Are you fearful? Do you fear losing your job? Do you fear being attacked? Are you afraid of going into a relationship? Are you afraid of losing a relationship? Do you fear our world is crumbling? Are you afraid of where you will spend eternity?
There are many things going on in our culture today that can generate fear in us. Watching the news can fill us with fear. Our bosses can instill fear in us. Sometimes we are in relationships where one party or the other dominates through fear. Often, we are afraid of failure.
With all these reasons to fear, how can we overcome them? It is not as easy as it sounds, but the answer is to turn to God and trust Him. Satan will do all he can to keep us from doing that. He wants us to live in fear. He wants us to follow his lead in fear with false hopes of things getting better. He shows us a new shiny object or answer that promises to end our fear and then disappoints badly. Then we reach out and grasp for the next shiny object or answer, only to be disappointed again.
Fear can completely immobilize us. It can cause us to go into hiding. It can cause us to lose the abundant life that Jesus promised to us (John 10:10). Yet Jesus also promises us that He will take away our fear, if we will trust Him. (John 14:11).
There is a line in the Newsboys’ song No Longer Slaves that says, “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.” When we finally believe that line with all our hearts and truly realize we are a child of God with no reason to fear, fear will no longer have a hold on us. It’s not simply an intellectual decision, though that’s certainly a part of it, but it is also very much a heart thing. We must believe it with our heads and our hearts, with no doubts.
It is terrible to be controlled by fear. Yet there is a pathway to leave that control and kick fear out of our lives. It is not easy. It takes work and study and prayer and coming to full belief in God. We all need to step out of living in fear and live as a child of God.
I pray each of us will come to believe that God has us in His loving arms. I pray we all overcome fear by trusting in God. I pray we do the work to build our belief and faith in God. Conquer fear. Trust God, trust Jesus. Turn your life over to God. Believe He is in control.
Luke 12:4-5 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
Marty Pressey 