Your body is designed to react
quickly to fear. It sends out powerful hormones, and signals to various body
systems to give you the energy to run (or the power to fight). The fear impulse
in some people goes awry, and their coping mechanism becomes unmanageable.
“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own
fears.” (Rudyard Kipling)
The disorderly results cause the
body to feel the side effects of fear (even when fear’s not there). With fear
and anxiety present in your body, things like diarrhea, the need to urinate,
sweating, weakness, and rapid heart rate are horrible side effects. In the
midst of all of this, your Heavenly Father wishes to ask you this: “Why are you
so fearful?”[i]
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also
what it takes to sit down and listen.” (Winston Churchill)
1.
God is in control, and has a purpose for your life:
·
There are many
plans in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord will stand.” (Proverbs
19:21)
· “Our problems may stay, our circumstances may remain, but we know
God is in control. We are focused on His adequacy, not our inadequacy.” (Charles Stanley)
· “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than
your fear of failure.” (Bill Cosby)
·
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give favor and glory, for no good thing will He
withhold from the one who walks uprightly.” (Psalm
84:11)
· “We can be certain that God will give us
the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that
he ordains. The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot
sustain us.” (Billy Graham)
· Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its
strength.” (Corrie Ten Boom)
3. God has promised us an eternal inheritance:
·
“Truly, truly I
say to you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal
life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into
life.” (John 5:24)
· “The purpose of God's creations and
of His giving us life is to allow us to have the learning experience necessary
for us to come back to Him, to live with Him in eternal life.” (Henry
B. Eyring)
· “Be fearless. Have the courage to take risks. Go where there are no
guarantees. Get out of your comfort zone even if it means being uncomfortable.
The road less traveled is sometimes fraught with barricades bumps and uncharted
terrain…It is on that road where your character is truly tested… [You] have the courage to accept that you’re not perfect. Nothing is and no
one is (and that’s OK).” (Katie Couric)
4.
God loves us:
·
“There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.” (1
John 4:18)[ii]
· God loves us the way we are, but too much to
leave us that way.” (Leighton Ford)
“Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, [MT], is dead. Don't you believe a word of it? At that moment, I shall be more alive than I am now.
I shall have gone up higher (that is all) out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint. A body fashioned like unto His glorious body.
I was born of the flesh [on February 5, 1837]. I was born of the
Spirit [on April 21, 1855]. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the
Spirit will live forever.” (Dwight Lyman
Moody) [iv]
[i] Adapted from “What Are the Physical Side Effects of Fear?” by Erin
Monahan, Wikepedia, and “Dwight L.
Moody Was Converted” by Diane Severance, Ph.D. and Dan Graves, MSL
[iii] Inspired by the
sermon Questions Jesus Asked: Why Are You Afraid? (Installment four) Sunday,
March 26, 2017 Ryan Edwards CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH
He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is that you have no
faith?” (Mark 4:40, MEV)
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