Fear(Part 2): Through the Goo and into Victory!

If you haven't already, please read "Fear(Part 1): Thick, Black Goo"  here before reading Part 2 in this 2 part series. :)

So last time I explained what fear is and why we are all affected by fear. In truth, fear is a terrible emotion but a fairly common one, as everyone experiences fear in their lifetime. Some people experience it more than others, but when it comes down to it, everyone is affected by fear. Though there are different degrees of fear, there is not a single person on earth who has not been affected by fear at some point or another. So the question is, how do we get rid of this feeling of fear?

To find that answer, we have to start with Hope. Hope is the exact oposite of fear. Let me repeat that.

Fear and Hope are Opposites.

So for us, that's wonderful news. Knowing this truth is a huge step in the right direction to knowing how to combat fear. Here is the definition of hope. Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Trust. Expectance. Promise.  At first, hope can seem kinda iffy. It's easy to think, "Okay so hope is just wanting something to happen." Actually, take a look at that end word there in the deinition of hope. Promise. Hope in something or someone can also be a promise of being taken care of. So for us, when we are combating fear, who is it that we should put our hope to get through tough times? The answer here, is as simple as Jesus.

"O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. " Psalms 119:130:7

This verse here tells us that we need to put our faith and hope in Jesus, but it also tells us why. He has unfailing love and is full of redemption. In short, redemption means the act of being saved from sin. So the Bible is simply saying here that we should trust God and have our faith in him, simply because he has love that will never end and he has saved us from sin. I don't know about you, but It sounds like this is a reliable place to go to when it comes to being afraid. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus is the very definition of perfect love, as stated here in 1 John 4:18 that states, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." and 1 John 4:8, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

So now we know that we need to go to God when we are afraid. Here are some different ways that I have found can be really affective ways of going to God in the face of fear.

Prayer. Talking to God is always one of the best ways to go. There is nothing better than talking to a God who understands you so well and knows exactly the problem you are going through. With God, there is no questions. You don't have to explain yourself when it comes to God. He just gets it and it makes sense. The thing is, he is ALWAYS there with you and already knows each and every detail of your problem you may be facing. In the direct fact of fear though, God will give us peace. This is stated in Psalm 34:4, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears."

Reading the Bible. Reading the Bible is good for every occasion, and is something that you just can't go wrong in doing. But expecially in times that you are scared and afraid, pulling out your Bible can be really calming. There are so many good BIble verses on the topic of fear, trusting in God when times get hard, and leaning on God to take care of you, it's really hard to close your Bible still feeling stressed and worried. Here is a sample of all the wonderful Bible verses on the topic of fear and how to handle it.

Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

Joshua 1:9, "I will be strong and of good courage for I know that you are with me wherever I go."

Call Out to God(Outloud). This one is so powerful. When afraid, taking a moment to stop what you're doing and verbally call out to God is so helpful when dealing with an overwhelming sense of fear. For me personally, I have found that once I do this and call out to Him, a lot of my fear if not all of it disapears completley. You don't have to get fancy with this one either, but even something as simple as "God", or "God help me" should do the trick. Remember that God can hear you, and you don't need something huge to get his attention. He's already focused on you 100% and looking out for you.

Stay Close to God. This one is one of those that helps in the long run. It can most certinly help at the time you are going through fear as well, but the closer you become to God, the more you are going to trust Him, leading to you being less fearful. It's a beautiful cycle and all starts with getting to know Him better. This can be done by reading the Bible, talking to God, singing praise songs and just getting to know your Creater and Father better in any way.

Fear is just such a huge topic, there is so much that could be shared on the topic of fear itself. I'm not going to go into it all here, but I may post some sucess stories from teenagers like you that have gone through a scary situation and gotten through it by the grace of God. So be on the look out for some of those stories here coming up! And if you want to share a story yourself, please send me an email at angelicaspassion@aol.com with the title, "Fear Story" and share your story of how God helped you through your fear. I'd love to share it!

In the meantime, here are some extra verses to look up on fear if you are needing a place to start.

Proverbs 29:25
Psalm 86:11
Jeremiah 32:40
Isaiah 41:10
2 Timothy 1:7

If you have a topic that you want me to write about, I'd love to hear about it! Please send me an email at angelicaspassion@aol.com with the title "Topic Suggestion" and I will get back to you! :)

Fear(Part 1):Thick, Black Goo

When you think of fear, what comes to mind? If you're at all like me, you will think of a memory of something that made you fearful or scared. Maybe it was a childhood memory or a nightmare that still comes back to bug you. Or maybe it's something very real that threatens to panic you and send your thoughts racing and your heart pounding. Maybe you even start to think about all the times that you allowed fear to hold you back from all the things you love and enjoy. Either way, fear is a very real and powerful thing. And when we allow fear to stand in our way, it can keep us from doing the activities and things that we love, it can lead us away from the plan God has from us, and can even make us make decisions that we know are not good for us but we make them anyway when faced with fear. Fear is a very real and dangerous thing. But before we go over some ways to stop fear in its tracks, we have to figure out a few things first. First of all, what is fear?

Dictionary.com puts it this way, "a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid."

Believe it or not, little amounts of fear every now and again can be really helpful. A little bit of fear can motivate us into starting something new, or jumping into action when needed. In fact, fear is the body's natural response to danger. Without this response, called the "fight or flight" response, we would be in real trouble. In the face of real danger, we would continue going about our business like nothing was the matter, and would eventually die because we wouldn't have any sense that would tell us something was wrong. In a sense, this response was created by God to protect us. The problem is that humans have taken this response and generalized it, becoming afraid of small things that God never intended us to be afraid of in the first place! Nowadays, humans are afraid of almost anything! If you've ever Googled a list of fears out there, the list can seem to go on and on, seemingly never ending! Now I'll be the first to admit, the list of things I'm afraid of would seem a bit long as well. But that's nothing to be ashamed of, as long as we have a way to fix it and don't just keep wallowing in our fears and not doing anything about them!

So if a little bit of fear can be helpful, what happens when this little amount of fear becomes generalized and we become afraid of much smaller, unimportant things, such as spiders, that job interview, a test in school, or going to the dentist? We can allow these simple fears to hinder our every day life. Having too much fear can stop us from doing God's work, and this overjoys the evil one. He hates to see us completing God's work in our life, and uses fear as one of the main ways to stop us in our tracks. Having too much fear in our lives can also make us make snap decisions or think quickly without really thinking things out or asking God for direction in our lives. Again, this is thrilling to the evil one because when we make decisions without asking God's direction first in our lives, we have a much greater chance of making decisions that are not in God's will for our lives.

Fear can be a very disastrous thing when it gets out of hand. But if we can learn to stop fear in its tracks, we can destroy fear and be one step closer to living the life that God has planned for us. Be on the look out for part two on fear called, "Fear(Part 2): Through the Goo and into Victory!" which will explain some of the things that we can do to escape the grasp that fear has on our lives and start living the life that God has planned for us. Until then, here are some encouraging Bible verses on the topic of fear:

"Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. (NKJV)"  ~ Deuteronomy 31:6

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
(NKJV)" ~ Psalm 27:1

"I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you love in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?" ~ Isaiah 51:12-13