Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 NKJV
What joy to live a fearless life! Nothing shakes you; you have no fear of death, of tomorrow, of hunger, of disease, of sickness, of being hurt, of ending up alone, of loneliness, of not being accepted. Not even fear of yourself! You sail through life with indescribable joy; even in times of uncertainty, lack, physical or emotional pain. What would it take to live life this way? Not that you would want to ignore the realities of life, but merely because you would like to experience this indescribable joy that comes from deep within your soul.
This kind of joy makes you feel on top of the world as if you know that nothing can destroy you, who you are or what you are. It’s all about living a life free of ungodly fear. This is the kind of life that we would all want to live, but we are faced with the realities of making ends meet. Whether it is working 9 to 5 or 24 hours a day or running your own business, bringing up our children, dealing with our teenagers, living in the midst of the global economic crisis; there is an escalating sense of insecurity that surrounds us day by day. Even if we do have all the money that we could ever need, it would still not bring us joy. We would still worry about making more money, fighting an incurable terminal disease, or even about the behavior of our children, despite giving them everything that money could possibly buy. The list goes on and on. Ah yes, not to forget, worry about dying!
It is very easy to tell someone to ‘fear not, God is with you.’ The reality is many people are living with one fear or the other. I mean, the COVID world that we live in now is an example. Whether we want to admit it or not, there is a fear of getting COVID, and why because most people do not want to die. But they will tell you, ‘I am not afraid of dying.'
Truthfully, when I dig down deep into my heart, I have fears. I would be lying if I say I don’t have any fear at all.
So, could we live a fearless life even with the emotion of fear?
What is fear?
Fear is defined as, ‘A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension, anxiety, dread of impending danger’. It’s a mind thing. Fear is an emotion, an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief, rightly or wrongly, real or perceived, that something or someone is dangerous or a threat.
To deal with fear, we must understand it first.
Two types of fear
1)The fear of ‘something’
Fear of something is the expectation of that thing happening and that its effect would cause pain or the impact on you would be negative. It is always about something negative or bad happening and never of something good. In most instances, the threat has not yet become reality, but we have the feeling that it would happen. The threat might be real or imagined. Fear could also be an instant reaction to something happening. Everyone has a natural instinctual response to potential danger that makes you take action to avert the danger.
2) Fear of someone
The fear of someone is the feeling that the person will do something bad, painful, or negative to us. We could also fear when we hold the person in awe and respect because of who the person is; their power, position, or ability. This fear leads to respect, obedience, and reverence for the person.
When the recipient of this fear is God, it is godly fear. It is this type of godly fear we are to have towards God. This fear is healthy. The fear of God keeps you from doing evil. It keeps you focused on doing good things. It does not give you pain, anxiety, depression, worry, or any other negative emotions that are detrimental to you and those around you.
We shall be focusing on the first type of fear.
To be continued.
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