Your love must be stronger than your fear
Fear is dealt with, in a separate way between believers and unbelievers.
Fear is debilitating and even paralysing and is opposite to faith. Did you know that faith and fear are mutually exclusive? Choose where you are going to live today, in the house of faith or in the house of fear? God wants to move you from the house of fear into the house of faith.
It is important to realise that our fear of the Lord can be the antidote/answer to the wrong type of fear. The right fear overcomes the bad fear. Again, we get to choose which type of fear is going to be active in our lives. Choose well, choose life, choose the fear of the Lord!
If we live by our feelings, they can drag us down into the pit of fear. But we need to see our situations in life through the lens of faith and through the lens of the bible not through the lens of doubt and fear.
Here is what some well-known believers have said about fear/worry/anxiety.
¨ 'Anxiety is not only a pain which we must ask God to assuage but also a weakness we must ask Him to pardon -- for He's told us to take no care for the morrow.’ - C.S. Lewis
¨ “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” ― George Mueller
¨ “Remember, fear is of the flesh and panic is of the devil. Never fear and never get panicky.” ― A.W. Tozer
¨ The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. “— Oswald Chambers
¨ “Worry is an indication that we think God cannot look after us.” -- Oswald Chambers
Fear and the pandemic
Could it be that because modern society is so steeped in fear it has collectively lost the fear of a holy God?
Yet many people fear death, sickness, poverty, helplessness, loneliness, future, commitment, failure, etc. So, what is the answer? - Turn to the Prince of Peace.
How has the pandemic fear affected the church?
Fear in the church has to some extent set some believers against others
Infected vs non-infected
Masked vs unmasked
Vaxxed vs unvaxxed
Matthew 8:3 Jesus touched the leper and healed him.
Princess Diana held the AID’s patient’s hand.
Our fear must never overpower of love of any person.
What a tremendous witness to the unbelievers it would be to see the church putting their love above their fear?
Remember that fear/worry/anxiety and the like are sins.
Prayer and ministry
Lord we now recognise our sins and repent of all the fear/worry and anxiety that we have let into our lives.
We know that according to 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Lord, we receive your forgiveness by faith through Jesus Christ.
Amen
Where prayer is needed to cut off certain of your fears (remember the 8 main types) you might need the assistance of a experienced church leader or a mature believer that you trust.
Amen
For full text and access to the other 4 parts of 'Dealing with fear please click below