Are you dealing with any fears or phobias? If so, I have compassion and good news for you. Upfront, know that you are not alone. Fear plagues millions of Americans daily. Some have extreme phobias that cause severe panic attacks, requiring mental health treatment. Others have milder phobias such as a fear of flying, closed spaces, animals, public speaking, handshaking, crowds, death and the list gets bigger.
I too have dealt with fear. As a child, I had many childish fears. As an adult, I have fought personal fears of rejection, sudden death, family tragedies, and so on.
I’ve also dealt with professional fears as a pastor and attorney. Yes, professional fears are as real as personal fears. They can immobilize you and cause you to miss business opportunities. For instance, if you are a businessperson, God may want to promote or increase your business but you may be wrestling against a fear of failure or inadequacy.
You can be free from personal and professional fears—indeed every fear. I define F.E.A.R. as Faith Expecting Adverse Results. This definition points out that fear believes and expects something to happen, as faith does. The difference is fear believes and expects adverse results whereas faith believes and expects favorable results. In essence, fear is faith in reverse.
The first step in overcoming fear is knowing its origin is DISTRUST of the Father’s love. Think about it. If you trust the Father’s love completely, you wouldn’t fear anything because you would know your Father would protect you.
Don’t feel bad though. The Bible records many people who feared something because they distrusted God’s love. However, some of them overcame their fear by increasing their trust of God’s love. Peter is a great illustration. In Mark 4:35, Jesus said to His disciples, “let’s go to the other side.” They entered a ship and set off on the journey. A violent storm arose. The sea beat against the boat and filled it with water. The disciples panicked and feared death. They found Jesus sleeping soundly, completely undeterred by the storm. Peter awoke Him with these frantic words, “Master carest thou not that we perish.” Notice how Peter questioned the Love of God, which was the cause of his fear. Incidentially, Peter also denied Jesus angrily on three separate occasions because of distrust and fear.
However, Peter apparently overcame his trust issues and conquered fear. In fact, in 1 Peter 5:7 he encouraged us to, “[cast] all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].”
When Peter wrote these words, he was a very different man from the one who doubted the love of God early in his ministry. He had conquered fear by learning to cast his cares upon the Lord. His colleague, the “beloved” Apostle John, also confirmed that trusting God’s love conquers fear. He wrote in 1 John 4:18 that there is no fear in love and perfect love casteth out fear.
I encourage you to follow the example of Peter and John and get rooted and grounded in the love of God. Then you would have found and implemented the secret of being free from fear.
Question: How has fear affected your life and what have you done about it?
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