man, not having a family, not being able to raise
a godly family, not having enough money, developing
an illness, or failing academically/professionally.
Fear
is defined as: 1) A distressing emotion aroused by
impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat
is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being
afraid. 2) A specific instance of or propensity for
such a feeling: a fear of heights. 3) A concern; a
fear for someone’s safety. To be worried or
afraid. 4) Reverential awe of (God) . Only a handful
of people I know have grown in their trust in God
to the point that they live almost fearlessly with
a “reverential awe of God” as their only
fear. That said, we will focus on the first three
definitions, generally, the distressing emotions aroused
by impending danger and the feeling or condition of
being afraid. In the end I hope that as we better
understand our fears that we will be more likely to
cast them onto our awesome God.
I
love the Lord and like to think that I fully trust
Him, yet as the weeks went by with this question on
my mind, I discovered I have fear. Fear is something
we all face, so I had to lay down my spiritual pride
that was hiding the fact that I have fears that were
affecting my life. There is a big difference between
not thinking you have fears because you have not acknowledged
your fears and not having fears because you have dealt
with all of them through the truth of God's Word.
Face
The Reality of Your Fears.
Fear is a common issue for all of us, so taking time
to face the reality of your fears is important. Throughout
Scripture, the first words of angels when they speak
to a person are, “Do not be afraid.” (You
can see this in Genesis 15:1 to Abram; Genesis 26:24
to Isaac; Luke 1:13 to Zachariah; Luke 1:30 to Mary,
to name a few.) When Christ appeared after His resurrection,
His first words were also, “Do not be afraid.”
(Matt 28:10 to the woman at the tomb.) In this short
exhortation to not be afraid, Christ acknowledges
that as long as we live, life will cause us to have
fears (even in his presence), but He also reassures
us that we do not need to live a fearful life.
I
had the opportunity to study what some have written
about fear during my time in college. Looking back
over these books, I found the refresher helpful in
my attempt to take something complex and make it simple.
First,
we have the surface fears, fears that are caused by
events in life that happen to us all. These fears
are situationally caused. They involve concerns of
daily life and things we tend to respond to in fear
when they occur, or when we think they may occur.
Surface fears include being fearful of becoming ill,
seeing someone you love do something harmful to themselves
or being fearful of getting older as you see your
biological clock ticking away. These are the things
in life that cause us to react with fear when they
occur or when we think there is a probability they
may occur. Fear can be a normal initial response to
happenings in your lives.
Second,
we have the subconscious fears or the fears that live
within the inner state of our mind and heart. These
fears are far more unsettling and involve our egos
rather than just being situationally oriented. These
are fears of rejection, fears of failure and even
fears of success, fears of loosing control, abandonment,
helplessness, and fears of not being adequate for
the task, to name just a few ego related fears. Subconscious
fears can (if not dealt with) color your whole life.
Consider, if you are afraid of being rejected how
this fear will affect your friendships, intimate relationships,
job interviews and how you deal within social situations.
If you are afraid of failure, this fear will limit
what you are willing to try to do, narrowing your
life dramatically.
Yet
we serve a God of hope, let’s turn to him and
ask him for help in dealing with and defeating any
fears that linger in our hearts and minds.
Heavenly
Father, You are the God of light who desires that
we walk in Your light, in Your complete freedom
and joy, and in the truth of Your Word. Lord, we
want to be whole, strong and courageous daughters
who walk in such a way that brings You glory. So,
we ask You in the same way tKing David did, “Search
me, O God, and know my heart: test me and know my
anxious thoughts. We thank you for the healing and
freedom you bring us. In Christ’s name we
pray. Amen.
There
is a Root, or Source of all Your Fears
Deep within each person are your core beliefs where
your fears will either be originated or are defeated.
Unless you look at the core beliefs that are intrinsically
engrained in you, you can have no victory over either
your surface or subconscious fears. Whatever happens
in your life, the single question you must deal with
in relation to fear is: Will your greatest
needs be met?
You
may think this is too simple to be your core question,
but please keep reading. What is your greatest need
and the greatest need of every person?
You
may or may not believe this, but the fact is that
your greatest need is to know that you are unconditionally
loved by an all powerful, purposeful, all controlling,
good, ever present God. Only when you believe this
statement, can you trust God and put your eyes on
Him rather than focus on your fears. It is trusting
God with all your needs that defeats fears in your
lives.
For
Me, I can Trust God With all of My Needs Only:
- When I know that I am totally,
100% unconditionally loved just as I am. When I know
that I am completely loved by God with a love that
is not based on who I am or what I have done because
unconditional love is His very nature. We can know
that even while we were still sinners, He loved us
with so much love that He sent His son to die for
us to take away our sins and bring us back into a
loving relationship with the Father (1 John 3:16 and
4:10). We can open the Bible to the Old Testament
to see the Lord's love is unfailing (Psalm 52:8),
and everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3). He both created and
redeemed us, seeing us as precious and honor(able)
in His sight. (Isaiah 43:1) Take the time to look
up each of these verses in your Bible and read and
reread these Scriptures and allow the Lord to fill
your core with His love. Unless you know He loves
you, you will not be able to trust Him.
-
When I know that this loving God who personally loves
me is the all powerful God who created the heavens
and the earth and created each person, including myself.
(Genesis 1:1 & 1:28, Jeremiah 1:5, Ephesians 1:18-23)
-
When I know that this loving and powerful God has
a purpose and plan for my life, and that He works
all things for my good according to His good purpose.
(Romans 8:28-29) His plan is that all of us have a
personal and eternal relationship with Him. (John
3:13-17) He wants us to be conformed into the image
of Christ with all His love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self
control developed in us by His Spirit, through our
living in Christ. (Galatians 5:22-23)
-
When I know that this loving, powerful, purposeful
God controls everything. (Isaiah 46:9-10, Ephesians
1:11-12) He even controls the details of clouds and
lightening bolts! (Job 37:15)∑ When I know that
this loving, powerful, purposeful, all controlling
God is good. His character of goodness is that He
is gracious, compassionate, and slow to anger, rich
in love and good to all. (Psalm 145:8). When the Lord
passed before Moses He proclaimed: “The LORD,
the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin,…" (Ex 34:6-7 KJV) God is abounding,
full, overflowing with goodness! The Hebrew word that
is translated goodness in the KJV is “checed”
(Strong's #2617). Checed is often translated as mercy,
kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, and favor, but
its primary meaning is loyal or steadfast love. Checed
refers to God's loyalty and faithfulness to His Word
and His covenants (promises) with His children.
-
I know that this loving, powerful, purposeful, all
controlling, good God is ever present and will never
leave me or forsake me. (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua
1:9, Matthew 28:20)
When
you know that God is overflowing with love and goodness
for you and not only can care for your every need,
but will care for your every need, what is there to
be afraid of? Considering God met your most necessary
need of forgiveness of sin through Jesus, what other
need could possible go unmet? His love for you is
perfect and can take away your fears. 1 John 4:18
says, “Where God’s love is, there is no
fear because God’s perfect love drives out fear.”
Can
you see that knowing that you are loved by God, knowing
of His great power, purpose, goodness and presence
in your life is the cure for all of your fears, including
the core fear that your greatest needs won’t
be met? With this core knowing or belief in place,
when you experience a fear, it is immediately defeated
in the truth of who God is and the love He has for
you. You can trust that through His presence, He will
provide the ability to endure anything He brings your
way so you don't need to respond to anything in fear.
Do you have this type of faith that enables you to
trust God? Maybe you need to take the second step.
Defeating
Fear, Part 2; Breaking Up with Fear
Defeating Fear, Part
3; Making It Last
Works
Cited:
All Scripture quoted is NIV
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary 2nd
edition Random House
Psalm 139:23-24
Rene Schlaepfer, Teaching Pastor, Twin Lakes Church,
Aptos, California
Zechariah 2:8
Galatians 2:20
