Struggling with fear

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind."    

                                                                                                         2 Timothy 1:7   NKJV 

Timothy struggled with a spirit of fear which may have been the result of his personality, persecutions and burdens he carried. He may also have been unsure of his abilities to serve.

Fear is something we all suffer from time to time. It may be fleeting or, it may last longer.

Fear is a normal, natural response to a danger in our surroundings and situations. It intends to keep us from fulfilling the destiny that God has given us. It may also prevent us from living a joy-filled, spirit led existence.

Our fears can be grouped into areas such as, sickness or failure; poverty; criticism; losing loved ones; old age and the consequences of this and then, the fear of death. However, there may be other areas of fear. Psychologists and the medical world, have stated that stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released. The blood pressure and the heart rate increase and we breathe faster. Even the blood flow may change. It is dangerous to fear and get ourselves all upset over something that may never happen.

How can we address our fear? Charles F Stanley gives a favourable comment regarding this:

'Fear focuses our attention on ourselves and on things we do not need to consider. It fills our minds with hypothetical situations that all end in defeat and ruination. Eventually, it utterly consumes us. When you feel gripped by fear, turn your gaze to Jesus, re-direct your heart to His love, speak to your fear from the Word of God and, then respond boldly to the situation. The Lord's desire is for you to 'Be strong and very courageous', today!  Josh 1:7'

Bob Gass used a great acronym concerning the word 'Fear. FALSE, EVIDENCE, APPEARING, REAL'. Just think about that. Fear cause our minds to concentrate on hypothetical things. It is usually false stuff that we are convinced is real and it causes us to lose our joy - which is our strength; and it causes us to doubt the only one who is 100% true - Jesus. 

Jesus said, 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me.' Has Jesus ever lied to you? Of course He hasn't. However, the devil has. How long are you going to allow him to ransack your life and testimony?

Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.                                 

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