What scares you? For Angie Smith, author of What Women Fear, her list of fears was long and practically emerged with her from her momma’s womb. Like Angie, I had many fears as a child; some I could name, others I couldn’t; but they all left a vapor trail of anxiety. And how’s this for the ultimate irony: I became a Christian at age nine and knew the comfort of my heavenly future, yet I was absolutely terrified of the Rapture. Forty-seven years later I can still recall the dream/nightmare.
What do we do with our fears? Are ongoing struggles with fear a lack of faith? Angie’s own words are today’s “Fix Your Thoughts on This” –
“I want to propose that it (fear) is more of a balancing act than anything else. I don’t think I’m a failure because I have had fears, and I certainly don’t think that it is a requirement for Christians to forego fear in order to be good followers of Christ. I believe fear is the natural response to the question Satan whispered (in the garden, ‘God says He is good . . . is He?’), and I find that every day I have to adjust my footing consciously to move toward Jesus (my italics).”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had to mindfully move from a passivity masquerading as faith to become an active participant (my part is simply to obey and choose Jesus) with the Holy Spirit in God’s transforming work in my soul – including releasing me from the grip of fear. The fuel for this movement was, and continues to be, knowing God. More faith isn’t the answer to overcoming fear. A fuller, clearer vision of the Object of my faith, Jesus, is.
Knowing God leads to trusting God and trusting God leads to obeying God . . . even when fear threatens to overtake me. So when the enemy of my soul hisses, “God says He is good . . . is He?” I can answer, You bet He is! I know Him, so I trust Him (Psalm 9:10) . . . and with Jesus ahead, beside and behind me, I plow right through my fear (FYI, my knees may be shaking, but onward I go).
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