What Are You Afraid Of?

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The scene above may be humorous, but fear is nothing to joke about.

God wired us with a healthy sense of fear to protect us from danger. But when fear dictates our lives, we can become trapped in patterns that destroy us.

Here are a few things I’ve been learning about fear lately:

Fear steals our identity
Fear makes us question our God given attributes and desires
Fear leads us to question another person’s motives
Fear causes us to judge others
Fear makes us assign conclusions about people or situations that aren’t accurate
Fear causes us to assume we know what someone’s intentions towards us are
Fear says lying will protect us – it keeps us from speaking the truth
Fear leads us to read God’s word inaccurately
Fear causes conflict within us
Fear keeps us from seeing another person’s pain
Fear of losing something makes us compete with others
Fear makes us cling to only one way of thinking
Fear causes us to lash out if someone has another opinion or perspective than us
Fear paralyzes us
Fear leads us to close ourselves off from others
Fear keeps us ineffective in our lives
Fear prevents us from being fully engaged in life

Maybe that’s why God tells us not to be afraid; that he didn’t give us a spirit of fear.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” 1 John 4:18

God is love and he loves us. We don’t NEED to be afraid when we believe he loves us and will take care of us. He knows all and has everything under control. So if we surrender to him, we can rest there and live in freedom.

I’ve been asking God to tell me what I’m afraid of. If we ask, he’ll tell us. And he’ll tell us what to do about it. I’m learning a lot about myself and the places I’ve been trapped.

He’ll also reassure us that he’s right there. Like a kid jumping into a pool into his daddy’s waiting arms. That’s us with God.

That’s a good place to be.