Set Free From Fear

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - Set Free From Fear

When you become obsessed by a useless fear–like fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being alone, to mention a few–then you develop behaviors that actually feed your fears, and the more you give in to your fears, the more they will grow. What are some ways we keep fears alive–we feed our fears?

• We feed our fears by avoiding the object of our fear or running from it. Avoidance never lessens the fear, it feeds it. I think of a friend who is facing a useless fear in her life – the fear of being with people, which is really a fear of rejection or a fear of making a fool of yourself. She has been avoiding any social activities – even church meetings – in order to steer clear of groups. Now she is beginning to make herself take part in group activities, and discovering how unfounded her fears are. Avoiding it always makes it worse.

• We feed our fears by negative talk. If you are a doomsayer and you talk about your fear in a negative way all the time, you simply feed your fear. For example, if you’re afraid of public speaking, you make it worse by telling everybody you’re afraid and how afraid you are and what happened to you once, etc., etc.

• We feed our fears by deceiving ourselves and denying the fear. For example, if you’re afraid to try something new, you might mask that fear by claiming you intend to get to it later, or you just don’t have the money or the time–or some manufactured excuse to avoid what you fear.

What are you doing that is feeding your useless, out-of-control fear? I want to encourage you to pray about it–ask God to reveal any areas where you are contributing to the fear that has you in bondage.

We know from scripture that God is not the author of our useless fears. He does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love. So, any useless fear that keeps us from being all God intends for us to be is simply Satan’s tool, his flaming arrow that he uses to wound you and steal your peace, your joy, your productivity, and your reward.