PUT AN END TO THE FEAR

PUT AN END TO THE FEAR

People are afraid.

People are afraid of anything and everything.

Yet this is the most unhealthy way to live. We cannot live in fear. It is am emotion that cripples.

Fear allows all other kinds of negativity into our mental and physical spaces. For this reason we must make every effort to kill the fear before the fear kills us.

I read the story of a lady who was afraid that prices of food items would become so high by the festive season. She then decided to go to the market to stock up her home so that she would not have to pay exorbitant prices later. Sadly a very terrible thing happened to her where she was pushed out of the car she had hired from the market and the driver drove off with all she had bought and she ended up in the hospital badly wounded. I pray for her speedy recovery.

The actions of that driver also might have been motivated by fear. Fear that his family does not have enough so he decided to steal from someone he perceived had more than enough. Fear fuels all kinds of unpleasant and evil behaviour.

Listen to what someone once said. “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.” Job 3:25 NLT 

This was Job in the bible after all kinds of calamity, disaster and evil befell him. He was at the end of himself and the above words were spoken by him. He was always worried about his children. Were they living right? Were they doing good? And every so often, he would go and offer sacrifices on their behalf and take them through a cleansing ritual. Rather than worry about our children, let us pray for them and confess positively about them too. We must not allow our minds to entertain dark thoughts about our children and we must restrain ourselves from speaking negatively over and about them.

What are our dominant thoughts? Let us watch them. We must learn to take control of our thoughts.

Do they border along the lines of anxiety and worry?

The truth is that such thoughts are not helpful to anyone.

Jesus already told us that we should not stress about the future; about the days to come. It is just not worth it. “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 NIV

Did you read that? Each day has enough trouble of its own so let us learn to live one day at a time. We cannot add anything to or remove anything from anyone by worrying.

We should stop thinking and expecting the worst.

Let our thoughts be beautiful and someone may say where is the beauty in all the gloom and doom we see, read about and hear? Well, I have learnt to create beauty in my heart and in my mind. I do not open my senses to horror. I made this choice because I am an extremely sensitive person. And so I vehemently protect my personal space. I meditate on the precious promises of God and we can all do this. It takes practice but we can get there.

We do not have to contribute to every negative conversation online or physically. It hardly ever ends well. Social media can be toxic and too much of a toxic thing can make one very sick indeed.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT God has made available to us a spirit of self-discipline to counter the spirit of fear. Let us stay away from things that bring fear.

God is good and He loves us. We must trust Him and take Him at His every word. And this is why we need to always spend time in the Word.

Please know that spending time in the Word of God is not a recipe for idleness or laziness. We can meditate on the Word of God even while we work. There are truths in there that will help us overcome our very worst fears. When we meditate on those truths we are way better off than when we allow our thoughts to run riot on the dark side with all manner of “what ifs”.

If you can worry, then you are the perfect person to meditate on God’s pleasant truths. Replace the worrying thoughts with thoughts that are of good report and watch them drive away fear.

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT 

FIX YOUR THOUGHTS ON JESUS AND PUT AN END TO THE FEAR. 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©