What Anchors your Life?

Fear can paralyze and threaten to drown me at times.  That breathless feeling of fear is not one I enjoy.  It's pretty terrible, in fact.

When I start to feel hopeless, when fear holds me in its grip, here's the way I see it- I have two choices- drown, or find something with which to anchor myself.

Drowning never has seemed like a great option to me (there is a whole other kind of fear that comes with that prospect), so I choose to find an anchor.

For me, after trying many different sources and [things] to anchor myself with, I've come to realize that only Jesus can bring to me the peace I need to feel hopeful and secure.  Only Jesus and my full reliance on him can truly anchor my soul and drive out fear.

~Romans 8:14-16 New Century Version (NCV)
The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them. The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.” And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children.

Fighting Satan

Over the past couple of years something disheartening as occurred in my life-- I lost myself.  I floundered around, desperately trying to fight my way back into existence and it's the biggest uphill battled I've faced.

Fear and Safety

I was fearful of a lot of things as a child. I am not sure why that was. I can't remember any specific events that led me to be fearful, but I was fearful nonetheless, for whatever reason. Heights; closed spaces; new things; talking to strangers; taking risks, the list goes on of all the things I was fearful of. I sometimes wonder how I managed to do much of anything considering how many things I was afraid of.

Spirit of Fear

The subject of fear and anxiety has come to my mind a lot lately. With the economy the way it is and morality seeming to slip in the country, it tends to make people fearful and anxious about the future. There is also fear of intimacy, fear of failure and even fear of success that seems to pervade the lives of many people.

As Christian we are called not to be a slave to a spirit of fear (Romans 8:14-17). This is what fear does to us - It causes us to be bound into slavery to it. We are so afraid to be out of control of our emotions that we won't allow God to take control of them. This actually leaves us with less control because our hearts and emotions are tied up in paralysing fear that keeps us stuck in the muck.

1 John 4:16-18 tells us that perfect love drives out fear. There is only one being whose love is perfect and that is God. In him we are able to understand perfect love, grab on to it and finally drive out the fear that plagues us. This is often harder than it sounds to actually do.

We, as followers of Christ are asked to die to our own selves (Ephesians 4:21-24) so that we can live the victorious life that God has planned for those who belong to him. We are meant to rely fully on God to not only calm, but actually eradicate our fears. We have to put aside all our expectations and goals in favor of releasing our will fully to God, knowing that what he expects for our lives is much bigger and better than anything we could think up or achieve on our own.

So, once we give up the idea that we have to be in control, the fear begins to fade. We are slowly able to shed each layer of fear that we have built up over a lifetime of disappointment and degradation. God's love and fear cannot occupy the same space. We have to actively command the fear to leave and make a conscious effort to replace fear with God's love.

Layer by layer we replace the fear with Gods love and before long the perfect love of God has fully consumed all the fear that we once fed on and were bound to. We are then able to breath freely and live in hope.

© Kim Due 2009

Fear is Never a Go(o)d Thing.

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!"
~Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first inaugural address in 1933.

Does anyone else see the irony of that phrase being used in the inaugural address during the depression? These economic times that we are now experiencing have been reported as 'the worst since the Great Depression".

FDR had the right idea. He knew that people do strange things when they are afraid. People were in a state of pandemonium because they feared for their future. Those who were unemployed feared not being able to pay the rent and feed their families. The employed were afraid of losing their job tomorrow and thus being in dire straights.

The problem with fear is that it often does nothing positive to motivate. People may start hording things, becoming miserly and selfish. Some become envious of the fellow down the street who has more than he does. These are fearful responses that do little for long term security.

My grandmother, who bore nine children from 1929 - 1948 lived in fear her whole life. When she died in 1986 at age 75 she still lived in the same ramshackle home she had lived in since the 1950's. Her children had urged her to move for many years, but she was afraid to spend any money. She had money stashed in every nook and cranny of her home. Thousands of dollars that could have made her life a tad easier in her later years, but fear kept her from enjoying much of her life. This is no way to live.

Neither should we spend like there is no tomorrow, fearing that we will never have another couple of dimes to rub together. Likewise, this will not produce a positive, enjoyable outcome in our golden years. We have to take positive steps to plan for the future without fear.

The opposite of fear is courage. We have to have the bravery to face the future with resolve. We need to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

As a nation we pulled through the Great Depression. With vision and hindsight, used wisely and without fear, we should rise above this economic crisis too.