Fear.

Ughhhh. A feeling no one wants to experience. Just last week I had a terrible experience with a mouse in my apartment. Let me tell you, this is one of my BIGGEST fears. I woke up at seven a.m. to start my day with God by praying and reading the Bible, but, well, then I found a dead mouse on my floor. My amazing cat, Munsey, had killed it and there it lain in my living room looking ugly as ever.

My awesome cat.

 I didn't get to reading my Bible that day because I spent my free hour before work crying to my mom and sister over the phone. I also called Jeffton, my brother in Christ, who lives in the next apartment over to come pick up the corpse of the rodent. He came right away, but it took me almost ten minutes to just get up and open my front door. The time I had planned to spend with God that morning was spent with me frozen, unable to move. 

Fear paralyzes.  I spent way too much time being stuck in my stagnant position which made me miss out on my time I could have been praying to God. How many times have you been afraid and missed out on what you needed to do? If you’re a guy, maybe you wanted to ask out a girl who you really liked but you were to afraid to and before you knew it, you had missed your opportunity. The devil wants to keep you bound to your fear so that you do not advance in God’s kingdom. You may think you’re not smart enough, talented enough, or good enough to do something God specifically told you to do. If Moses had stuck with his excuse that he had a stutter and never moved out of his fear by trusting God, he would have never been accounted as one of the greatest men in the Bible. 

Reminder: God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

Fear is irrational. Yeah, sure it might make sense to you. My fear of mice seems perfectly rational in my mind, but if I really look at it, I realize that an animal the size of my hand has no business dominating my life. The devil is the ultimate deceiver. He wants to trick you into fearing something that is not a threat. 

Ironically, the night before I encountered  Jerry the mouse, I had read 2 Timothy 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” It’s important that we focus on God’s word to give us what we need. Too bad I focused only on my situation and not on Jesus.  This situation threw me out of spiritual alignment for a bit, but I’m back on track now. Thanks to Jesus. 

So, what do we do when we fear?

1. Trust in God. Proverbs 3:5-6
2. Pray and God will comfort you. Isaiah 41:10, John 16:33, Romans 8: 28, 37-39,  2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Philippians 4:6
3. Listen to ministering (Christian) music. Psalm 22:3. A quote I made, “Worship ushers in the spirit of the Lord. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Your freedom is in your praise.” So praise God despite of how it might look like. 
4. Face your fear. “Facing your fears robs them of their power” -Mark Burnett
5. Pray some more. 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Be honest with God and tell him what you’re feeling; allow him to hold your hand through it. 

Peace, love, and chin hugs!