There are more than 500 places in the bible that encourage us to not be afraid or to FEAR NOT. That is enough to remind us once a day and twice on the weekends for a whole year!
I would be like, “God, how do I not feel afraid? The feelings of fear are still there!”
He’s not saying don’t FEEL the feelings of being afraid. He created you to experience emotions. That’s like saying to an iphone, don’t make phone calls! When He tells us not to fear, He always adds that we don’t have to fear because HE will be with us.
He is really saying don’t let fear control you and stop from you from trusting and following Him. Don’t let fear hold you back from taking the hand of your Father that wants to help you.
He is wanting to teach us to believe He really IS with us. We can trust Him to help us in EVERY situation. But we tend to get stuck from even stepping out, and seeing His help hand come, due to FEAR. This is what He wants to help us get past- THE FEAR. He’s saying DON’T LET FEAR GET A HOLD OF YOUR HEART.
PERFECT LOVE is the only solution to casting out all fear (I John 4:18). Perfect love looks like TRUSTING THE PERFECT ONE over your imperfect self. He will make up the difference for where you fall short. But, He needs you to trust Him FIRST. THE BEST FATHER in the universe is right there with you and wants to help.
Some say, but it would it be so much easier if I could see Him.
He has a huge desire for you Trust Him even now when you can’t see Him with your natural eyes. He stretches your ‘trust limits’ by having us practice trusting Him without seeing Him here on this side of eternity.
Many have a hard time trusting a Heavenly Father they can’t see because the father they can see on earth has let them down and wasn’t the loving example they were meant to be.
But, His ways are so much higher than our ways! He will infinitely outdo even the best fathers on the earth. I once heard the daughter of the great preacher and author, Max Lucado, say that her dad was the best dad she had ever seen. He would do everything in his power to win her heart, and worked hard to communicate value for her. Even still, she had a need for more. There was still a longing in her heart for a love that could only be filled by her Heavenly Father. She said if her dad was meant to fill her every need, he would be her god, and she wouldn’t have a need for a LORD and Heavenly Father.
Our faith is being stretched to its limits. Strength trainers I have had in the past pushed me past every limit I had, and when I thought I could go no further, I was pushed further than I had ever imagined. Not to hurt me. Even though, I questioned many times whether they were trying to kill me! Being pushed passed my limits was for my benefit not my harm.
Our Father is doing nothing less for our benefit. If we learn to trust Him well here, how much more will we trust Him when we can see Him throughout eternity?
Psalm 139:7-10 describes a Heavenly Father who never leaves our side. Who is constantly desiring to be close and wanting to help us. He can only help us if we give Him our hand in return. He will never force you to give Him your hand and trust Him. He patiently waits on us.
He’s not telling us we should never FEEL afraid.
He doesn’t need us walking around bound up in denial and lying to ourselves like we aren’t afraid. He would rather us walk toward Him afraid! When we push forward and see His hand of protection and provision, it builds our trust to lean on Him quicker the next time. We feel extra confident that He will come thru the next time we choose trust even when its scary!
We must not serve the spirit of fear by letting it tell us what to do, nor tell us who we can trust. When we are frozen in fear, our inaction proves we don’t trust our God! He wants us to love and trust Him in EVERY situation. Fear can’t be what determines our decisions. That is when fear becomes our god. But, if we get stuck in fear, the MOMENT we push past it with the intention of trusting the Lord, we are choosing HIM over fear. It’s the most beautiful act of choosing love and worship when you choose Him anyway! WE NEED to choose Him afraid.
NEXT TIME YOU FEEL AFRAID IN STEPPING INTO OBEDIENCE TO HIS LEADING OR TAKING A RISK TOWARD HIS PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE, REMEMBER HE’S WAITING TO SEE WHO YOU WILL CHOOSE! WILL YOU trust your God who said He will be with you AND to CHOOSE TRUSTING HIM OR WILL YOU STAY LOCKED IN THE ARMS of fear?
Practice CHOOSING to TRUST Your FAITHFUL FATHER while you are afraid. RUN after what He created you to do. GET — USED TO TRUSTING HIM AFRAID, and you will SEE ALL FEAR FLEE! Brave ones are used to doing it AFRAID- they choose TRUST over choosing FEAR. THIS is how you will finally be FREE of the FEAR FREEZING YOU up. CHOOSE to TRUST GOD- AFRAID. Only then will FEAR FAIL to control you!