Laura Bennet – Author

The scene above may be humorous, but fear is nothing to joke about.

God wired us with a healthy sense of fear to protect us from danger. But when fear dictates our lives, we can become trapped in patterns that destroy us.

Here are a few things I’ve been learning about fear lately:

• Fear steals our identity
• Fear makes us question our God given attributes and desires
• Fear leads us to question another person’s motives
• Fear causes us to judge others
• Fear makes us assign conclusions about people or situations that aren’t accurate
• Fear causes us to assume we know what someone’s intentions towards us are
• Fear says lying will protect us – it keeps us from speaking the truth
• Fear leads us to read God’s word inaccurately
• Fear causes conflict within us
• Fear keeps us from seeing another person’s pain
• Fear of losing something makes us compete with others
• Fear makes us cling to only one way of thinking
• Fear causes us to lash out if someone has another opinion or perspective than us
• Fear paralyzes us
• Fear leads us to close ourselves off from others
• Fear keeps us ineffective in our lives
• Fear prevents us from being fully engaged in life

Maybe that’s why God tells us not to be afraid; that he didn’t give us a spirit of fear.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” 1 John 4:18

God is love and he loves us. We don’t NEED to be afraid when we believe he loves us and will take care of us. He knows all and has everything under control. So if we surrender to him, we can rest there and live in freedom.

I’ve been asking God to tell me what I’m afraid of. If we ask, he’ll tell us. And he’ll tell us what to do about it. I’m learning a lot about myself and the places I’ve been trapped.

He’ll also reassure us that he’s right there. Like a kid jumping into a pool into his daddy’s waiting arms. That’s us with God.

That’s a good place to be.