I know people afraid of dying; kids
who are afraid of the dark; adults who are afraid to fly on an airplane; people
who are terrified on dogs; and others who are afraid of germs. Fear
is common to humanity. We can become
crippled by our fears. My fear of
failure coupled with my perfectionist tendencies can prevent me from thinking
outside the box and exploring new opportunities. Fear can cripple churches too. Fear of change and fear of diversity prevent
churches from trying new ministry and reaching new people.
Mattie went through a period of time
where she woke us afraid because of a bad dream. She was so fearful that he
little body would shake and she would gasp for breath, as she cried and tried to
share with us what was so scary. We
would hold her and tell her that we loved her. We would listen and explain that God was with her. We ended up giving her an old remote control to
sit at her bedside, so that when she woke in the middle of the night she could change the
channel and turn off the fear and turn on the trust. We encouraged her to turn off the negative
and turn on something positive.
Throughout God’s word, we read the
phrase “do not be afraid” or “fear not.”
In fact, I remember reading in devotional that the Bible contained 365
references to this phase. The devotion went
on to say that was one reminder for each day of the year. What an amazing thought! A daily reminder that challenges us to not
fear because God is with us. It takes
courage to turn off the fear that often damages and divides us. The challenge is to turn on love because “there
is no fear in love. And perfect love casts
out all fear. 1 John 4:18.
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