Friday, August 29, 2003
“OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR”
You may have seen the T. V. program, “FEAR FACTOR”. This is the program where people are doing the most awful things -- escapades that would strike fear in the heart of most people. These people risk doing these things for a large sum of money. It is nearly unbelievable what some people will attempt to endure for money.
I have said before I am a “fear-prone” person. I could never even approach doing any of the things they have done on that T. V. program. In fact, I have never watched more than just the opening few seconds of the program a couple of times. That was enough to gross me out.
But God doesn’t want us to go through life under the cloud of fear. God wants to release us from the fears that haunt and bind us. The Bible says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
It isn’t only the non-Christian in the world that is fearful. Research shows that many active, church-going, born-again Christians are as fearful as the people in the world.
Extreme fear can be an awful thing. Though sometimes ridiculous and childish. I have always had “acrophobia” an extreme fear of heights. I remember one time I was on the roof of my one-story house and completely froze with fear. I’m still not sure how they got me off that roof. I’m not sure why or how I got up there in the first place! But I know I lost all sense of rationality and screamed like a mad-man!
Fear often keeps us from the spiritual service and effectiveness that God has for us. It also blocks us from receiving the peace that Jesus said He gives. I have a list of 57 things that people are afraid of—literally from “A” to “Z”. I’ll post the list sometime soon.
There is a fear that ignores the voice of reason and of the Holy Spirit. And there is that mellow, gray, soothing fear that delays and fogs the issues, that fosters indecision, that finds it easy to settle down for a while.
The Greek New Testament defines fear as “being scared, dread, terror cowardice and timidity.”
God is not the source of any of these common characteristics of mankind. The problem is our sin nature.
It is significant that when Adam and Eve sinned they became AFRAID of God. (Genesis 3:10) We are no different today. Many are afraid of God and His Will. If I follow Him then there might be sickness, loneliness, poverty, failure and maybe even death.
There is a reverential fear, a good kind of fear. There is that wholesome dread of displeasing God. Hebrews 12:28 says, “….Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” I am not concerned about godly fear. I am concerned that so many of God’s people are experiencing the kind of fear that Satan uses to bind us.
Fear is the signal to refocus our affections on things above rather than on things of this earth. (Colossians 3:2)
Fear will keep people from leaving their “comfort zone”, the “old way” of thinking, of doing things. It will keep people from finding and fulfilling God’s purposes for their lives.
I’m thinking and studying my way through this subject, trying to understand what God says in the Bible we who are fear-prone can do to overcome that. In future Blogs I’ll try to let you know what I come up with!
Jim
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