pramsay posted on February 21, 2006 04:09 1228 views

Fear, anxiety and worry are powerful emotions that can lead to mistakes, poor judgment and a failure to act when I should have acted. Fear can cause me to retreat. Anxiety can rob me of joy. Worry can undermine my energy levels. Fear can cloud my vision of the future. Anxiety can make me difficult to live with. Worry can turn me into a constant ditherer. Fear erodes my confidence. Anxiety can bring on a cardiac arrest. Worry can isolate me from my friends.

King David knew how powerfully negative fear could be in his life. It could hinder him from doing exploits for the Lord. It could turn him into a coward and cause his enemies to get the best of him. Fear could paralyze him and make him extremely weak and vulnerable. In Psalm 64:1 he prayed: “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

David was afraid of fear itself. Fearing fear. He was conscious of the debilitating effects of fear and he cried out to the Lord to be preserved from fear. If he kept thinking about all the nasty things his enemies were saying about him in secret places; if he imagined what schemes they were concocting in their wicked huddles; if he tried to imagine what they were thinking about doing to him – well, he just knew if he let his mind go there, he would become so paranoid he’d behave like a coward. So he did the right thing. He cried out to God to preserve him from fear. He knew the dark shadows of fear could be bigger than the object itself. He looked to the Lord to be delivered from such negative thoughts.

When we sense that we are becoming fearful – we need to turn to the Lord. Get our eyes off ourselves and on to the Lord. One of the major strategies of an enemy is to instill fear. Loud noises. Threats. Scary words. Flexing of the muscles. The enemy knows if he can keep me cowering in fear, biting my finger nails and in the fetal position in a dark corner – well, when fear has reduced me to a bundle of nerves, then the enemy has the upper hand.

1 Peter 5:7 “…casting all your care (anxieties) upon him: for he careth for you.

We are linked eternally with the Victorious One. No need to be a pale-faced, knee-knocking, fainting, fretting and worrying believer. Ephesians 6:16 assures us that it is possible for us to quench every one of the fiery darts of the wicked. If you are scared of being afraid that’s good. You will take positive action. Be fully equipped and prepared according to Ephesians 6:10-18. Understand what the Psalmist said: “Through God we shall do valiantly.” Psalm 60:12

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