“For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
The Problem of Fear
Do you feel fearful? The world has become an increasingly fearful place especially for the Christian and the marginalized. Fear has a way of breaking us down, destroying our motivation, and stunting our capacity for greater things.
Scripture says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear … but of a sound mind.” When we find ourselves consumed by fear, we are experiencing an overwhelming of our spirit. We get scared or concerned because circumstances and experiences, threats and evil doings, real or imagined, threaten to undermine our confidence and good cheer.
I was thinking about all the horrible crimes and atrocities being committed against humanity, things happening to real people, some actions so barbaric that they defy description. Thinking these thoughts made me feel this blanket of oppression and rising fearfulness. The days we live in are evil. I think of my children and grandchildren. What sort of world will they live in and are they inheriting? It is a discouraging thought. Evil is just one inappropriate touch away.
Troubles caused by Fear
But shall we let fear defeat us? That’s not God’s way. We need to face fear head on, do what we can to protect ourselves and manage our fear-based issues. . .such as fear of failure, fear related to health problems, fear of certain people and places–my goodness–the list of fears can go on and on. We must deconstruct our fears. I think of one of my relatives who lived in constant fear. It made her suspicious and wary. After she passed on, I thought of all the many things she feared that never ever happened. What a waste of energy. It was sad to me because it caused her undue and unnecessary suffering.
Those things that are fearful and scare us can be addressed and countered in a spiritual manner. Scripture instructs us to think on the following things: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8. NIV . Thinking on these good qualities is a mental tool to help us get our eyes off of our fears and our mind focused on that which is spiritually healthy.
Keeping our thoughts on the good will inhibit or limit the bad from creeping in and overpowering the good. We cannot retain both a negative and a positive thought within our brain at the same time.
Yesterday was a particularly bad day. As a result, my thoughts took a nose dive. I was buried in discouraging thoughts related to three difficult situations that are not yet resolved. In an email concerning an emotionally charged situation, I had to speak the truth in love when I would have rather skipped the confrontation. Then there was some vandalizing of some vehicles I own at the orchard I farm–not ever fun to have to deal with, and, lastly, a complicated parenting issue that had me scrambling to make a right choice. The incident, weariness, and stress were all contributing to my dark cloud. I was fearing the outcome and dealing with all of this. It was overwhelming me.
I went outside, which always helps, and worked on a project that required physical exertion. As I worked, I began to praise God for the good things that have transpired in the past couple of weeks. It didn’t take long before my mood began to lift. In my mental outlook, I was forcing myself to choose “life” not “death” in how I was reacting. No, that wasn’t easy. The effort was intense and exhausting. In the end, by taking certain steps I was able to release the fear and frustration through a process of recognizing it, praying, and then letting it slide away.
A Solution to Fear
The mind game is huge. Sometimes we must let go of what we cannot change and deal with what we can change. Many of us have root fears, fear of abandonment, failure, of not being good enough etc. I used to be afraid of people, especially accomplished people. My shyness was rooted in a fear of people which robbed me of self-confidence. I hated the fear because it held me back from being who I knew I was. I would avoid certain settings that made me feel vulnerable. I was too-nice when I should have been assertive. I would get tongue-tied during interviews. My mind seemed to derail when I was in situations where I was dealing with professional people. I believed I came across as inept.
A little over a decade ago, I decided to at least try to overcome my fear of people. Fear had kept me back from moving forward in several areas in my life. I asked God to help me change in this area. My focus, the tool that helped me, was the verse I referenced at the top of this post. I looked to God to help me operate out of a sound mind, and I sought to have my confidence centered in Him. I asked Father God to change my mind so that the “spirit of fear” would loosen its claim on my inner outlook.
The process of change took time but I eventually started observing a lessening of the shyness and fear. I would imagine God walking with me into situations that made me nervous and unsure. The tendency remains, I still don’t like approaching people that I don’t know and I feel awkward and insecure when making business phone calls, yet, the immobilizing fear is no longer dictating my personal agenda nor stopping me from moving forward.
Physical Symptoms caused by Fear
Many years ago after a pro-longed period of major life crises, I had a physical/nervous breakdown of sorts. Waves of darkness would make me feel like fainting. I began to have a form of nervous illness, the inability to sleep or to relax, and my body felt shaky and nauseous much of the time. Sleep deprivation exasperated these physical sensations and they were terrifying to me. I had three preschool children to care for, but I was falling apart. Fear of my body that was betraying me made this a horrible situation. I was afraid to drive to anywhere because my mind was overly weary from lack of sleep. I felt sick even going in the store to buy one item, fearful that I might throw up and embarrass myself. I did not medicate myself.
Then a book came to the rescue. Hope and Help for Your Nerves by Dr. Claire Weekes, a secular book, which addresses and give suggestions for ways to dismantle the the illness caused by sensitized nerves, which is exasperated by an inner fear of the physical symptoms. This is an excellent book for those whom have nervous tendencies caused by angst, panic attacks, and agoraphobic symptoms. These are all related to fear and a natural reaction to the way the person’s body is responding.
Those who experience immobilizing fear know the awfulness of having your body react to your mind’s suggestions/dictatings. The more you try to return to normal, the worse they get. These people know what it is to have heightened anxiety: the nausea, feeling like you’re going to throw up or throwing-up, erratic, thumping heartbeats that scare you because of their force, the sleeplessness of constant insomnia that won’t let your mind relax and so forth. It keeps you in a state of alert and the physical sensations are unpleasant.
Fear can be dismantled.
From Hope and Help for Your Nerves, I learned that we have to dismantle fear by training our minds to let the physical discomfort come in, to let it flow over us, to acknowledge it and accept it–instead of letting them scare and spook us into a raging panic as in, “Oh, no, here it comes again!” I learned that mental self-talk is key to recovery. “I am not going to die, my heart is just having an adrenaline rush.” “Here it comes. No worries. I will make it through this and be okay.” “I am not going to embarrass myself, and who cares if I do?” “This, too, will pass. Don’t sweat it.” “You’ve made it through this before, you can make it again.” You train yourself to not be afraid of the physical symptoms that are hijacking us through a constant state of fear.
We are afraid because we feel unable to contain or make our body behave itself, and we feel physically sick and out of control. To dismantle these ugly sensations, we let the nasty physical sensations come–we accept them–then we relax our bodies by mentally relaxing every muscle in our body starting with our head and working down to our toes. The more often we do this, when panic sets in, the more we loosen fear and its foothold in our lives.
Our bodies have an automatic response system. When it is altered substantially through an event or crisis, we may sustain nerve sensitization caused by an over-sensitizing of our nervous system. This is what causes the physical symptoms that make us feel sick. Sometimes it is a physically taxing situation that has induced this “fight or flight” body response. We can’t sleep because our body is on the alert and wakes up when we are at the point of falling asleep. It is a vicious cycle until we learn ways to let the fear go and to quit being afraid of the physical sensations.
Some Fear is Normal
All in all, fear is a natural occurrence. There are times when fear makes us act immediately as in the case of an emergency situation. It is how we handle the fear that matters. Those who have abnormal fear levels, where it influences their daily life and colors their outlook, will benefit from trusting God to help them.
God does not want us to operate out of a spirit of fear. He wants to come to our aid. We struggle with circumstances that promote fear. We learn to counter them with positive action (exercise), adequate rest (sleep), healthy food (not junk food), friendships (someone to confide in), and spiritual help (meditation, journaling, prayer, Bible reading). We might even begin doing something we enjoy (paint, write, sew, crafts, walk, exercise, music) or volunteering (help others). All of these help us conquer abnormal fear and get our minds off what we are afraid of.
We learn to accept the physical sensations caused by fear instead of resisting them. We begin to realize that fear can be managed if we choose to change our thinking patterns.
Fear and You
Think about your life. Does your life have pockets of fear where fear dominates and compromises your happiness and sense of security? Address this issue by stating it, these are fear-driven, and then face it by acknowledging its outworking in your life. Ask God to help you. He cares about you and your concerns. He wants you to be free of immobilizing fear.
“Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 KJV
Call to action
1. Identify areas of fear/fearfulness and anxiety that affect your happiness and life.
2. Where does this fear originate?
3. What saying, verse or action can you implement to help lessen fear’s impact on your life?
