Fear (Is A Liar)

So, you are hanging out with friends, having a great time, or maybe even presenting a presentation to your class, and you are doing so well! It's your turn to talk, so you confidently start talking away. When suddenly... a thought crosses your mind, a distracting realization that all eyes are on YOU.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are speaking so confidently without a doubt or fear that anything could go wrong? But then a moment comes along where you are telling your friends or co-workers about a funny story that happened a while back, and then it just hits you- the focus is all on you. You then begin to stutter or mess up your sentences, forgetting what you wanted to say in the first place... then the worry kicks in, realizing that they can probably tell you just lost total focus and confidence. The worries of, "Oh no, what are they thinking right now?" or "I wonder if they are judging me". Our mind will think all kinds of crazy thoughts, but the funny thing is... the majority of them are NEVER true or a reality.

In this blog I want to discuss the topic of fear. I am writing this from my own experiences and battles that I have faced in my life; but before we begin I want to tell you that you are NOT alone and that God was fully aware that we would have a struggle such as this! He knows when our fears and worries begin to take over.

We are going to get into so many wonderful points here! But first, let's look at these two verses.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" Romans 8:15-16

These are beyond true. When God first began helping me with my journey of overcoming fear, He really opened my eyes to these two verses.

For almost all of my life I have been living in fear. I was terrified of changes, terrified of what each minute, or hour would bring... I never wanted to try anything new because I was too shy or afraid of meeting new people. My lovely friends, I know what you may be going through. Fear is crippling and it WILL rob your joy, and your life. Praise the Lord that He has helped me almost reach my final victory over this, and He will do the same for you! Do not ever feel discouraged, because these things take time! It took me 19 years to figure this out.

We always read many verses about having no need to fear or worry, we keep hearing Jeremiah 29:11 and Joshua 1:9... but do we REALLY listen to it? I think often times in the Christian walk, we become immune to the things that we hear so often, that we just settle in it. We believe it, but we stop allowing it IMPACT our life! Unfortunately, that happened to me, but once we get at that point, we put ourselves in a dangerous position. Think of it as a faucet, there are many different speeds or strengths that we can turn the tap to; little, medium, or large. We must thirst and hunger for the living water that only Jesus can provide, but once we slowly keep turning down the amount of water, the more we start to turn off the tap- our connection to God will slowly fade away. BUT, that is not God's fault, it is ours. I found that about 3 or 4 months ago, I had somehow turned off the faucet completely. If my faith was like a well, it would be dryer than a desert! Ok... maybe not THAT bad, but you know what I mean! I had become SO full of fear, sadness, and hopelessness. It was a VERY dangerous place for me to be.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4:18-19

1 John 4:18-19 is another verse that the Lord has so graciously used to help transform my life and way of thinking.

When I had first accepted Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Saviour, I tell you the truth, every fear, doubt, or worry that I ever had, had completely vanished! My once selfish, angered, bitter heart had now become soft and full of unconditional love. I felt His love and perfect forgiveness. Really looking upon those two verses have truly made me realize why I have been tormented and feeling so down these last few months.

There is a reason that the Bible tells us in many verses, to stand on our guard, be watchful, and sober-minded. The Lord knows how quickly the enemy can whisper fear or lies into our mind, and this is what I want us to remember: fear is a liar. Fear comes from the enemy and nothing else. There are two types of fear, a healthy fear of God, or the crippling fear that holds us back from trusting in God- this is the one we are speaking of.

I want to quickly go back to the verses we mentioned above, Galatians 5:1 and Romans 8:15-16. These two Bible verses are very freeing. Galatians 5:1 tells us to stand fast in the liberty which Christ has made us free and to not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Fear is bondage. A prison which we cannot escape, except it be for God and what Jesus did for us. In Romans 8:15-16, we see that we have been freed in Christ; we have not received the spirit of bondage, but rather the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father".

Y e s.

We have not received a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of adoption.

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" John 1:12

We are not only just no longer slaves to sin, but also no longer slaves to fear, worry, doubt, or hopelessness! Look at the part of verse 15 which says "Whereby we cry, "Abba, Father", and now look at verse 16 that says "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God".

When we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we now have the right to become the children of God! We do not need to worry because He is our Father. We see many wonderful parents who care for their children, and we trust in our parents. They take care of us, sacrifice for us, and will do anything it takes to make us happy... Now picture God that way, but an eternity times more! He is an almighty, all knowing, perfect Father. He created you.

People will fail us, people will leave us, but the beauty of God, is that He NEVER will, no matter what.

Now, this verse means several different things, but look at it in this sense. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells us that, unless we become as little children, we shall not enter into the Kingdom of God". Children do not doubt their parents; they trust in them, knowing that they will feed them, clothe them, and take care of them. God wants the same from us. He wants us to run to Him as we used to run to our mommy and daddy when they picked us up from school or the babysitters. When we accept the Mediator, Jesus, we are re-connected to God and also, are now His children. He has adopted us into His family, forgetting all of our wrongs, forgetting our past mistakes, He takes us as is- because you are BEAUTIFUL to Him.

As a woman who has never been a parent, and I am sure that some of you reading this can also relate.. I don't think that we fully understand how upsetting it must feel to have your child say "mom, I don't trust you" or "dad, you don't provide enough for me". Even spitting out the worst words, "I hate you". We would feel extremely sorry if we ever said that to one of our parents, who would do anything in the world for us.

Imagine how God feels when we reject, neglect, or talk bad to Him or about Him. Nothing is more comforting than knowing that you are loved- and let me tell you, you are. Maybe your earthly parents have forsaken you, or are no longer with us on the earth... but your Heavenly Father is forever and He wants to spend an eternity with you, and give you an abundant life on this earth (John 10:10).

"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

I have spoken of this many times in our videos, but it's one thing to know something VS truly understanding it and applying it into our daily lives.

In the midst of fear, recite this verse. Speaking it into action and into our life is the most helpful and effective thing to do- and believing it with your whole heart.

Ok, now going back to the very first thing we spoke about at the beginning of this blog, the story of Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water. Let's read it-

Matthew 14:22-33

"And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.

23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone.

24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

28 And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29 And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God."

This is so incredible, I really thank God for this story. We see in these verses that the disciples are in the ship, in very windy weather and that alone must have been intimidating and causing a lot worry!

What is the first thing that stood out to you in verse 26 and 27?

"They cried out for fear". and in verse 27, Jesus had to say "Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid". I feel that the Lord is still saying that to many of us today, as fear and worry are our main bad habits.

Moving to verse 28, we see that Peter says "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water". We see Peter showing full faith right now; it is very windy, and he is not completely sure that it is Jesus coming to them on the water. But, he stepped out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.

Peter was doing it! For many of us, we do the same thing... look at this next part. In verse 30, we see that Peter started to see and turn his focus onto the boisterous wind. He realized how bad it was, and that same little doubt we spoke about, creeped into his mind. Then...

He became afraid... and began to sink.

But, here is the good part! The Spirit is really helping right now, lol. Peter cried out "Lord, save me!" Let's hold that thought for one moment.

Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, he let those doubts limit his faith and trust. In a book I once read, the author wrote, "Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, and saw the wind". See, when we focus on the bad, or the things that could possibly go wrong, we doubt. We put a limit on our God and start to overthink.

Jesus says in verse 31, "O thou of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Going back to our last point, when we begin to fear, we can call out to Jesus. Peter still trusted in one thing- He knew that no matter what he was doing, or going through, Jesus alone could save him.

Many people fear to come to God because they are afraid to trust in someone they cannot see, or fear to put their trust in someone other than themselves. We also fear bad things happening because they could lead to death. but if we don't fear death, we have nothing to be afraid of.. Because we know that we will be reunited with the Lord face to face, in a much happier place.

Fun fact: God tells us in His word not to fear 365 times.

Isn't that incredible? That is such a large amount of times.

Fear holds us back from so many things, and especially from living the life that God made for you and I! We are not meant to be slaves of fear, because we are the children of God. We do not have to figure out this life alone, we can now find our purpose and true worth through the one who made us. We were rebellious, angry, broken, hurt, mean, judgmental, but God still sent His one and only Son to take our place to set us free.

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:20

When we are made perfect in love, we will not fear and that is 100% guaranteed.

How many times have you done the same thing that Peter did? Seeing the Lord so clearly in the midst of a storm, and hearing Him calling you in a certain direction- at one moment you feel almost full confidence and ready to do whatever He is asking you to do, until you allow the thoughts of doubt and voice of fear to become louder than the beautiful voice of God. I know this has happened to me many times, but as we walk with Him and the more we begin to realize and see how much He stayed by our side through it all, we will begin to trust deeper. So today, I encourage us all- be brave and BELIEVE that God is with you always. No matter how far you've gone, how impossible a situation seems, how much hurt you feel... Call out to Him. Let down your guard of bitterness, toughness, and hurt, and come to the one who can turn that all around in so many incredible ways. Poor it out and let your praise flow deeper and bigger than that ocean you feel is overtaking you.

Ps. I really recomend the book "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat" By John Ortberg.

Love always,

Emily.