Thursday, October 15, 2009

Stepping Stones: FEAR: Hiding or Freedom?

Transformational Tip
Fear of speaking in class or giving a lecture… blowing a test or an important game…parasailing…taking a new job…confrontation or setting a healthy boundary…having someone angry or upset with me. For so long, FEAR(False Evidence Appearing Real) really interrupted my life. Then came the fear about having fear, I was almost paralyzed. Through Christian counseling, I realized I was hiding my fear…pretending it wasn’t there. I discovered that the fear you hide in the recesses of your heart will give birth to the fear of fear…a real monster. The danger of the second fear is diverting our focus off the original fear…which usually was planted at a very young age when we knew little and weren’t well equipped to handle much. Now as adults, we have capabilities to see more clearly the original false evidence and do something different and better in that situation…or at the very least, if real anxiety exists, handle it better. But we are usually to lazy to go back and deeply re-address those old painful FEARS to access the freedom Christ won for us over those FEARS. Freedom from FEAR is for you.
Today, acknowledge that your FEARS are flaming arrows of attack from the evil one and bring your fears out into the Light of Your Lord’s presence where you can deal with them together. Identify one thing that upsets, alarms, scares, or threatens you. Examine how it influences your decisions. Tell someone about it and ask them to help you identify the False Evidence that Appears Real. It can be very freeing just knowing the cycle can be broken. Click here to live the life that is WITHIN REACH when you overcome your FEARS. Click here to share with the stepping stone community your thoughts on FEAR.

Prayer
Dear Father,
I confess that fear has a stronghold on me. I know that most all fear comes from arrows of attack from the enemy. I thank You Father for Your Word that teaches me to use my shield of faith to extinguish those flaming arrows. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit Father so that I might build my faith. Help me understand how to dig deep and uncover those FEARS and bathe them in truth. Help me Father to bring all fear to You so that we may deal with them together. I pray Father, that by concentrating on You and being a good steward of my mind, that my fearfulness will lose its foothold on me. I pray in the holy name of Jesus, and all God’s children said, – Amen!

The Truth
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Ephesians 6:16
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
Proverbs 29:25

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

At first, I didn't even know I had fear. Through Christian counseling, I'm discovering I have fear of fear! Some of those original first fears are fear of needing someone, fear of letting someone help me, fear of loving someone, fear of opening up to someone . . . all stemming from WAY back to childhood, due to abuse. With patience and love from my counselor, and much grace and love from God, I'm working through these issues. I don't want to live in fear!

Anonymous said...

False Evidence Appearing Real . . . it's not true that everyone is untrustworthy, it's not true that everyone will hurt me. Yes, people did break my trust and hurt me in the past, but that doesn't mean that everyone in my present will do so.

Anonymous said...

I've never thought of myself as an anxious person or one who deals with worry. I think of worry as fear of the future. My fears stem more in the past. And where better for Satan to attack us . . . in a place that is unchangeable (we can't change the past). But those fears are also unnecessary . . . the past is past! Counseling has taught me to not let Satan control my present with past fears. Those fears are not real anymore. I'm older, wiser, more capable, and have people in my life to help me now. I DO have trustworthy loving people in my life now. Fear could make me stationery, unable to move forward for God. I want to live fear-free, pressing on towards whatever He has for me!

dr karl said...

thanks everybody for sharing. these are great encouragements to all of us. i am very impressed by your willingness to seek some coaching. that takes good self-assessment and awareness skills and courage to open humbly to another person. blessings as you go a few more stepping stones closer to developing the mind of Christ and Christ-likeness!

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