As a New Covenant believer I wasn’t supposed to live in fear but I did.
I lived in silent fear for years. My fears were rooted in memories of past experiences that I carried deep within me. They came out in bouts of worry and pessimism. I reacted to situations according to my hidden fears – those that no one knew I was carrying. I would react defensively, worriedly, with distrust or anger because of unspoken fears.
After I had children fear grew – I was afraid that at any given moment something bad could happen to them away from me. This made me very overprotective. Life went on like this until they got older and I could no longer control their every move.
One night while I was wrestling with my fears the Lord asked me what I was afraid of and my answers surprised me. I was afraid that something bad would happen to my children while they were out, like coming into contact with a bad person or trouble of some sort. All sorts of thoughts had been lying deep within me, unspoken.
The next question was why was I afraid. I was just as surprised. I was afraid because I did want something bad to happen to my children, like had happened to me… My fear was attached to my children through my past. I was being tormented with thoughts of what could happen to them.
It wasn’t until I confronted my fears that I was able to see how they had been controlling my life.
That night the Lord gave me some instructions to overcome fear, they will work for you too:
- Realize that fear is a spirit and it has a voice. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love,” 1 John 4:18.
- Identify exactly what you are afraid of. Sometimes we experience a foreboding feeling of fear that lays deep within. It’s a feeling a fear that we don’t give voice to, just live with. Always afraid that something bad will happen. Take time to be still and ask yourself exactly what you are afraid of? You might be surprised by the answers. I was afraid something bad would happen to my children. This is ultimately the fear of death. Hebrews 2:14 and 15 says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
- Identify why your afraid and who or what your fears are attached to. Fear is usually attached to something or someone you care deeply about. No one wants something bad to happen to their loved ones or themselves no one wants a good thing to go bad. The devil can use whatever is close to us to make us afraid, to keep us in bondage and to keep us from living in freedom if we allow it. When I asked myself what I was afraid I of I realized that my fear was attached to my children. The ultimate issue is not trusting in God’s protection. We have to know and believe that God we protect us and our family from harm. Psalm 97:11 says, “Light is sown for the [uncompromisingly] righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart [the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection],” (AMP).
- Develop faith in God’s love. Remember that perfect or complete love cast out all fear. When we come to maturity in our understanding of God’s love for us we will not fear because we know that nothing can separate us for His love. Romans 8:38 and 39 tells us that, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Keep a positive, peaceful mindset. Don’t react to the voice of fear speak faith back to it and it will leave. James 4:7 tells us we can, “Submit ourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee.”
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