FEAR IS HARMFUL
FEAR IS HARMFUL.
Hara was upset
He was livid.
He was fretting
He was just plain angry.
What on earth was all that about?
He had barely just transferred a huge sum of money to his wife for the monthly house keeping expenses and now his driver came in with a horrendous bill representing the amount for the repair work to be carried out on his car.
What was wrong with everyone anyway? Imagine stressing him about everything! He did not have time for all this.
He had a submission deadline and if he was late…. He couldn’t even think about a late submission. The portal would have closed and that was it. No that could not happen, he had paid so much for the course; time to get back to work.
As Kara got back to his desk, the anger started bubbling up in him again. Meanwhile he had already yelled at his driver even insinuating that he was playing games with the auto mechanic and stealing his money.
It was not looking good at all. That inflow from the last deal was being depleted so quickly. What exactly was going on here? These were amounts he used to dish out without batting an eyelid.
Kara put his head on his desk and silently prayed “God, please Help me!”
Then he heard these words :
Do not be afraid.
You are afraid that you will go broke.
You are afraid that you will miss the deadline
You are afraid that the money spent on this course will go to waste if you fail.
My dear child, all that you are afraid of is in your imagination. Please do not feel threatened by what is not even going to happen.
He sat bolt upright and knew that God was talking to him.
“For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13 NIV
As a believer, Kara was no stranger to bible verses and the above verse in Isaiah came to his mind immediately. So he calmed down a notch. The anger was still lurking somewhere underneath the surface. And then another bible verse popped into his mind.
“But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3 NLT
And as he felt the tension ease, a smile played around on his lips and he thought to himself: “Ah the Word of God, soothing and powerful.” He already felt better.
To think that just a few moments ago he was on the war path with everyone who so much as looked at him.
Kara gathered his thoughts together and said a word of THANKS to God. He realised that as soon as his focus came off money and deadlines and stayed on God as a loving and caring Father, he felt much better.
Dear friends, how many times do we fret because we are focusing on the current reality of what is going on around the world and Nigeria in particular? I have said before that all these things are facts and though we are not in denial; rather than focus on the facts we chose to shift our attention to the TRUTH that is the Word of God. You see, facts are subject to change. But the TRUTH is the TRUTH, is the TRUTH. Go anywhere and come back, the TRUTH is still the TRUTH.
We cannot change anything by focusing on the facts. Some of these facts will end up making us sad and depressed. Sometimes the facts can cause unimaginable fear and fear can make us act irrationally. Whatever we do or say in fear has the potential of ruining things.
Let us remember always that God loves us deeply. This should be etched on the tablets of our hearts. To know that God loves us is to know that He will never allow harm to come to us. Meditate on this.
It will change our perspective completely. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 KJV
When we live in fear it is tormenting.
Our worry cannot actually change anything. But our focus on the love, goodness and mercy of God will definitely change us and change our own position even in the midst of all the turmoil.
DO NOT LET FEAR IN: IT IS HARMFUL!
OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©