How do we face fear and overcome it?
That was the question of the day in our morning coffee time, and as always, Elaine had my back pressed to the Biblical wall by the time we had finished.
Over many years of counselling, I have come to the conclusion that all of us struggle tangibly with fear. And that is important to know, because many people are under the delusion that there is a class of super Christians out there who float several inches above the ground and never give fear the time of day.
Believe that, and I have a miracle cure for COVID-19 I’ll give you a good price on.
How then do we deal with the presence of fear in our daily lives? To find out, as with most things in the Bible, you have to step back and look at the big picture. The good news is that the kingdom of God has broken into this lost and dying world. And with it comes the promise that the perfect love of Jesus casts out fear. And that Jesus has destroyed the power of the one who held us in his grip through the fear of death.
But this kingdom is not yet present in its final form, and will not be until the Lord returns. In the meantime, we find ourselves living in a fallen and sometimes dangerous world, a world in which we are subject daily to all sorts of things that shake our security and cause fears to rise within us.
We live, in other words, in the Great in-Between.
In the Great in-Between, we find ourselves in a state of dependency. That dependency is most obvious in our need of salvation. We are saved only by the grace of God. We make no contribution to the saving work of Christ other than accepting it. And even our acceptance comes through a gift of grace.
But when it comes to living the Christian life, we have this ever-present tendency to slip back into human striving. Overcoming fear becomes a decision we must make. An emotion we must conjure up. A state of mind we must achieve. But none of that works. At best, we manage our fears only by suppressing them, where they cause us other issues.
The only way to tackle fear is by asking daily for the grace of God. You can’t conquer today’s fear with yesterday’s grace. And neither will God give you grace today for the battles of tomorrow.
Grace is actually a form of power. It is the divine energy of the Holy Spirit at work in us. You can’t overcome fear by telling it to leave. You can’t overcome fear by imagining it isn’t real. You can’t even overcome it by quoting Psalm 91 all day long.
The one great benefit of fear is that it drives us daily into the arms of the only One who can help us. Christians are strongest when they are weakest. Total dependency on God is the very best place to be.
Fear will be with us until the day we die. But that doesn’t mean we have to give into it. Use the presence of fear in your life today to drive you into the God whose limitless grace can help you.
Very few fears are dealt with overnight. Most take years, and some take a lifetime. Don’t be discouraged if the battle starts again tomorrow. But learn to look back and see how far you’ve come, and know that the One who carried you this far will take you across the finish line.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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