Fear
Fear
I'm catching up in my mail and found a note from someone who anonymously commented on my blog entry "Inadequacy and Fear". She wrote, "this is just the exact feelings i am going thru and i also do not know hot to face my fears . i feel so inadequate and i am sure i must be o/w why would i feel it but how do i face them ?? its really feels like a mess !!"
I've been giving some thought to fear, especially since I just finished reading Michael Crichton's novel, "State of Fear". Evans, a lawyer who's one of the main characters in the story, is given the job of talking to and calming down Professor Norman Hoffman who threatens to disrupt an important conference. Hoffman studies "the ecology of thought...and how it has led to a State of Fear." Because this is the crux of the book, the reader is treated to many of Hoffman's thoughts and ideas as he tells them to Evans.
He suggests (and Crichton has an impressive 33-page annotated bibliography at the end of the novel) that social control is best managed through fear. He makes a good case for how heavy-weight organizations promote "fear in the population--under the guise of promoting safety." "Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health, and comfort. Average life spans increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment. They are afraid of the homes they live in, the food they eat, the technology that surrounds them. They are in a particular panic over things they can't even see--germs, chemicals, additives, pollutants. They are timid, nervous, fretful, and depressed." He asks the question, "How has this world view been instilled in everyone?" And we see the answer above--fear is used to control people nation-wide and around the world.
Interestingly, Crichton (through Hoffman's voice) twists a popular saying amongst Christians to "What Would Jesus Drive?" complaining that the religious leaders do not speak out against the fear-mongering that occurs "As if they have forgotten that what Jesus would drive is the false prophets and fearmongers out of the temple."
The Bible says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18, NIV) As I was reading the conversation between Evans and Hoffman, I was struck by how fear is a tool that Satan uses to keep US under his control. I've heard it said that the only weapon Satan has against us is deceitfulness. If he can get us to believe the lie that something is worth being afraid of, then he can control how we behave.
The only way we can face our fears is by asking God to show us the truth and then choosing to believe what he shows us despite how tangible and real the lie of our fears seems to be. The truth is that we ARE inadequate. That's why we need Jesus. Without Him we are a mess. But for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for that weakness. In fact, we're told that Christ's power is made perfect in our weaknesses. We can rejoice in being weak, as bizarre as that seems.
I know that some of my biggest fears are connected to rejection. The fear of rejection often reduces me to tears. I've been shown this past week in another area of my life just how vulnerable I am to Satan's lies. They are so subtle and believable! And yet, from this other experience (which I will write about in another entry), I'm realizing just how important it is to keep connected to Jesus through His Holy Spirit so that I can hear the truths He's trying to tell me to counteract the lies. This is what I want more than anything else--to have God's Spirit flowing through me at all times and to have nothing blocking Him and His voice but to hear all He chooses to tell me and to believe and obey it.
Dear Father, I don't want to believe the lies that tie me to fear. You are Love and perfect love drives out fear. Please drive out all fear from me. Jesus, block my ears from the lies but keep them open to hear all Your truths for You are Truth. Holy Spirit, fill me and flow through me. Be my Source of confidence and comfort. I want only you, God.
I'm catching up in my mail and found a note from someone who anonymously commented on my blog entry "Inadequacy and Fear". She wrote, "this is just the exact feelings i am going thru and i also do not know hot to face my fears . i feel so inadequate and i am sure i must be o/w why would i feel it but how do i face them ?? its really feels like a mess !!"
I've been giving some thought to fear, especially since I just finished reading Michael Crichton's novel, "State of Fear". Evans, a lawyer who's one of the main characters in the story, is given the job of talking to and calming down Professor Norman Hoffman who threatens to disrupt an important conference. Hoffman studies "the ecology of thought...and how it has led to a State of Fear." Because this is the crux of the book, the reader is treated to many of Hoffman's thoughts and ideas as he tells them to Evans.
He suggests (and Crichton has an impressive 33-page annotated bibliography at the end of the novel) that social control is best managed through fear. He makes a good case for how heavy-weight organizations promote "fear in the population--under the guise of promoting safety." "Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health, and comfort. Average life spans increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment. They are afraid of the homes they live in, the food they eat, the technology that surrounds them. They are in a particular panic over things they can't even see--germs, chemicals, additives, pollutants. They are timid, nervous, fretful, and depressed." He asks the question, "How has this world view been instilled in everyone?" And we see the answer above--fear is used to control people nation-wide and around the world.
Interestingly, Crichton (through Hoffman's voice) twists a popular saying amongst Christians to "What Would Jesus Drive?" complaining that the religious leaders do not speak out against the fear-mongering that occurs "As if they have forgotten that what Jesus would drive is the false prophets and fearmongers out of the temple."
The Bible says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18, NIV) As I was reading the conversation between Evans and Hoffman, I was struck by how fear is a tool that Satan uses to keep US under his control. I've heard it said that the only weapon Satan has against us is deceitfulness. If he can get us to believe the lie that something is worth being afraid of, then he can control how we behave.
The only way we can face our fears is by asking God to show us the truth and then choosing to believe what he shows us despite how tangible and real the lie of our fears seems to be. The truth is that we ARE inadequate. That's why we need Jesus. Without Him we are a mess. But for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for that weakness. In fact, we're told that Christ's power is made perfect in our weaknesses. We can rejoice in being weak, as bizarre as that seems.
I know that some of my biggest fears are connected to rejection. The fear of rejection often reduces me to tears. I've been shown this past week in another area of my life just how vulnerable I am to Satan's lies. They are so subtle and believable! And yet, from this other experience (which I will write about in another entry), I'm realizing just how important it is to keep connected to Jesus through His Holy Spirit so that I can hear the truths He's trying to tell me to counteract the lies. This is what I want more than anything else--to have God's Spirit flowing through me at all times and to have nothing blocking Him and His voice but to hear all He chooses to tell me and to believe and obey it.
Dear Father, I don't want to believe the lies that tie me to fear. You are Love and perfect love drives out fear. Please drive out all fear from me. Jesus, block my ears from the lies but keep them open to hear all Your truths for You are Truth. Holy Spirit, fill me and flow through me. Be my Source of confidence and comfort. I want only you, God.
posted by Magdaleine at 7:51 PM
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