Can you imagine days lived without fear? Where we could be fully present in the moments of today without fearing that something might be lurking around the corner? Where the song in our head is not one of “what ifs” but one of trust in a good God? And days where we are willing to step out in faith rather than stay paralyzed by the unknown?
That’s what we’re aiming for. Today we’ll wrap up this 4-part series on fear. I first talked about my own struggle with fear and then shared the game-changing verse that helped me turn my fear inside out. We then looked at what fear steals from us and how to take it back.
I want to share one more critical piece to getting rid of our fear. While putting into practice the thoughts I shared in the previous posts have gone far in helping me drive out fear, there is one more deeply tentacled root to fear.
And that is me. My comfort, my expectations, my agenda, my entitlements.
When I dig way down to see what lies at the root of my fear, I realize that I’ve elevated some thing higher than Almighty God.
Here’s the rock-bottom truth against which I can see the idols of my fear in such relief: this life isn’t about me and this life isn’t all there is.
- If the goals of my life are at all rooted in gathering and getting, I’m going to fear loss.
- If the goals of my life are at all rooted in my comfort, my ease and my esteem, I’m going to fear anything that hinders that.
- If the goals of my life are rooted in my agenda, I’m going to fear anything that impedes that dream.
- If my goal is to live well into old age and I figure I’m entitled to that? I’m going to fear anything that would shorten my days.
This hurts to even write it out. But that’s probably a good indication that I don’t yet have my life centered on the one thing that I was created for – to glorify God.
That’s it. Whether we live for one week or 98 years, God created us to glorify Him.
Any other goal is an idol that I have put on the throne rather than God. That idolatrous goal creates a root of fear because no other goal is certain and there is always the risk of its loss. The cotton candy Christianity of today encourages me to think that as a follower of God, trying my best to obey Him, I’m entitled. Entitled to good, not hard. Entitled to a great house, a dream job, long health. And those risks that lay out there — a job layoff, a stock market crash, a diagnosis — well, they are serious impediments to my goals and my agenda.
When I am clinging to anything else more tightly than I’m clinging to God’s glory, then fear of loss is going to set in. But if I loosen my grip on my entitlement and my agenda and my idols and realize that my only goal is to glorify God in this moment, then I can smile at the days to come, whether they are sunny and easy or difficult and stormy.
If my life is squarely centered on the glory of God, then fear has no legs. It cannot stand when I have no other agenda and no other purpose than to glorify God.
This is hard. It’s hard for me to write and it’s hard for me to root out entrenched idols. But I’ve seen that as I learn to loosen my grip on things of this world, I am becoming free from my fear. I want to smile at the days to come because God is there too. And as much life as He gives me on this earth is for His glory alone.
ESPECIALLY FOR YOU: I’ve created some Scripture reminders to help us root out our fear. I love bookmarks and I pray that these encourage you in your daily walk. You can print these on card stock or laminate them for best use as bookmarks. Feel free to share these, give them away and print them as a reminder of the perfect love that casts out all fear. Click here to print these bookmarks.
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Read Part 1:: Say Farewell to Fear here.
Read Part 2:: The #1 Way to Fight Your Fears here.
Read Part 3:: What Fear Steals and How to Take it Back here.
There you go again, knowing exactly what I need. Thank you for always speaking Truth in to my life.
Getting it dug deep down Gina. xoxo
This was an answered prayer. It gives me tools for when the “what ifs” take over. It’s so amazing how God responds to our heartfelt prayers – how he cares for me! Thanks.
Thank you! The reminder I needed. 😀
Blessings to you!
This is very powerful. We really do need to keep our Heavenly focus and our true purpose in mind! Thank you for the lovely bookmarks, too. I will pass your link along. 🙂
Thank you, Sheila. Even writing it out helped me adjust to this plumb line. You’re welcome for the bookmarks!
Truly eye opening Lisa! Thank you for teaching and sharing! You are a huge blessing!
Wow Wow Wow! I typed fear into Pinterest today and felt so blessed to come upon your blog on fear! I am going to read it over and over! With everything going on in the world right now IVE begun to feat everything and it’s really taken the joy out of my life. Thanks for helping me to realize that my fears have become an idol and that I need to continuously take them captive! God Bless!
Jenn, I pray God’s truth wins out over all fear for you! I walk these out as well every single time the lies rear their head again.
Thanks Lisa! 🙂
That really clears things up. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you. Just what I needed!
Reading this has helped me to realize I fear loss…I fear that so much in my life and it has actually caused me to lose things such as relationships, etc….I’m going to email this page to myself so I can print it out to read daily to help me overcome
It was a game changer for me, to work through my fear with the trust of God.
thank you for these bookmakers, love them. I’m planning to distributed for our church youth I know is going to be a blessing for them.
Thank you so much for this series on fear! I couldn’t sleep this morning at 4:00 am because I was worried about all three of my kids at a week long sleepover camp (and this was only the first night…). I decided to go on Pinterest to get my mind off of it, and thankfully ended up on your blog. This was exactly what I needed to be reminded of letting go of fear and reminding myself that God Is In Control!
Traci, I’m so glad God met you right where you were early this morning! So glad to connect with you.
So blessed to have found you. Thank you for chronicling your journey.
I Struggle with anxiety and fear and I find it is a daily and sometimes nightly battle for me.
God lifts my fear when I focus on Him. In the middle of the night when I wake up worrying , if I recite His scripture back to Him, I fall asleep!
What a precious, caring and loving Father we have! All glory to Him forever and ever.
The link for the bookmarks is no longer there. Would you be willing to email them to me?
Thank you
Pam
Hi Lisa, I know God led me to your site today. My Mom and Dad both passed less than a year ago and my dear dog had to be put to sleep yesterday. I was a twisted mess of worry of the next loss. I was stuck in a panic of future “what ifs” . This series on fear gave me great comfort. God is so Good.