Discussion - What are you afraid of?
With the world being as corrupt as it is right now, there are a multitude of things one could be afraid of. Aside from the obvious things such as: lions, tigers, and bears (oh my.), there are many other spiritual or self motivated fears that also have people pretty shaken up. A few of these self motivated fears could include fear of rejection, fear of not being accepted, fear of not making it in life and so forth.
Webster defines "fear" as simply being afraid of something.
Webster defines "afraid" as having anxiety or fear of something or someone.
Both of those definitions don't really explain what fear is exactly do they?
In the new english translation of the bible, the word fear shows itself 195 times. In those 195 times that the word is seen, it is led into with do not or followed with The Lord. In other words , "do not fear" or "fear The Lord". But wait...if the bible says do not fear....but then it says fear The Lord...which command do I follow?
Both.
Think of God as a parent. (He is considered our Heavenly Father, so that shouldn't be too hard to imagine.) God - like a good parent - wants the best for us. He wants us to live the life we were meant to live and He wants us to see the best that life has to offer. He even sets things up for us to live the life that he wants us to live. Unfortunately, like children we don't always do as He says. Also, more than often we fail to execute His plans because WE ARE AFRAID. God - still like a good parent - will also punish us if we don't follow His rules. This is not because He doesn't love us, but because He wants the best for us.
"For The Lord disciplines those He loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child"
- Hebrews 12:6
"For The Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom He delights"
-Proverbs 3:12
So in reality, we shouldn't be literally afraid of Him, but respect Him and know that we will get punished if we act up. Reverence is a deep respect for something or someone. We should revere Him and try not to make him angry to the point of punishing us. However, on the bright side if you do get punished you can rest assured knowing that God loves you and that is why He is punishing you. Does that mean you should sin to see if God loves you? Of course not.
"For the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
- 2 Timothy 1:7
Fear is a spirit. A spirit that was not given to us by God. So you can guess who gives us that spirit. However, for that one spirit God gives us a spirit of POWER, LOVE, and SELF-DISCIPLINE to overcome it.
So what are you afraid of? If God wants us to do something, why should we be afraid to do it? Is it because we are afraid of what the world will think of us? Maybe it's because we are trying to do it our way instead of His way.
Comment below with what you are afraid of, why you are afraid of it, and what you think you can do to overcome it. Let's discuss.
Spiritually, my biggest fear is backsliding . I am afraid of falling back into the sins that God redeemed me from. I have done this before and saw the negative results of turning my back on God and I just don't want to hurt Him again. I feel like God moved a lot of mountains in my life so that I could be free from those sins and going back would just be so disrespectful to Him.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you are coming from. I have backslid before as well, and it always seems like right when you are doing well thats when you slip up and do something sinful like in the old days. That also throws you off of your game and you go back into thinking that you are unworthy. We have to remember, however, that we are not perfect like Jesus was/is. If we live in fear of going back to the old days 9/10 we will go back to them. You become what you think about most.
Delete"You become what you think about most." This is so true. I was just telling a girlfriend of mine to control her feelings and thoughts last night, but i didn't even realize that my thoughts and emotions try to take control more often than I think. I hope the following BIble verses will help anyone else that is struggling with their thought processes.
Delete"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Proverbs 4:23
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2
"And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness."
Mark 7:20-22
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Phillipians 4:8-9
Fear is one of many of those things that the enemy has perverted. Yes, the bibel tells us , God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the power of love and a sound mind, but on the other hand God has given us that (normal fear) which i call cautiousness or that ( you know so you know better). For example, if I go to the zoo, I know not to jump over a cage and go pet a lion, not only is it the law but i fear the fact that he will most likely eat me alive. Or another example, we know not to drive on the wrong side of the road, we may fear the police or the fear of going to jail etc. That is to say that i believe that normal fear is a good thing, a gift from God.We fear God because we know we will be judged by him and we don't want to go to hell. but there is that spirit of fear that the enemy uses to overcome our faith. one of my have stories in the bible is where Jesus and His twelve disciples were sailing across Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples filled their fishing boat to capacity. Jesus was sleep on the boat. A storm struck. imagine the disciples in that boat at night facing a storm that seemed on the verge of overcoming them. They were probably miles from land. the disciples screamed, "Jesus, wake up! Don't you care whether we die or not?"
ReplyDeleteJesus woke up and looked around. Then he performed a miracle that amazed the disciples. He ordered the storm to be quiet, and a great calm and peace fell upon the Sea… The disciples are just like us "young and christain" sometimes. We let our fear overcome our faith. That is why we must find security in Jesus. He is with us even when we are in the middle of temptation. the bible tells us we are righteous because of Christ our savior. Yet we feel like when we sin or fall short that we are being held back. It is the fear of going to hell of fearing God that holds us back. It is the spirit of fear that overcame our faith, birthed doubt, and perverted in depression, insecurity and now a wall is built in your prayer life. you start feeling shameful during worship, like you are not good enough and you mess up too much. MAN that is the devil plan from the jump! HE IS A LIAR FROM THE PIT OF HELL! WE are sinners saved by grace, those doubts, fears, mistakes, insecurities died on the cross over 2000 years ago. we are dealing with dead situations because we fear and lack faith. lol i did not mean to get so deep but I am tired of dealing with fear myself. We must stay in our prayer closet. let God tell you who you are. then when others say something or state their unwanted opinions, you look at them like " um excuse me, that is not what my God told me last night in my prayer closet" we are on this boat called life, with Jesus right HERE and we tend to Scream JESUS WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING," ha he is not worried. he knows all and wants to amaze us with that miracle, but he wants you to have faith. ok ok I'm done lol God bless you loves :)
Amen! I agree - we have a purpose on this earth and fear is what keeps us from doing it. Half of the time what we are afraid of isn't even that serious. NOTHING is too hard or too large for our God. I think about some of the great people in the bible...all of them sinned...but they still made it to Heaven to see the glory of God. It's like the Peter walking on water situation - when we take our eyes off of God we will sink no doubt. Instead of focusing on sin we should focus on Who died for our sins. We must pray without ceasing to remain in contact with God and always seek the Kingdom.
DeleteChicken.
ReplyDeleteThe actual bird, or the cooked version?
DeleteI can't say I have any real fears on earth, but if I could name one I would say loss of memory. Be that by means of memory wiped off my computer, in my mind, or some other way. The thought of what I once knew becoming lost in space frightens me. The thought of all of this time spent collecting something or arranging something just for it to be lost is crazy. This relates to my relationship with God as well. I would hate to have all the blessings that have been given to me and my family go in vain by making stupid decisions causing all of that which those before me made room for to just come over as an utter waste of time. I try not to become to attached to certain materialistic things because they can be broken. In order to overcome this fear, I believe I must learn to trust God and lean not on my own understanding. God's purpose and seasons make the most sense in the beginning, middle, and end. Always.
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