There are so many things we could address concerning fear and so much good material out there on this subject. My hope is to take a look at some aspects of fear you might not have thought of before. Or perhaps to reinforce what you already know.
Fear is a powerful force. Let’s look into the Who, What, When and Where of fear forces.
4 Fear Forces and How To Overcome Them
- Who makes you feel afraid?
- What makes you feel afraid?
- When do you feel afraid?
- Where do you feel afraid?
Who makes us feel afraid?
Who are we afraid of? It may be someone who has frightened us through anger or control. But I would like to look at something different. It’s possible that Who makes us afraid may depend on who we are trying to impress or please.
We may try to impress or please someone for right reasons or for wrong reasons. Let’s look at the right reasons of respect and love.
Some may say that we should never fear someone we love, but I want to counter that thought. We’ll look at the fear of the Lord first.
Fear of the Lord
I desire to please the Lord because I love Him. I also have a healthy fear of Him. This fear involves awe and reverence, but also a good dose of 1 Cor. 9:27 where it says in the NLT, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”
In Matthew 10:28 we also read, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Fear of punishment and fear of missing God’s best are viable fears.
It matters to me that I hold Him in esteem, that I obey and please Him, and that I even fear his wrath and missing His best for me. His grace is abundant but does not negate my need to live a holy life. This is a good, healthy fear.
But, should I fear others?
Should I fear anyone else?
I can fear others in this healthy sort of fear as long as my relationship with them is rightly aligned with my relationship with the Lord. Again, this is the kind of fear where I have respect for others and for their role of authority over me. I obey them as long as it doesn’t interfere with God’s Word or His will for me.
This isn’t mindless obedience. It isn’t fear of being a non-conformist. It is respecting and obeying in the right circumstances, not following orders in the wrong circumstances.
What about unhealthy fear of someone?
As we just said, there may be a time not to fear and obey, but to courageously resist. We can push back against an unhealthy fear of people when they attempt to force anything unholy or illegal on us.
But another unhealthy fear is the fear of what others think, especially when what we feel God wants us to do doesn’t suit what they think we should do. This doesn’t mean we don’t take advice or that we make hasty or unwise decisions. This post contains some tips to see if God is really speaking to us.
But let’s say we have a word from the Lord to step out in a project, a ministry or a new direction. What does He want us to do with that word? He wants us to lean into it, work it and fulfill it as He guides us through the process even if it is unique or otherwise unacceptable to the “normal” people in our lives.
We need to be careful not to choose a safer, more acceptable lifestyle rather than risk doing our assignment even if it might cause discomfort, persecution or alienation.
We need to do what the Lord is telling us to do!
Stand up for that assignment God has given you; don’t capitulate to worrying about what your boss, your family, your friends, even your enemies think of you. Don’t choose to please or impress them or be more concerned about what man thinks than about what God thinks.
I think one of the worst sorrows would be to reach the end of our lives and face the realization that WE ARRANGED OUR ENTIRE LIFE AROUND OUR FEARS! How sad.
The good news is that there is a remnant who who are facing their giants of fear and taking risks. You can join that number!
Even if that someone is a giant, we can conquer!
Even if we have struggled with fear in the past, we can become like David today. Let’s look at what David said concerning the giant, Goliath. And keep in mind that the scriptures indicate he was a “youth”!
[W]ho is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?….Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied ( 1 Samuel 17:26b, 45).
Say this with David. Say it with ATTITUDE! Who says Christians can’t have attitude. Meek does not mean weak.
Be encouraged to stand up to WHO makes you afraid. Fight your giants or move past them, whichever is appropriate for your circumstances.
The giants have to go! You must take your ground
What makes you feel afraid?
Think of what makes you afraid. We covered failure and rejection in another post, but many other things or circumstances can make you afraid.
- Loneliness
- Marriage
- Divorce
- Death
- Change
- Staying the same
- Financial lack
- Loss of a loved one
- Not having children
- Having children
- Growing old
- Missed opportunities
- Wrong decisions
- etc.
The list is endless.
For each of these things, God has a way out, a way through or a way around. He has a solution for every thing/situation you encounter. Just knowing that He has a solution is so comforting. He’s not surprised. He’s not frightened. He’s not confused. He will help you face your mountain.
One thing that helps me is to symbolically place my situation on the altar. Then it’s His to fix and I am relieved of the pressure! I also speak the Word of God over my life. If it’s in the Bible, I claim it for my own. I speak the Word of God over my situations. I even speak to my mountains. With God’s help, I cast them into the sea, climb them, tunnel through them or go around them. But every situation is faced WITH GOD.
Once placed on the altar, listen for God to tell you any steps to take. These steps are often found simply by immersing yourself in scripture. It is amazing how God speaks through His written Word. In the most obscure passages you find a nugget of gold for your situation.
God also gives Rhema words, something He speaks directly to you, for you. That inner voice.
Rise up and take steps. Instead of you being afraid of something, make it become afraid of you! Like Mario Murillo says, “The end times aren’t happening to me. I’m happening to the end times.” Apply that same principle to what makes you afraid.
When do you feel afraid?
A time period can actually hold power over us. Trauma from the past. Something like covid-19 in the present. And what looks like instability in the future, especially for our nation.
The Past
There may be times in the past that were traumatic to us. And whenever something similar looms ahead, those same feelings of panic and despair are triggered.
When this happens, let’s be reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Commit each of the times and seasons of your life to the Lord. Believe His promises. Refuse to listen to the enemy torment you with thoughts that a bad time will repeat.
Entrust past trauma to Him. Repent if you need to. But don’t let the past haunt you. It’s time to live in the present and anticipate the future!
The Present
Know that you were born for such a time as this (see Esther 4:14).
Right now!
Trust Him with your time of life right now. He is your Friend. He sees your circumstances. He hears your prayers. He has a plan. And He knows how to work it out in your life.
Speak the Word of God over yourself, others and your circumstances. Learn to make proclamations from the Word of God, as Derek Prince called them. More recently, we call this making decrees.
Patricia King’s book, Decree a thing and it shall be established, is a good place to start.
The Word of God is for you! Read it, meditate on it, study it, receive it and…
DECREE IT!
And remember to LIVE in the present. Don’t waste your time regretting the past, or conversely, longing for the past. And don’t miss what God has for you now because you’re preoccupied with the future.
For your fears right now, remember this, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Psalm 56:3 NIV). The psalmist’s words from long ago will work for you now.
You were born for such a time as this!
The Future
Some people live in the past, others in the future. Both are unproductive, sometimes even destructive. Right now, in the present, prophecy your future. How do you do that?
Sounds like a broken record, but saturate yourself with the scriptures and speak them over yourself. If you obey the light God is shedding on you now, He will reveal even more light. You will go into your future sure of His love for you and certain of His hand on you.
Proverbs 31:25 (NIV)
“She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.”
Even if the Lord is calling you to something you know will be of great sacrifice (think of Jesus knowing the cross was ahead of Him or Paul being willing to be bound and to die), you can conquer fear.
Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Acts 21:13
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
In the Lord, you are stronger than any time period, no matter how awful it is. God is with you and will be with you always. Be free!
Where do you feel afraid?
We can actually fear a place.
O boy, do I have a “place” where I feel afraid. Any place too high! My legs get weak and rubbery. For you, it may be a geographical place where you feel an evil presence or where something happened to you that hurt you or where you experienced great pain – emotional, physical or otherwise.
I would go so far as to say that certain places have particular spirits over them. It can often be felt as you drive through. We see a picture of this in Daniel 10 with the Prince of Persia.
Perhaps a place is fearful because it is new and you need to grow accustomed to it. God is there with you, and you will be given grace and strength as you adjust.
Or, you could be in a place you shouldn’t be in. Lot chose to live in the well-watered plains where Sodom was located, but the scriptures tell us he was vexed because of the extreme evil there. It was not a good place for him. Are you in a place of your own choosing and not God’s choosing? Be willing to pack up and leave!
However, when God leads us, we don’t need to let any place cause us fear or have authority over us.
The Bible tells us that “greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world” and “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.”
My favorite chapter of the Old Testament is Psalm 139, and here it says that no matter where we go, God is there. Wherever God is, we are safe in His hands! And He will guide us through both the pleasant and unpleasant places.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof” (Psalm 24:1a) . And if we have the Lord, we have His power!
Wrapping It Up
Who are you afraid of? That’s your giant. You are not on earth to please that giant. Slay it!
What are you afraid of? That thing or circumstance. Face it. Speak to your mountain!
When – what time period – are you afraid of? Past, present, future. There is a time for everything. Trust God with your times and seasons!
Where do you feel afraid? Know God is with you in a place that triggers fear. And be willing to leave a place where you shouldn’t be.
How do you face fear?
Share your experiences with fear and how you face them below in the comments!
