He has not given us a Spirit of fear . . . 2 Timothy 1:7
Turns out, I’m afraid of quite a few things. When I was a child it was the “man” hiding in my closet at night or the imaginary three-eyed monster that lurked underneath my bed.
These days, I’m afraid of more adult matters, like something tragic happening to my children or my husband. But I didn’t really put a finger on this tendency until this past weekend when Craig Groeschel told me so.
The Women of Faith conference was a stunning gathering of women from all over the country. Six thousand of us filled an arena in Oklahoma and God graciously gave us many memorable holy moments together. The messages that Lysa Terkeurst, Christine Caine and Patsy Clairmont shared were incredibly moving and thought provoking. And when Pastor Craig came to the platform and launched into his message, we knew we were all in for it.
He asked us to name the thing we fear the most. Out loud. To each other. All six thousand of us were wide-eyed with conviction.
So, obediently, six thousand women turned one to another and took a few minutes to share what they are most afraid of. Didn’t take us long to put our fingers on our fears either.
It never is.
You know what keeps you up at night worried and concerned, riddled with anxiety about what might happen with your job or to your child or with your finances or your health. Turns out, Pastor Craig told us that calling it out – defining it – is the first step to defeating it.
Before I leaned over to tell my friends, Lisa and Christine, about my fear regarding the well-being of my kids, I don’t think I’d vocalized or even clearly realized that it was such an issue for me. And just saying it seem to lessen some of its powerful hold on me. Deflated it a bit.
So, I’d like to humbly add on to Pastor Craig’s powerful statement:
Or DIFFUSING it.
Or DISMANTLING it.
Or DEMOLISH it.
Oh. . I like that last one! Allowing God to demolish our fears is what we need in order to move forward successfully in our Christian lives. The enemy knows that a fearless Christian is a victorious Christian; which is why He will work overtime to cripple you with this very vice.
As you work through this in your own life, I want to share with you the 2 things that Pastor Craig told us that our fears reveal:
1. What we fear the most reveals what we value the most
If your biggest fears have to do with your finances, then your financial security is what you treasure. If your fears are in regards to your family, then you value your family. If they are in regarding your job or health, then those things are most significant to you.
To be clear, none of these things inherently wrong. In fact, it’s good to value some of them. But, your fears are good indicators to tell you what is most important in your life.
2. What you fear the most reveals the areas you trust God the least.
Whoa! No explanation needed. If that statement alone isn’t convicting all by itself then I don’t know what is.
Name your fear today, my friend. I mean, say it out loud to yourself or to another person who cares for you. Better yet, post a comment to the blog today outing your fear for all of the blog community to see. That’ll send the enemy reeling as you begin to deflate the power it has over your life. Then, confess your lack of trust in God in that particular area of your life and choose to surrender the thing or person you value the most to His tender loving care.
Freedom awaits you on the other side of your fear.
Love you fiercely,
Priscilla
