Fear is one of the most stressful emotions we can have.  If you want to get stressed out and develop an unhealthy body, let fear control you constantly.  Are you worried about your finances, loss of a job, family problems, what disaster will happen next?  Fear comes from ignoring the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  We are people too busy living in a fast-paced world with too little time and attention on spiritual things.

Fear can be so devastating that the Bible addresses it a number of times.  1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  Fear many times keeps us from taking risks because we may be afraid of failing.

Fear is real and it can debilitate.  Though fear is real, we need not give in to it or allow it to misdirect our decisions.  Fear can inhibit us from not only using our talents and abilities, but also from reaching our full-potential.  And worse, we will be robbed of our peace and joy.  Once we identify fear in our lives, we can relegate it to its proper place: under the control of the Holy Spirit.  God does not want us to unreasonably fear: rather, He wants us to trust Him for everything we need.  Then we are free to pursue and fulfill our God-ordained purpose in life.

Having experienced life without negative fear gives peace, calmness and a sense of success that makes each day an enjoyable experience and a feeling of accomplishment.  We were created with emotions to be able to love and to fear.  Faced with a roaring lion hopefully, your reaction would be fear.  But facing a serious problem does not need to be feared.  Where did fear come from?

Genesis 3:9 – 10 – “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”   He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  This was the first time we heard a person could be fearful.  It was a result of sin and rebellion against God.  How often is your fear caused by not putting God first or listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit?

Isaiah 41:10 – “So 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 41:13 – “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

Do you believe in God’s promises?  How capable are you being able to trust Him?  Are you able to recognize that the Holy Spirit is with you as God says?  Can you believe that God will take your right hand and tell you “Do not fear?

Step one is to believe and trust that this is what God said and it also applies to every Christian.  Assuming you have accepted the above premise, what can we draw from it?  God is with us.  He places the Holy Spirit into our lives as a direct contact to God.  The Holy Spirit is the same as God being with us.  He says He is our God and will have a personal relationship with us.  He tells us that He is capable of giving us power to deal with every situation in life.  He does not imply that we will win every time.  Yet, we can deal with anything while being calm and with peace.  It is only when we focus on the problem that we become distraught, when we should be focusing on how God is going to help us solve this situation.  While dealing with whatever is confronting us, are we asking for that power that God promises to give us?  Isn’t the usual circumstance we face, I will deal with everything by myself?   This is the mistake many of us make.

Step two is to think of every fear you may have.  Do you know what caused it?  Do you know how to eliminate it from being a fear?  Have you accepted that you are a member of God’s family and that He wants to help you?  (You must feel accepted.)  Do you have the confidence that anything can be handled with God’s power?  (I accept God’s promise that He will give me strength and help me.)  Finally you must believe that no matter what happens God knew it was going to happen and He did not intervene to stop it.  Therefore, it must be a learning experience.

Read the first chapter of the Book of Daniel.  Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego put their lives in jeopardy by putting God first and refusing to eat the royal food.  Daniel 1:17 – Scripture said to these four “God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.  And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds”.  We are told, as Daniel and the others, we must put God first in everything and see what happens.  But do we?   It is most difficult to subdue our carnal nature of self-centeredness.

Luke 12:24 – 26 – “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!   Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?   Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

Romans 8:15 – “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.”  Is it too difficult to accept the promises that Christ made when telling us not to worry or be enslaved by fear?

We may understand that we have no reason to fear and accept liberation from it, but we may not instantly be “cured” of fearing.  God, in His love and wisdom, may allow all sorts of problems to enter our lives.  But we’re not left on our own to deal with them; He helps us through our struggles and disasters.  He continually stretches our trust so we can break through the “wall of fear” and rely on Him, trusting Him more and more.  Unless we see God bailing us out of tough or even terrifying trials, we may find it difficult to lean on Him and trust Him to be with us during our times of need.

Many Christians seldom realize that God allows failure to lead them in a different direction.  A number of lessons can be learned from failure.  For one thing, it strengthens us spiritually.  For another, failure not only teaches us to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit, but also it opens up unlimited possibilities.  Every circumstance in life, including failure, can become an eventual blessing according to Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  So how do we overcome fear?  We place absolute trust in God.

What I have learned.  Think negative thoughts and negative things happen.  Think positive thoughts and positive things happen.  As you think you will see those results.  Is this God’s answer to our thoughts?