Fighting Fear
By John Paul JacksonTruthful and forthright people will tell you that when they are angry, they hear very little from God; when they are fearful, they hear very little from God. The more emotional we are, the less consistently we hear — or we begin to “hear” things that go against what we know God is or what He has told us in the past.
So we need help in removing hindrances to our hearing from God. When we begin to remove rejection, insecurities and these types of things, automatically our gifts are going to start looking a whole lot stronger than they ever did. They didn’t get stronger; we just removed the things that were hindering them. What’s the best way to remove fear, insecurity, shame and other hindrances to our gifts? Intimacy with God.
Letting Go of Fear
Just by being with God, we are asking Him to remove our walls. We are asking Him to align our soul with His. We are asking to become one spirit with Him. We are asking to be made holy, which is to be made like Him. All of these happen when we spend time with Him.
But the process can be difficult, especially because one of the things we want to remove actively works to keep us from doing so. Fear is the chief barrier that blocks us from real intimacy with God. It keeps us from completely surrendering our lives to Him and being able to walk fully into our destiny.
Hiding from God — Fear’s First Step
Fear is not just the enemy of intimacy; it is the assassin. In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve committed the first sin in human history, they hid themselves because they felt ashamed; they were afraid to let God see them. How many times do we do that same thing? We’re afraid of what He might say when He sees us, the judgment He may pass on us, if we allow Him to say what’s on His heart.
Because Adam and Eve were responding out of fear, the first thing they did was erect small walls in the form of clothing to keep God at a distance — to keep Him from seeing who they really were. They put up barriers that yelled, “Keep away! We don’t know if we can trust You anymore.” But obviously, it wasn’t God who had changed in those few moments.
What You Need to Remember
Here’s the thing we need to remember about fear: It will lie to us and distort everything we feel. If we allow it to do so, it will convince us that self-protection is more important than releasing our heart, including every hidden thing, to God and being romanced by Him. Fear will attempt to tell us whatever it can in order to keep us from letting go of the things we are convinced God does not want to know.
But we shouldn’t be afraid of God. His intent is not to kill us. It is to have us. During this Christmas season, remember His heart for you. Remember that He sent His Son to save the world, not to condemn the world — that means you. While you were deep in sin, He loved you enough to come to Earth and be born for you; He loved you enough to die for you. Could He love you any less now? NO! Don’t let the enemy push you around anymore! Know the truth. Embrace it, and it will set you free.
