"it is the Unknown that nearly drives us nutso."
This is actually a form of fear that many of us have. We fear so many things in our lives. I have had to come to a quick realization about a few things recently along this area. Fear is a common problem. Some of our fears are legitimate but some of them may be groundless. Either way they can mean anguish for the person living in fear. We sometimes worry about things that aren't real. We imagine that illness is going to wreck havoc with our bodies, or even kill us. We also worry about things in our families, their safety, etc. Some worry that a child may get their illness. I've heard women speak about that they fear that their husband will leave them if they get really ill. Their fear had no basis because their husband to that point hadn't done anything to warrant these thoughts.
Not being afraid is an element of trusting God and of being a godly person. Being fearless is included in the description of the excellent wife in Proverbs 31 See Proverbs 31:21,25. Peter tells us to "do what is right without being frightened by any fear" 1 Peter 3:5,6. God's word does acknowledge that fear may be a problem but we are to respond to fears in a biblical manner. So many times our fear opens the door to panic and with panic we often get carried away and the fears that develop don't correlate with the actual circumstances. We have added reasons to be afraid without any concrete facts.
Think about it, how many of us have had this feeling that something bad is going to happen? That is senseless fear of something that may never happen but we'll lie awake at night or worry constantly about it. How many have been afraid when our children go out by themselves? Well we should pray to God to take care of our child, believe that he will, and trust him to keep his word. Yes bad things do happen and people do lose their children but we must not be anxious, uneasy or worried for something that may never happen.
When fear takes over it may hinder us in being steadfast in our own responsibilities. We may not be able to sleep and then we are sick afterwards and can't do things we are responsible for. Fear can also open the gateway to cause sin to enter. When we are afraid or distraught from the fear we are more likely to be impatient or harsh with someone. Some people may have to lie to others to justify their fear. Some wives may let their fears cause them to try to usurp the headship given by God to husbands. We may be drawn through fear of what others may think to a point where we engage in arguments. Fear can cripple us emotionally if we don't put the situation into God's hand and trust him to take care of it and us put our fear away.
Look at what Fear caused Peter to do. When Jesus was arrested Peter was afraid of what may happen to him if the people knew he was with Jesus before and was one of his apostles. Peter denied the Lord Jesus. Matthew 26:69-70. We can all understand Peters fear but he denied the Lord and that was a sinful act. We must remind ourselves that God was and still is sovereign over every circumstance. God will give you the grace to make it through any trial if you just give it over to him, believe his word where he said he will handle it for us and trust him to keep his word. Read Proverbs 29:25 Hebrews 13:6 and 1 Peter 3:6 Worrying about tomorrow is wrong because we don't know what tomorrow holds. We should just deal with today and ask for God's grace to manage.
We all know that we shouldn't fear but should run to God in prayer about things and give it unto him to solve and not worry about it. See: Philippians 4:6,7 If we put what we fear into his hands then we can have peace. Here are some scriptures that may help you find solutions to fear.
Galatians 2:12 "For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision"
We shouldn't be a man pleaser but work to please God. It is more important what God thinks of you than what people think of you. In the scripture above Peter was being a pleaser of men, he feared what they would think of him. His desire to please men placed him in the position of having to fear he would be found out. We should seek God's approval not mans.
Psalm 119:52,114,143,165 (Due to length I won't type these scriptures out but please go read). From this I found great peace from God if I will memorize and meditate on God's promises that apply to me.
These promises are tried and true. The promises that apply to our own lives will fortify us. If we can memorize a specific scripture that applies to a situation we are experiencing and recite it when we feel fear, it will help us to respond with wisdom and according to scripture.
Proverbs 3:21-26 (Again due to length I won't type these scriptures out but please go read). From this I realized that if our decisions are wise ones and based on scripture then we will rest more peacefully and our fears and worries will be less. Not making wise and biblical decisions can actually cause us to allow snares for ourselves to be set up. Wisdom is the ability to relate truth (God's word) to life situations. If we use wisdom we will know how to cope with fears we may have. The scripture above in Proverbs even shows us that in extreme circumstances when we are being attacked by wickedness, fear will not overcome us if we use wisdom and depend on his word to guide us.
II Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love and of a sound mind".
Boy does this speak to us. Reminding ourselves of God's power and his love for us and all mankind should be of great comfort to us when we have fear. When we are going through something that frightens us we tend to get carried away and may be fearful of what we THINK about the circumstances and not fearful of the actual true circumstance. We may have added things in there that aren't true or haven't happened. Then our focus becomes inward and we become more frightened. We worry about what is going to happen to us when we should pray for the factual circumstance we are facing at that moment and put what MAY happen into God's hands. We shouldn't fear sickness or death. Read Matthew 10:28 and Proverbs 1:7
Psalm 23:4 "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
I had a man ask me once what thought crossed my mind when I read that scripture. I said "Am I going to die?" LOL. He said that it meant I shouldn't be afraid of death. I should be at peace with God and know that he will take care of me. My time will come when it comes and I shouldn't be wasting time I could be living by worrying about death. We should remind ourselves and trust that God is always with us. Remember that no matter what happens that God will walk through it with us.
Psalm 56:4 "In God I will praise his words, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."
This is a big one. We have the choice to decide who we are going to trust to keep us safe and secure. We shouldn't put our trust in things other than God. We should praise God and trust him to keep his word. Don't trust in ourselves or people in the world, trust in God. We can trust God to help us and we can trust him to keep his word.
See Matthew 24:35
Psalm 34:4 "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Seek out the Lord when you are afraid. Talk to the Lord when you are afraid and he will talk back to you through His Word. God will deliver us from every sinful fear, however great or small. Instead of turning to some other form of escape when we are afraid we should turn to God.
See Hebrews 4:12 and I Corinthians 10:13
1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fearesth is not made perfect in love."
Overcome our fears with Love. One key to overcoming fear is to put on biblical love for God and for others. We show love to God by obeying his Word. When we think about ourselves our fear usually escalates. Remember when I mentioned above how we sometimes think that something horrible is going to happen. This can make us become completely panicked over absolutely nothing. Same thing with having an illness. We fear the unknown and the fact that it is unknown means we are worrying about absolutely nothing. What we are worried about may never happen. When we overcome the fear with Love it causes us to look for opportunities to give and often gets our mind off of the fears. See I Corinthians 13:6
Now of course we all have legitimate concerns about our health and even life in general. There are two ways to respond to such legitimate concerns. One is to focus on the present day and what God considers our responsibility regarding the concern. The other is to focus on the future, jump to a rash conclusion, usually the worse possible conclusion and then panic. God can't give us grace to respond biblically to a focus of the future that isn't real. See Matthew 6:34 and Philippians 4:8. We should focus on today and what our responsibilities are for today. Regarding our concerns about our health, we know we must take our medications, perhaps go to the doctor, care for our health needs and pray for God's guidance. We can add our name to prayer chains. God will give us grace to focus on today and what we must do today. My favorite scripture to help me with this issue is Philippians 4:6-9
We should put out un-biblical thoughts and put on biblical thoughts. The biblical thoughts will overcome fear. If we think that something is frightening and it is a true fear we just have to commit ourselves to do the right thing. Our responsibility is to do what is right and God will at that time give us grace and wisdom to respond. If something comes up and we don't know how to respond there is nothing wrong with telling them we need to think and get back with them later. Then seek God's word. When we are afraid of something remember your favorite scripture and recite it to yourself in your mind or even aloud to overcome the fear. Be careful not to respond to something in an unbiblical way. Fear will cause us to do that if we allow it.
Don't be anxious or fearful. Pray a biblical prayer of supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Pray right away, don't wait because the fear will grow if you don't act immediately. When you are having fearful thoughts be sure that they are biblical. Philippians 4:8 is a good guide to check. If you persist in this you will experience the "peace of God which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7) and the "God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9).
- Posted by Sherry Lucas using BlogPress for iPad.
