Courage To Face Your Fears (Part I)
As always, grace and peace be multiplied to you. The Lord bless your home with peace and MULTIPLY the works of your hands in Jesus’ name. Beloved, you are a child of God living in a fallen world where the enemy has almost succeeded in warping everything, and then blame it on God!
And unfortunately, many fall for that lie! As we go through this series, I pray God to infuse and strengthen you with the power of His faith! It is time to rediscover your COURAGE to face your every fear in Jesus’ name! Our main text for this series is 2Tim.1:7 – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. The New Living Translation says it like this – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline”.
It is said that every child is born with only two types of fear – the fear of falling and the fear of the dark! And that all other fears are learnt. If that is true, imagine the ‘excess baggage’ of fear we’ve all accumulated over the years! As we grow, we become more and more apprehensive, anxious! Anxiety is apprehension without apparent cause.
Now, not all fear is bad. There is a healthy form of fear that helps to keep us out of trouble, alert and focused, like the fear of crossing a busy highway! When fear comes, the heart beats faster, sometimes followed by perspiration and the feeling of ‘butterflies in the stomach’. And the NATURAL reaction to every fear is to escape it; to run! That is understandable, but realize that ANY FEAR that stops you from doing the right thing – acting and speaking in line with Scripture IS NOT FROM GOD! That is what our text declares. It could be from any other source – Satan or man, but certainly NOT from God! The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe (Prov.29:25).
‘Sons’ are those who have developed the COURAGE to face their fears. Galatians 4:1 says, “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all”. At some point, inspite of whatever the devil and fate has thrown at us, we must rise again with COURAGE, not arrogance or anger, to face our fears of every kind. love and MATURITY are other qualities we will also need. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (1Jn.4:18). Some of us are presently ‘tied up’ in relationships – at work or in social circles, not by love but by fear – fear of how the other person will react! It is time to acquire the courage, not arrogance, but with maturity to express yourself truthfully in love.
Why must you be ‘held captive’ in any relationship? Its time to start changing the dynamics of your life. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal.5:13). It is time to ‘offload’ every excess baggage of fear, anxiety, intimidation and doubts about yourself. Time to rediscover your free self and re-evaluate things from a different perspective. In the following weeks, with God’s help, we will be ‘facing’ our fears as it relates to our relationships, making difficult decisions, in the pursuit of our dreams, etc.
