Devo: Overcoming Fear

I have been purposefully choosing to not let fear be a main factor in my life's decision making for the past year. However life for a global worker can be completely fraught with fear if you're not careful. This is the short list of potential fears!

• Eating chickens feet
• Offending someone's culture
• Finances
• Safety
• Getting lost
• Losing your passport
• Persecution
• Language barriers
• Lack of comfort
• Packing all that stuff into one backpack!

With so many things to fear, how do you possibly control it? Here are my thoughts on fear, and controlling it:

Why?

Well, the main reason is... God commands us not to fear!
He doesn't only tell us once or twice, the phrase "do not fear" and "do not be afraid" is in the bible 365 times!! God Himself tells us not to fear often, which makes it a serious issue that is not to be brushed off or taken lightly!

Fear can hinder us from doing God's will. When you are a true believer, the Holy Spirit dwells in you and empowers you so that you can carry out God's work. We are not given a Spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7). What then is the opposite of fear? According to Paul's letter to Timothy, it is power, love and self-discipline. When you make decisions, what kind of questions do you ask yourself? "How much will it cost?", "Is it safe?", "How long will it take?", "What will I say?", "Am I able to do this?" If the decision is one that God has asked of you, these things have already been taken care of!

Power

We have power! Power is better than safety, for if He is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31). If God has called you to something, He will give you the strength, the words and the means.

Love

Are our decisions made based on our personal fears, losses and well-being, or on others? As Christians, we need to make sure that ALL of our decisions are made for the benefit of others. Philippians 2:3 says to "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility consider others better than yourself."  Do NOTHING. Can you comprehend that? I'm feeling convicted just writing it! How many decisions, small or large, have you made in the past couple days out of selfish ambition? And I know I often use fear to justify those decisions! "The roads aren't safe enough for me to get to my ministry function.", "I can't afford it.", "I don't know them well enough.", "It's too awkward", "It's too dangerous to volunteer there.", "I might get sick if I'm around those people.", "I don't know enough about that issue", "I need my sleep, that event will keep me out too late." All excuses I have heard or used that sound completely legitimate, but can often be based on fear, not love.

Self-Discipline

This one is a bit more difficult to pin down.. What does self-discipline have to do with fear? I did a word search on this one to come up with a few more answers. The word Self-Discipline is related to a Greek verb, sōphronizō, which is used four ways:

1. To restore one to his senses
2. To moderate, control, curb, discipline
3. To hold to one's duty
4. To admonish, to exhort earnestly

Number 3 made it click for me. The picture of a soldier standing at a post came to mind. Though the soldier may be afraid of the enemy, he still is required to push through it and remain in his duty in order to stay true to His commander and win the battle. Self-discipline is what we need when those fearful moments come up. When we are tempted to return to what's comfortable or what's safe, we are to have the self-discipline of a soldier and hold firm to our duty.


Don't get me wrong, there is certainly a time and place to take personal safety into consideration, but it should only be when God has sanctioned it. The point is to listen to God's direction in your daily decisions. Paul was often imprisoned, beaten and stoned for preaching God's word, yet days after these trials, he would go and preach in the synagogues, where he was the center of attention! What is our motive for our decisions? Is God telling us to flee for safety or to suffer persecution for His name? Safety and comfort shouldn't be our defaults, but we need to be in a place with God where His instructions are clearly heard.

Finally, I think fear can often boil down to a lack of trust in God. If we truly believe that God is Sovereign, the Creator and our Lord, don't we trust Him to take care of us? He has the best way for us. He is capable of providing for us. His ways are greater than our ways. We even have the Holy Spirit to rely on, so we don't need to go through our trials alone! He is always with us and we can ask Him for courage in times of fear.

We can choose to live in fear, letting it hinder us from living for God, but it won't be the best for us. God wants us to trust Him, only then will we see His great plan!

What have we got to lose?

Then again...

What do we have to gain?