Fear Devotion:
When presented with a speaking opportunity at the end of last year, my first reaction was nothing short of sheer terror and fear. I politely and graciously declined the invitation, emphasizing that I was not a speaker and that I was incapable of performing the requested task. Apparently, my first response didn’t suffice for Michael. Over the next several days we engaged in numerous discussions, all of which were very similar; Michael trying to convince me that maybe God wanted to use me to communicate something of value to this group, and me trying to convince him that I was not the right person for the “job.” However, there was one distinct statement that Michael said to me in the midst of our conversations that I believe was the determining factor which led me to commit. He simply said, “If fear is the only thing that is keeping you from doing this, I think you should do it.”
This statement sparked my attention and made me begin to think over all of the missed opportunities in my life. You see, this is how I typically operate…talking myself out of great experiences and opportunities because I am fearful of not measuring up, not succeeding, and more importantly…failing miserably. But you first have to understand how I have chosen to live my life up to this point…only undertaking tasks in areas which I know that I am gifted, accepting opportunities that play to my strengths. Are you getting the picture here? I only take “risks” when I can predict the outcome!
By living this safe, somewhat “wallflower” type of life-style, I have discovered that if I’m not willing to fail, I’m ultimately choosing not to succeed at anything. For almost 26 years I’ve assumed that I was the only one who had been affected by my decision to not take chances. And in the end…yes, I may have regrets of not being involved in something, or I may wish that I would have engaged in this or that. But I had convinced myself that “it’s not hurting me or anyone else.”
But the more that I thought about how fear had incapacitated my life, I began to think about what it had done to me spirituality. I began to wonder…“How many opportunities had God invited me to be a part of that I had blatantly responded by saying, ‘No, God, I won’t do it.” An even scarier question is…“What if my fear has such a stronghold in my life that I will never be who God called and created me to be?” The obvious follow up question then is, “Am I choosing to ignore God’s will for my life because I’m not willing to trust Him fully to equip me to do the things He called me to do?”
You do understand that fear translates to mistrust, right? By living in a constant state of fear, we are ultimately telling God that we do not trust Him to meet our needs. We don’t trust Him to know what is best for us, and we don’t trust Him to be who He says He is. So for me, I had to ask myself what type of God I was talking about. I am talking about the One who, in Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Does this sound like a God who I can’t trust? One of my favorite scriptures that captures the very heart of God is Psalm 139. Take a minute to read these verses and meditate on how much God truly cares about you, how intricately He created you. Based on these verses there is no doubt in my mind that the God who created us in His image, created every specific detail of our being, created us for a specific purpose and has a clear-cut plan, or will, for our lives. This is the God who decided the color of eyes we would have, what our laugh would sound like, the things that make us each come alive, and how many hairs are our on our head. He knows the things we will do even before we have a chance to do them. The only problem with becoming who God called us to be and fulfilling the plan that He has for our lives is that we have a choice in the matter. We can either accept the invitation to the adventure that God has called us to. Or we can, out of fear, choose not to.
Mike Glenn always says, “History repeats itself.” What he means by this is that the lessons we are meant to learn will always keep repeating themselves until we learn what we’re supposed to learn. For me, this “life-repeating” lesson is fear. Now, I want to clarify the type of fear that I’m talking about. I’m not just talking about the minor fears of life like public speaking, but the kind of fear that is so paralyzing that it prevents you from living a fully functional life. My life-paralyzing fear came almost 5 years ago. It’s something everyone dreads…getting that one phone call and knowing in that moment that everything would forever change. My particular phone call came from the doctor’s office. While the call I received wasn’t life-threatening, it was life-changing. After being sick for quite sometime, I was told that I had Type 1 Diabetes. For those of you who don’t know what this disease means…every time I eat I have to inject myself with insulin. However, to me this translated as—Defective. Broken. I was not normal. I was unable to do a fundamental thing such as eating.
As a result of how I dealt with this news, I became so consumed with the potential dangers and complications of this disease that I lived out of fear…scared to be alone. I talked only about my fears. I was so consumed by fear that I felt my mind was a darkened maze through which I was incessantly running, unable to find my way out. I eventually became so overwhelmed with panic, anxiety, and fear that I eventually had a heart to heart with God that went something like this: “God—I have tried to do this on my own. Obviously I’m not succeeding. In the big scheme of things, this could be worse. But to me…this is my “worse.” So rather than worrying about something I can’t control, I need you to guide my thoughts and send the Holy Spirit to calm my fears.” It was amazing what happened…and why this always surprises me I’m not sure, because it has happened all of my life. God met me where I was. He began to heal my mind and calm the fears of my heart. And I have to tell you how freeing it is to live outside the umbrella of fear. I was able to go from REACTING to ACTING.
Now, you may be reading this and thinking to yourself—“Wow, I honestly can’t relate to this. I’m really not afraid of anything.” I want to encourage you to stop and think about how you define fear in your own life. Maybe you’ve never received a bad health report from a doctor, and maybe you don’t have a life-changing, potentially dangerous disease. Okay, I get that. But maybe you are consumed with the idea that you do not measure up, that you’ll never be good enough. Maybe you feel like you don’t deserve love. Maybe you have to prove yourself to everyone, because without the accolades of life, you don’t amount to much. Spiritually speaking, it may be as serious as you serving God only out of obligation because you are afraid of what happens if you don’t. Realize that if these thoughts are ruling your world, every action, every decision that you make is a result of “fear.” Face it. You’re living in a world consumed by fear. It’s now up to you to ask God to help you take captive these strongholds in your life and seek refuge in the One who is able to calm your fears and replace them with courage and peace.
I want to encourage you that if fear is overruling your life, there is a way out. Ask God to replace your fears with peace. He met me where I was, and I am confident that He will do the same for you. I challenge you to not let fear rule your life and keep you from experiencing the incredible story that God has cast you in. My final question to you is this. “What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” Put differently, “How would you allow God to use you if you didn’t have the stronghold of fear in your life?”
Application:
When beginning the process to overcome my own fears, I found that there was nothing more powerful and calming to me than speaking scripture over myself and into my situation. I began to study what the Bible says about fear. I then began to memorize and meditate on these scriptures so that when a situation would arise that produced fear in my life, I was prepared to combat it with the Truth of God’s Word. So, take time to study the scriptures listed below. Memorize them. Think on them. And soon you too will begin to experience the freedom of not living within fear.
Scriptures to Combat Fear:
Psalms 34: 4; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 54:14; 2 Cor 7:5; 1 John 4:18; Psalms 23:4
