Everyone has fears. Categories of phobias can range from the animal kingdom to personal pain and more. Among them all, most individuals can identify with the ever-looming “fear of failure”. God showed me something about this one this morning that caught me a little off guard. You see, I never really considered myself a fearful person. Cautious, yes; wary, sometimes; worrisome, rarely. Yet, I realized that there is a huge part of my life that is based on fear, without my ever knowing it: ACTION. Follow me on this one, it doesn’t make much sense now, but it will.
Up until this point, I have over-thought, over-analyzed, and over-complicated a lot of things that I know God wants me to take hold of in my life. While there is always the necessity of being in His will and doing things in His timing, there has been far too many times that I have allowed fear to hold me back from action. I mislabeled this though, and never truly identified my lack of activity as fear. I was though; I was afraid that I wouldn’t get it right, that it wasn’t God’s timing, that there were others who were more skilled, that I didn’t look the way I wanted to yet, that I hadn’t prepared enough or researched enough, the list goes on and on. You see, my fear didn’t look like anxiety… it really just looked like I was trying my best to efficient! I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in their waddly little rows before I took action. Planning is necessary for life and so many things… but over-planning kills all productivity. There’s no point in trying to make sure every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted when you never finish what you set out to do!
NO LONGER! I will no longer be held captive to an invisible tether. I will not hold back in apprehension to the calls God announces over my life, and I will most certainly never doubt my own abilities (or lack thereof) because it’s not about me anyway… it’s about Christ! How many of you are holding back on something that you know God has called you to do? Is a mislabeled fear the reason? Maybe you think you’re just being “sure” before you take that leap. Waiting on God is one thing, waiting because you’re scared is quite another. That fear can take hold of us and render us essentially useless to the Kingdom. We can be fearful of others’ opinions, our own opinion of ourselves, failure, not understanding something fully, appearing incapable, and countless other things.
The problem with fear is that it is a liar regardless of your current situation. While, granted, there are times where extreme caution and planning are essential, but overall fear that cripples your success in life or your growth as a person is poisonous. Satan is the father of lies and thus the father of fear. When we give in to the fears that plague our thoughts, we are deciding that the lies that scare us are more powerful than the Truth that is within us. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. We cannot claim to walk in the Light and remain in darkness. So, with the personal revelation that I was, indeed, afraid of moving forward… here I go. I will jump in and disregard any feelings of apprehension, all the while staying sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. No more fear, no more regret, no more hesitation. This is the year my friends, 2016 is the year of no fear!
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
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