Fear….why does it have such a hold on us?  From the beginning of our time, fear has managed to become a powerful emotion.  Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events.  It can grip us like cement and causes changes in us that can follow us all of our lives.  Many times we can experience something in our childhood that will result in us being stifled as an adult.  For example, if when you were a child you experienced a near drowning experience in water, many times you will carry that into your adult life and not even go near a pool or body of water. 

There is such a thing as good fear.  For instance, fear of fire can be a good thing.  However, because we have to know that fear, many of us have put our hand in the flame to make sure.  Once we do it, we typically don’t do it again tho. There is also such a thing as Godly fear.  Jesus even said we shouldn’t fear things of this world, but to fear the One who can not only end our earthly time, but also can destroy the body and soul in hell.

I have been on a personal mission that I believe was stirred in my heart by Holy Spirit to help people to move out of a fear of the now and to put our trust in Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  I don’t want myself or anyone else to live, or actually be frozen, out of fear but instead to walk by faith.  As a believer, I have been called to “walk by faith and not by sight.”  My hope, existence, life, is not determined by what I can see, but rather by what I cannot see.  Michael Card wrote in a song many years ago:

To hear with my heart
To see with my soul
To be guided by a hand I cannot hold
To trust in a way that I cannot see
That’s what faith must be

Many times my faith cannot be seen in a tangible way.  That’s what makes it faith.  Faith is believing in something even if you can’t see it.  After Jesus was resurrected, He told Thomas, “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  My faith doesn’t rely on what happens in life.  My faith is secured by what happened on the cross!

Before I started writing this, two stories in the Bible kept coming to me.  The first is the story of Adam and Eve.  We all know the story of their sin but do we know how that has changed humanity?  Sin is horrible.  Sin is rebellion against God, His Word, and His authority.  Whether we like to believe it or not or even believe there is a God, what happened in the garden changed the soul of man.  After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, something changed in them that is still in the heart of man.  They began to fear God.  This wasn’t a reverential fear of God, but a fear that caused a fleeing, hiding, and freezing.  When God came as He usually did, they had fleed from His presence, hid, and froze, not just because they were naked, but because they knew they had sinned and were afraid of what God would do.  Up until that point, that fear didn’t exist.  They never hid from God.  There was no knowledge of sin…or rather no knowledge of good and evil.  Their sin created fear in them that has plagued their descendants ever since.  However, when Jesus came, I believe that aspect of fear has been abolished.  Confirming that with scripture, Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”  That free means an exemption from liability.  We are no longer bound to the sin and therefore the fear that gripped Adam and Eve.  Paul also writes in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,…”  There is no longer a fear of God because now, by the blood of Jesus, we are granted access to BOLDY  come before the throne.  No fear there!

A second passage that has been speaking to me is that of Job.  In the first chapter of the Book of Job, it states that Job “…offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”  Job had a fear that his sons might have sinned.  It didn’t say that they had sinned, just that they may have sinned.  Fear was a motivator to Job.  Job even states in chapter 3 v 25,”For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”  This is something I’m learning and I want to make this very clear.  Fear may bring us to the cross, but salvation comes because we receive His love.  We are saved by faith, not fear.  To act out of that kind of fear does not bring salvation, only fear to a set of rituals.  Faith is not a ritual just as Truth isn’t a set a platitudes, rules, and mundane acts.  Remember, Truth has a bellybutton because Truth IS Jesus!

Friend, don’t walk in fear of today and absolutely don’t walk in fear of tomorrow.  When it’s all said and done, today, tomorrow, a week or even a year from now, God is in control.  I rest in Him and take my place sitting in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.  I come boldy before His throne and rest in His love.  Don’t let circumstances or people bring you to that place of fear.  Learn the Truth of His Word and put your faith in Him, not what people say.  If you haven’t come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, then you have no idea how to walk out of fear.  Only faith in Jesus can extinquish that fear.  Put your trust in Him.  Contact us if we can pray with you.  We love you but God loves you even more.

FEAR IS A LIAR