Get Rid of Your Fear

No matter how tough you are, when you get alone by yourself fear seeks to creep in.

Any area of life can pose a threat to your peace. Are you afraid of failure? What about your health? Is the economy on your "worry list"? Do finances freak you out? Or, let me rephrase, does losing money breed fear for you? How about losing your job? Are you afraid of man-sized, hairy spiders? Are you socially uncomfortable because of fear? Are you afraid of the unknown? Do you fear losing someone that you love? Do you fear God?

As I look back on that list, it's overwhelming to know that I have experienced most of those fears in my life (except the man-sized spider one, of course). The Google search "how to be free from fear" produces 25,200,000 results, which happens to be 10,000,000+ more results than the next nine searches (i.e. including in order from most results to least results, how to be free from: stress, sin, debt, depression, addiction, anxiety, bitterness, lust, and curses). Consequently, fear is a big issue.

Many psychologists believe that we are only born with two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. If you have a couple of minutes click on this link and scroll down to see the list of phobias (http://phobialist.com/#A-). It's amazing how many there are. Make sure that, after reading the list of phobias, you aren't suddenly overtaken by the fear of learning (see sophophobia). Just saying. You would have to agree that most of us struggle with much more than these two fears. All of these other fears are learned.

The word fear is found in the Bible 1,461 times. Why? Obviously God knew that it would be tempting to participate in it. But so often, God is commanding against it. Not as a ruthless dictator, but instead as a powerful and loving Father who hates to see you fearful.

In scripture, Paul addressed this issue by communicating to his protege Timothy, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The Greek word for fear is "deilia" (pronounced di-lee'-ah) and it means "timidity, fearfulness, cowardice." Interestingly, this is the only time this word shows up in scripture. If you look closely, not only does God discourage fear, but Paul says he hasn't given it to us. Instead he has given us POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND.

So, what is bothering you today? Give it up. What is worrying you? Surrender it. What do you fear? Release it. God has provided you with power, love, and a sound mind.