"LETTING GO OF FEAR"

Oftentimes we gather up our fears and worries like prized possessions. We are afraid to loosen our grip on them, because we just don't know what will happen if we let go. They take root in our minds, we cultivate and water them and soon they grow even bigger. They consume our thoughts, our actions and our relationships; they become our identity.

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."

Proverbs 23:7

Fear can be defined as:

False   Evidence   Appearing   Real

Fear is the outcome of our trying to control the future instead of trusting God and living for Him in the present. It is made up from our own imaginations of what could be if this happens or that happens and our wrong perceptions of who we are and what is truly important. Fear and worry make us irrational, unproductive, and stunts our spiritual growth.

"And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:22

 

It is only by casting our cares on the Lord and leaving them there that we will ever overcome them. This is not to say that we will no longer have these issues in our life; but it does mean they will no longer rule our life. As Christians, it is only when we can learn that our identity is not who we are, but Whose we are that we will truly be able to find our real self.

 

“Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self.” C. S. Lewis

 

"The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the Christian is cured of the disease of fearing."
Charles Spurgeon

 

"I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4

 

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” Proverbs 3:5-8.