Fear or Faith: Only one of these can be present at the same time…
Do you ever feel a sudden onslaught of panic and fear? I admit that I struggled with this for forty years of my life, and to an extent this beast still rears its ugly head now and then. Fear is a battle for so many vibrantly beautiful Christian men and women… But, praise God, we can have HIS victory in this fight, and I’m living proof of that!
In the past decade God has had me in a “training program” where we’ve been working on building those muscles needed to triumph over fear, and my Warrior King is helping me put an end to this debilitating stronghold. As I share what I’ve learned, I’m praying that 2 Timothy 1:7 will be a conquering reality in each of our lives:
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (Amp)
My victory over fear began one morning as I was in the middle of studying a daily lesson in Beth Moore’s Bible study, Esther, when the Holy Spirit used a paragraph to send me on a Word-study detour. Little did I know at the time, but that early-morning-moment’s choice of obedience when I got out of bed to meet with the Lord in His Word was a fundamental life-changer for me. {Shameless plug for making time before your busy day begins to spend with the Lord in His Word!!!}
By the time I closed my Bible and put down my pen, God had presented me with 4 Steps that would immediately supply the muscles needed to break every chain that had held me prisoner to fear for as long as I could remember. {In fact, when I stop long enough to analyze my life, even in the best and most joyful of times, I don’t remember NOT living with some type of fear lurking around in my thoughts, just waiting for an opportune time to jump out and grab me.} {{PS: Nothing in my childhood warrants this – We can’t figure out a “why” – it just seems to be the place where the enemy sees me weakest and the battlefield on which I fight.}}
This is what I read on that day:
“The enemy is trying to get back at God by attacking us. Because Satan has a limited leash where believers are concerned, his most powerful tactics are psychological. Though he can’t possess our minds, he profoundly and destructively influences our thoughts.” Beth Moore, Esther, week 3, day 3.
At that particular point, more than at any other stage of my life, I was constantly fighting the battle between faith and sight, hope and fear. (Some days I won, many days I lost.)
It was in 2009, the calendar was ticking by, and our family was caught in the crossfires of the economic downturn. We were on our eighth month without employment as God continued to say about each open door, “This is not my best Yes.” Faith fought sight, and hope fought fear at every turn.
As I watched our young teens grow and mature, and I began that process of thinking about releasing them, faith fought sight and hope fought fear. Sometimes I would be doing nothing but driving or riding down the road and notice another vehicle, and immediately my imagination would take off into horrible “what-if’s” and faith would fight sight and hope would fight fear. (If I was not careful, my mind could work up any number of disastrous scenarios that would be so life-like, I could end up frozen in panic, fear, and grief over a made-up scenario.) Do you ever do that?
This is not the way God intended for ANY of us to live.
The enemy was having a field day with me! I was weary of the battle, and tired of being held captive to fear!
That morning with the Lord was a turning point for me, and praise God, I’ve learned to fight like the warrior He created me to be!!! And through using the powerful weapons of God’s Word and Prayer, I’ve been FREE ever since!
Can you imagine living without fear?
…Without the nagging sense that everything is about to go horribly wrong?
…Without the occurring assumption that making it through the week with no incident was a happy surprise or blessed accident?
In Beth Moore’s 4th video session of the Esther study, she poses this set of questions to process:
“If ________________ happens, then God ______________. And if ____________________, then God ______________________. And if ____________________, then God ____________________….. then what?”
In my mind, I had already planned out those terrible scenarios, but I never completed them.
The “If ______________” wasn’t the problem. The fear trap was that I never completed the sentences and scenarios with “then God _____________.”
I learned that it is not enough to trust God to never let that which I fear the most happen. I must face that fear, and trust that IF it does happen, My God will take care of me – of them – or of it!
For instance, Psalm 46:1-3 promises that God is our Refuge and Strength, and that even when our stable worlds crumble and fall apart, we have no need to fear, because He is with us, and He is our well-proved help.
“Fear not” is the most frequent command in the Bible. In fact, that command is repeated over 365 times – more than one for each day.
Do you want to fight fear and win? Then read on, my friends!
4 Steps to Victory – Steps to Fight Fear and Win
Romans 1:21 (Amp) says:
“Because when they knew and recognized Him as God,
they did not honor and glorify Him as God
or give Him thanks.
But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking
[with vain imaginations, foolish reasonings,
and stupid speculations]
and their senseless minds were darkened.”
Our enemy would have us focus on fear, vain imaginations, foolish reasonings, and stupid speculations – which he knows will tie us up in knots and entrap us.
But
our Lord, Savior, Lover, Strengthener, our Mighty God says in Hebrews 12:1-2 to
“Throw aside every encumbrance
(unnecessary weight and that sin
which so readily, deftly, and
cleverly clings to and entangles us…
looking away from all that will distract to Jesus,
who is the Leader and Source of our faith…
and is also its Finisher.”
Hebrews 12:1-2
From these verses come the 4 Steps to Fight Fear and Win.
*However: We MUST be immediate and intentional with these actions:
1. Honor and Glorify God – We know and recognize Him as God… yet when fear hits, we panic and tend to forget what God being “God” really means. Think about that, and make an intentional choice to honor Him with your thoughts by calling on the names and characteristics of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit when fear and panic hit. If you can’t think of any particular name at the moment, just simply say “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…” until this beautiful Name and God’s presence starts to overpower your thoughts of sight, fear, and panic.
2. Give God thanks – Next, when you’ve centered yourself a bit on God’s “Godness,” begin thanking God for His provisions – His love, His protection, His provision, His promises, His Word… for how He will take care of you and the situation… If your mind keeps going to the worst case scenario, go through the “If ____ does happen, then God ____” thanking Him IN ADVANCE for what you can imagine that He WILL do – because that’s the kind of God that HE is. Look around you, and thank God for all that you see. God IS present with you. Thank Him for that. However, if you can’t yet feel God’s presence around you, Psalm 100:4-5 tells us how we can be made aware of Him – just keep thanking Him more and more until you do notice His presence.
Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
Psalm 100:4-5 (MSG)
3. Throw aside the weight of those sensless thoughts – those vain imaginations, foolish reasonings and stupid speculations. Sometimes you can’t reason or your way out of them. Sometimes, they’re just ridiculous, and you know it. You are just going to have to discipline yourself to obey the Word and ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to let those run-away thoughts darken your mind. If you must, (and I do this sometimes) literally push your hands away from your head as if you are throwing them out! Then pretend to watch them land and crash on the ground!
4. Look to Jesus – And don’t look at your fears anymore! Turn your head, heart, and mind away (again, I will often do this literally with my body) and PUT YOUR EYES BACK ON JESUS. Over and over again if you must. Determine to keep your mind and thoughts focused on Him. Here’s the best part: When you do this, Hebrews 12:2 tells us that He will actually finish and complete FOR YOU the faith you lack in the battle of your minds and thoughts. Praise the Lord!!
The next time panic or fear grabs hold of you, you grab hold of Jesus, the Starter and Finisher of your Faith… the Victor over your enemy… the Peace in the midst of your storm…
4 Steps: Honor and Glorify God, Give Thanks, Throw Aside Sensless Thoughts and Vain Imaginations, and Look to Jesus. Keep doing this until you and Jesus have whipped fear and sent the enemy limping back to the lair from which he came!
One day there will be no more fear, but until then my friends, in Jesus Christ, fight like the warrior you were created to be! Because only in Jesus, you CAN fight fear and win!
A men!!!
“And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.” Romans 5:2b
“O Lord of Hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning on and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving.]” Psalm 84:12 (Amp)
