Live Without Fear

The pool in our backyard had just been completed, and all my children except one jumped in without a second thought, without fear. But my youngest was four years old, and until now, he hadn’t been around much water.

As I helped him put on his bathing suit, I told him how much fun he was going to have swimming with his brothers and sister. He turned to me and said, “I’m not going in.” No explanation. Just no. He wasn’t even going to try. He was too scared of the unknown.

Isn’t this how many of us react to a new opportunity, especially one that feels intimidating? Instead of seeing it as a potential great experience, we tune in to our internal monologue and allow fear to hold us back. Facing the unknown can be overwhelming. We feel helpless. Confused. We don’t know how it will end.

All my life I’ve wanted to see the end before I began. A new idea would enter my mind, and I would quickly dismiss it for all the reasons I thought it wouldn’t work. I wanted the guarantee of success before even taking the first step. Some call this being a realist, and some call this walking in wisdom. Either way, this mindset kept me bound with fear, never moving forward in my Christian journey.

Are you standing in the doorway of opportunity with fear creeping in? Are you feeling unqualified? Overwhelmed? Maybe even discouraged and frightened of the unknown? Fear tells us to not even start. Fear floods our minds with everything that could go wrong to the point that we never move forward with anything. If we’re not careful, fear will hold us back from God’s promises.

Fear Whispers Lies

Fear whispers, It will never work out. You will never be good enough.

What starts out as a small whisper eventually becomes a defending roar. Fear accompanies you on the verge of your promise. You’re on the edge of experiencing something tremendous and questions of doubt flood your mind. This is what happened when the ten scouts went into Canaan to check out the promised land in the book of Numbers. Their debriefing to the Israelites at first seemed to be going well—until they began to size themselves up against the giants in the land. Comparison will get you every time.

“We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit. However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified…We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are!” (Numbers 13:27–28, 31 HCSB)

They believed fear more than God himself.

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