Fear is a Liar

I was talking to a friend recently who was taking steps and making decisions to continue moving in the direction of her dreams and calling. After taking some time off to regroup and reassess, she is again taking hold of the dreams she has. In our conversation, though, she kept saying, “I’m just afraid.”

Here is what I have been thinking about since that conversation. Here is what I will tell my friend, myself, and you:

FEAR IS A LIAR

Fear does not tell you the truth about a situation.

Fear tells you lies to keep you from moving forward.

Fear paralyzes and manipulates you.

When my daughter was born, the whole ordeal ended with a c-section. She just wasn’t coming out on her own! After the epidural I was temporarily paralyzed from my waist down. It was surreal watching the nurses prep me for surgery, manipulating my legs to put those awesome leg-warmer/massager things on. I saw my legs moving, yet couldn’t feel them or control them. They were my legs, but had been separated from me. When we give in to fear, we give in to the enemies plans. When we believe the lies of fear, we stop moving forward into our God-given purposes, and let fear drive and motivate us further away from that purpose. When we give into fear we become like my legs, separated from the purpose they were given, manipulated by the lies, the “what-ifs.” We end up standing on the outside of our lives watching it happen, rather than taking responsibility for our lives, and making them happen.

LIES FEAR TELLS YOU:

• it’s too hard
• you’re not good enough
• you don’t know enough
• you’re not qualified
• you don’t have the right connections
• it’s too late
• you’ve messed up one too many times
• you’re not strong enough

TRUTH DECLARES

• you can overcome every obstacle
• it’s not about how good you are, it’s about who’s you are
• you can keep learning and growing
• you might as well start somewhere
• stay connected to God
• today is the best time to start
• today is a new day
• you are equipped and strengthened for every good work

As children of God you and I are in a position of perfect peace with God. So you’ve messed up, made some mistakes… I’ve gotta tell you, you’re probably going to mess up again, and make mistakes again. And that is okay.

God never demands that we be perfect before beginning. God promises that as we walk with him, turning our ear to wisdom, we will be transformed. But you’ve got to start walking! 

Fear is a liar, and God is a good, loving God who has given you everything you need for life and godliness in Christ. If what we do on this earth were based on our abilities to get everything right, we would all fail all of the time. Thank God that we have a creator that loves and cares for us, and has provided for our every need in every area of life! 

ENCOURAGE YOURSELF

When fear comes knocking what can you do to overcome it? To shut out the deafening lies? Here are some things that I do:

• Pray in the Spirit
• Read and meditate God’s word
• Think about, look at, and listen to what is true, lovely and right.
• Change the thought pattern – refuse to listen to fear, refuse to watch the movies it sends…
• Speak aloud God’s Word and truth to yourself

RE-WIRE YOUR ‘WHAT-IFS’

We all have them; a set of “what-if’s’ that run through our mind the moment we think about our dream:

• what if I fail
• what if people think I’m crazy, stupid, pretentious …
• what if you lose everything

But I have been practicing ‘re-wiring’ my ‘what-if’s’.

• what if it works – everything I set my hand to do is blessed
• what if I can change the world – the Spirit of the holy, living God lives inside of me
• you got this! – I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me
• don’t hold back, let’s see what you are made of! – it’s not going to be easy, but God is with me and knows what I am capable of

What has fear told you? How do you overcome fear when it shows up?

I would love to hear your thoughts… Thanks for reading, and commenting… Much Love!