October 8, 2012
Transformational Thought
Fear … of speaking in class or giving a lecture … of blowing a test or an important performance or game … of talking to a girl … of taking a new job … of confrontation … of setting a healthy boundary … of having someone angry or upset with me. Wow! For so long, FEAR really interrupted and crippled my life. Then came the fear about having fear. I was almost paralyzed.
Through honest reflection, self-assessment, therapy, and real examination of how and why I make the decisions I make, I realized I was hiding my fear … pretending it wasn’t there. When I thought the fear couldn’t get any worse, I discovered that the fear you hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to the fear of fear … a real monster. The danger of the second fear is that it diverts your focus off the original fear. You see, the first fear was usually the result of misinformation, misinterpretations, or downright lies that were developed at a very young age, when we knew little, were very gullible, and weren’t well equipped to handle much stress or complexity of life.
So here is what FEAR really is, most often times, False Evidence Appearing Real. Now as adults, we have the opportunity to clearly see the original false evidence that restricts our lives. This is where psychological and spiritual maturity come in. As we grow in our understanding and application of God’s truths and power, we will see the real evidence, the actual situation more clearly through His lenses. Then our FEAR dissipates and we can access the peace and comfort He offers in challenging times. Thus our ability to command our emotions and make more Godly and healthy decisions will be easy. A nice bonus, the fear of FEAR will melt away as well.
Now listen to what I am teaching, I am not saying we shouldn’t have any real fear. When we are actually in a dangerous and threatening situation, our natural warning system God gifted to us, our negative feelings, should send us some messages like anxiety, concern, fear. But 99% of the time, our distortions, the False Evidence Appearing Real, exaggerate the amplitude of our negative emotion, or even precipitate negative emotions when they aren’t necessary. Think of David and Goliath, or Daniel and the Lions Den, or Paul in jail. Fearful situations, but they had no FEAR!
But we are usually too lazy, too hurried, or just don’t know how to go back and deeply re-address those old painful FEARS. But please, try to because when we do re-address them, we now can access and apply the freedom Christ won for us over those FEARS. Let God’s truth and light into those FEARS, don’t let Satan put out that light. Freedom from FEAR is available for each one of us who are in Christ, giving us powerful options to deal with challenges the God allows in our life.
Today, acknowledge that your FEARS are flaming arrows of attack from the evil one and bring your fears out into the Light of Your Lord’s presence where you can deal with them openly. The darkness just gives them more power over you. Identify one thing that upsets, alarms, scares, or threatens you. Examine how it influences your decisions. Tell someone about it and ask them to help you identify the False Evidence that Appears Real in that issue. It can be very freeing just knowing the cycle can be broken. Click here for our powerful workshop that helps you live the life that is WITHIN REACH, helping you apply God’s teachings to practically identify, replace, and overcome your FEARS. Believing the FEAR or God’s truth is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Beloved Father, I confess that fear has a stronghold on me. I know that most fear comes from the enemy’s arrows of attack. I thank You, Father, for Your Word that teaches me to use my shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Father, so that I might build my faith. Help me understand how to dig deep and uncover those FEARS and bathe them in truth. Help me, Father, to bring all fear to You so that we may deal with them together. I pray, Father, that by concentrating on You and being a good steward of my mind, my fearfulness will lose its foothold on me. I pray in the holy name of my Deliverer, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say – Amen!
The Truth
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. Proverbs 29:25