The Truth About Fear.

If I had to put a name to the thing that's dogged my heels my whole life, I'm realizing I would have to call it fear.

Fear.

It's a liar and a thief and it will destroy us if we feed it long enough. Like a weed, it will begin to choke out all the things we long to grow in our lives and in our souls.

But fear has never been my Savior- He is. Fear is not my Abba or my ever-present help: He is.

Maybe I was raised by fear. Maybe its words were the ones I replayed as I lay in my bed at night and maybe its rules were the ones I gladly followed.

But fear is a terrible, terrible master (and an even worse father). It's a thief (of joy), a liar, a destroyer It lies and makes you believe the worst is lurking up ahead for you. It wants to keep you small and unsure and tight in its unholy embrace. It does not free us or heal us and it cannot love us.

When has fear ever saved? When has fear ever given us all we long for? When has it ever encouraged us to dream, to be bold, to live freely? It cannot. Because it is not God.

But I can tell you I've made it a god. That whole don't-make-an-idol-in-your-own-image-thing? What is fear but a bundle of my own worst hangups and impulses- and I'm holding that up like it's something to follow (worth following)? Exalting it to the status of being who I consult to make decisions and lead me toward becoming who I long to be. I've been following its voice, its rules, its guiding instead of the LORD's. And it has led me nowhere worthwhile and given NO life. [There is a difference between fear and wisdom.] It has given no life because it cannot. Yet I hold it up like it is wisdom, like it is worthy of my following and my devotion. Like it will lead me where I want to go, fulfill me in ways that are real and lasting and build the kind of life I long for. When in reality, fear can only steal and lie and destroy- because it is from the Enemy of our souls.

So I will listen to his voice no more. It won't be easy but my God is for me and so I can. And it will be worth it because I was made for more than fear's embrace. I was made for the arms of God.