What are you fearful of? Is it that bill that you’re waiting for to
come in from the mail? Maybe it is the future of your kids and their salvation
or that of another family member. What
if you are fearful of the unknowns in life, such as tomorrow or next week or 10
years from now? Are you fearful of your health,
your relationships, and standing with your spouse? Are you worried about the
rapture or fear that you really aren’t saved?
I could go on and on but I think you get the message: Fear can get a
hold of us and hold us back and rip us apart.
Not all fear is bad though. I mean, if
you are in the woods and see a bear coming towards you, I would hope most
people would be scared. That kind of fear is a “fight or flight” fear which is
good because it can save your life. What
I’m framing here is fear as it relates to everyday life and our relationship
with Christ.
All too often we tend to get wrapped up
and wound up over unnecessary fears that, in the big scheme of life, are really
not too much to be fearful of. Have you
stayed up all night, lying in bed worried about tomorrow, some financial
challenges, or as most parents, that first night your child has the car and is
not home yet?
When we get fearful of things, our minds
seem to automatically go to the extremes of what bad things can happen. The mind automatically switches from rational
thoughts to catastrophic thoughts of what may happen. We get worked up, stressed out, and our
anxiety levels shoot through the roof, only to be finally tempered once that
thing we were fearful of results in really nothing to have been scared of in
the first place.
We get a sense of relief from the fear that
the medical bill’s decimal place wasn’t in the thousands, but the hundreds. We
feel relief when our children come home safe and sound. We feel the weight of the fear lift off our
shoulders when we realize our fear was not necessary. Then you know what? The
cycle continues and goes round and round each day, each week, until we turn
into worry warts. This cycle of fear will spill over to our relationship with
Christ and can disconnect us from Him.
I remember after a few months of being
saved, I had this great fear that I was not saved. It was irrational, but I
couldn’t get over it. I stressed a lot, I became anxious, and I feared the
rapture would come the next day and I would be left behind. This kind of
slippery slope of these thoughts got worse and worse and then it got in the way
of my walk with Jesus to a point where I was pleading everyday for salvation. I eventually came to my senses after the Holy
Spirit assured my heart that yes, I was saved and am a child of God.
That was a relief to have my heart and
the Holy Spirit assure me that I was saved!
Yet I still get scared of everyday life occurrences and challenges.
That’s why I’m writing about this. I wanted to know what the Bible said about
fear and it says a lot. I figured that if I’m fearful of things, then there
must be others like me and we need the assurance of the importance of not being
fearful or of being a worry wart.
“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me,” (Hebrews 13:6).
This is talking the challenges we face
daily through those of the world and the world.
Those of the world and not of God will try to snare and trap us into
fear. Satan uses this tactic to get into
our minds to cause us to get scared with the hope that our fear will translate
to separation from Christ.
Those of us that are saved are not of
this world, but you know what, we are stuck in this world until it is time to
go home with Christ. We survive each day
while being surrounded by wicked men, women, temptations of sin, and the battle
of our minds and hearts against Satan.
Satan and the world will throw everything at you to give you fear in
your heart.
Having fear of this world will put you
down and make you no better than the world around you. We are children of God, are
separated from the world and Satan in our thoughts and actions. We are set
apart from the world and should not face the fear of men of this world or the
world itself.
Easier said than done, right? I mean,
look, we are human beings, imperfect humans that have challenges all the time
that are related to this world. Are they justifiable fears? Is it okay to be
scared or worried about if your bank account will be in the negative before the
next paycheck or how will you pay for your kid’s college? No, you shouldn’t
have these fears, but we still do and we need to remember that rationally, we
should not be fearful of worldly things.
What about our loved ones, especially
those that aren’t saved? We love and care for them so much that it hurts and
scares us to think that they may not be saved and we won’t see them in
heaven. We fear for their salvation,
their wellbeing, and their safety. We
fear for our health, especially when the doctor says he needs to run some tests
and doesn’t tell you why. God does not want us to be scared of these and other
things. He says in Joshua 1:19:
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong
and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
You see that? God is with us and we
don’t need to be afraid. We can trust
that He will be with us.
Even this recognizable verse should
remind of us to not be fearful of anything:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me,” (Psalms 23:4)
Christ is our comforter in times when we
do get scared of the evils of this world.
Fear is a powerful force that Satan can use against us to cause us to
drift from our relationship with Christ. Yet, Christ is our rock that we can
trust in to sustain us through those times when we are fearful of events or
spiritual battles.
“Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he
shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved,” (Psalms
55:22)
When we are burdened with fear, when
fear has enveloped around us like thick fog, we can trust that not only is God
with us, but He will sustain us until that fog clears and we can see again.
It’s like trying to see the entire forest when you are in the forest; you can’t
see the big picture of things. We tend
to look at life about as far as our hand can reach out and then begin to worry
about things because we can’t see the forest from the trees.
God will not let us be moved. If we are saved and believe in Christ and His
sacrifice for us, we can trust, without fear, that we won’t be moved. We won’t
be swayed by the world or the fears and worries that they want us to feel to
separate us from Christ.
John 16:33 says: “These things I have
spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Christ didn’t
come here in the flesh for us to have fear, but he came here so we can have
peace.
Peace is the opposite of fear and peace
is something we should all strive for. Fear
causes a lot of negative thought processes but peace brings that “ahhhh” relief
to our hearts from Christ that everything will be okay. Christ will take care of us and we would be
wise to remember this. When we face
fear, we should automatically turn to Christ and ask for peace and guidance. We
should not let our minds drift and fantasize about all the bad things that can
happen.
Christ, in the flesh overcame the world.
If He did this, as our example, then we too should strive to overcome the world
as well. Again, the world is a horrid place.
Other than death or rapture, we cannot escape this world and so we must
learn to live in it, yet not be of it.
Like the verse says, he didn’t come to earth to let us fear, but he came
so we could have peace. What a wonderful
thing He did for us!
So some of you may say how do we overcome
fear and have peace? We have the Holy
Spirit to guide us and give us comfort to face and negate the effects of fear:
“And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you,” (John 14: 16-17)
Those in the world do not have the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is for those of us that ARE saved. Notice in the verse that it says “I will pray
the Father.” Christ is asking God
Himself to give us the Holy Spirit to be in and with us. I’ve forgotten what it is like not to have
the Holy Spirit in my heart. I can only
imagine those without the Holy Spirit needlessly wandering around life without
God inspired direction. They don’t have
a God given gift to guide them in everyday life as we that are saved do.
To those of the world, it is a mystery
to them that the Holy Spirit is in us.
They don’t understand the importance of having the Holy Spirit to
receive the guidance to lead us and keep us on the path of righteousness and
peace. A lot of people don’t care about
this, and that is their choice, for they are content with the things of the
world because they are of the world. Yet we know that the Comforter is in us to
keep us safe, to give us guidance, and to lead us to the things Christ wants
from us and what He wants us to do in this life.
Have you ever observed an unsaved person
live life? They live it out of fear.
Even those that seem happy enough are fearful of life. They fear the
unknown of death. They fear bad things will happen to them all the time and
they live in fear because of this: they worry about everything.
They try to relieve this fear by living
of the world and not of Christ. They
make a lot of money because they fear they will be poor. They fear death and
live haphazardly through life with no direction, no Christ in their lives to
guide them. They are in the midst of darkness and see no light except the darkness
of the world that is ruled by Satan and the fear he has trapped them with.
We need not fear though because we have
one thing to our advantage: Christ. With Christ on our side, what do we need to
be fearful of? What thing or event can cause us to be fearful? Absolutely
nothing. Does this mean we won’t face fear at times, no, but as we grow with
Christ, we fear things less and less as our relationship with Christ grows and
grows.
People, if you are saved and are fearful
of the things in life, now is the time to give them to Christ and live a
peaceful minded life. Christ will take those burdens of fear and will give you
peace. This doesn’t mean life will be easy, nor will you be free of worry all
the time, but strive to be at peace with your life and strive to grow in
Christ.
As you tend your relationship with
Christ, it will not only bloom, but will thrive like an overflowing
garden. Christ came to us and is here
for us to have peace; Peace in this horrible world we live in and peace that we
are saved to salvation with Him forever.
We are children of God and we live with hopeful expectation of life
forever with Christ.
Don’t let fear get in
the way of your walk with Christ. Gain strength in Christ to overcome fear and
defeat the world and Satan as they try to steer you away from Him. When you
overcome fear and gain peace in its place, you grow stronger and are better
able to face the tribulations of life that would cause great fear to the
unsaved. Trust in Christ.
