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Fear is everywhere, and it affects everyone. It has been around since the beginning of time, and it will be here as long as the earth remains. Fear rules many people, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Fear is said to be False Evidence Appearing Real, and that is an accurate definition because fear is rooted in lies the devil tells us. When we believe them, fear takes root in our hearts and minds.
Although fear will never totally disappear from our lives, we can confront it and overcome it. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is moving forward in the presence of fear. Courageous people do what they believe in their hearts they should do, no matter how they feel or what kinds of doubts and fearful thoughts fill their minds.
If we were to take time to notice how often our reactions to people and circumstances are rooted in fear, we would be amazed. We would also learn a great deal about ourselves. People can and often do spend their entire lives reacting to situations in ways that prevent them from being the people they truly want to be, never realizing that their lives feel empty because they have allowed fear to dictate their decisions.
If you are in a room enjoying conversation with a few friends when suddenly someone joins the group and you immediately feel intimidated, the culprit is fear. That fear may be unreasonable because you may not even know the person, and there would be no reason for them to provoke fear in you. When something like this happens, your fearful reaction may be related to a specific personality type that reminds you of someone who hurt you earlier in your life. Or perhaps the person who intimidates you is better looking or better educated than you are, and that makes you feel insecure. Or there may be no reason at all for you to be afraid except that the devil wants to torment you. You could feel intimidated for numerous reasons, none of which are related to the other person at all.
In such a circumstance, the wise course of action is to ask God why you reacted the way you did and then watch and wait for Him to speak to your heart. The answer may come immediately, or it may take a while, but if you seek to understand yourself, you will find truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).
Let me urge you not to allow fear to push you around and simply put up with it. Neither should you go through your life blaming other people for your misery. Take ownership of your problems and open your heart to God, and He will help bring light into darkness (situations you don’t understand). If you can understand fear and how it operates, you can be free from it.
The first part of this book will help you understand fear and recognize how it works in your life. The second part will help you confront fear. In the third part, you will learn about mindsets that will position you for freedom from some of the most common fears people face. I pray that as you read and study this book you will experience freedom from fear, which is something Jesus died to give you.
While fear is understandable under certain circumstances — earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, viruses, and other situations — being afraid does not change the experiences the enemy uses to make us afraid. Fear will never make circumstances better, but it will rob us of our strength to deal with them and of our ability to think clearly in the midst of them. The apostle John wrote, “Fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18 KJV), and even when feeling afraid is understandable, it does nothing but torment us.
Fear is the devil’s favorite tool in the toolbox of schemes he uses to steal, kill, and destroy God’s good plan for us (John 10:10). He uses it to prevent our progress in every area of our lives. He uses it to hold us back, to get us to run away from things we should confront, and simply to cause us emotional suffering. People allow fear to control them to varying degrees, but we can decide not to let it control us at all in any area for “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7 ESV).
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