Dear God, I Have No Reason to Fear

Fear is our body’s natural response to danger, it is an unpleasant and very complex emotion. It can be positive and healthy, but sometimes it can have negative consequences. Today we are living in a fear based world and adapting fear culture. But to keep it 100, it’s hard not to live in fear right? I mean I’m sure we all can agree there is A LOT going on! At times it feels like we are living in a Fear zone. Parents are concerned that their child or children may not make it back home from school that day, you can’t grocery shop in peace, you could be all smiles with a colleague in the workplace and then it could end in death the next. Not to mention diseases, (Covid-19, RSV, flu, Monkeypox, cancer etc.), natural disasters, racism, political issues and EVERYTHING else that comes along with this world. However, fear can be crippling, tormenting, and keep you from fulfilling your purpose that God has placed on your life. The spirits of hate, violence, power, and control just to name a few, are running havoc in the world currently and the devil wants us to be fearful. He wants us to be prisoners in our own towns, homes, churches, schools etc. He wants you to get so fearful that it destroys your relationship with God and keeps you from doing Kingdom work and living in your purpose. God gave me this topic for my readers to not only encourage y’all, but to encourage me as well. The truth is God is well AWARE of the things within this world that causes us to fear, however, He wants us to enjoy this life and receive everything He has to offer us and we cannot do that living with a spirit of Fear.

“No one gets a gold medal for suffering.”

– Latoya Mullen FNP-BC PMHNP-BC

This subject definitely hits home for me because I have found myself struggling to not live with a spirit of fear especially when it comes to doing normal everyday tasks such as: going to work, the grocery store, church, the movies etc. For example when the Covid-19 pandemic first started, as the world shut down for several weeks. During this time I became a fan of grocery pick up. I honestly can’t believe I hadn’t been doing it before Covid-19. So every week, even to this day, I do a grocery pick up for my household. If you know anything about grocery pickup you may have heard of substitutions. Substitutions are replacements for the original items you ordered that were out of stock. The grocery store will first try to substitute it for something similar and if that is not an option they will not replace the item altogether and it will show as “out of stock” on your order. When that happens I tend to get frustrated because that means I have to go in the store to get what I need when I clearly tried to prevent that by doing the grocery pickup. Now that I have to go into the store, here comes the spirit of fear rising up in me. Like you all, I’m aware of the mass shootings that have been happening in grocery stores. So when I have to go in the store I find myself trying to be as quick as possible, not messing around and just looking at things. When I’m waiting in line for self-checkout I’m watching people’s moves and people around me trying to see what’s in their hands or I may get even more anxious when someone pulls something out of their pocket because you just don’t know what people are capable of these days. When I finally get out of the store I’m immediately thanking God that I made it out safely. But the reality, is what if God needed me to share my testimony with someone in that store? Or He was leading me to pay for someone’s groceries or share His love. I wouldn’t be in a place to hear Him or complete tasks He was giving me because I’m fearful that I won’t make it out the store.

The website verywellmind.com has an interesting article about fear and the four responses of fear. I was drawn to the first part of the article where it explains fear and how it affects the brain. “The human experience of fear begins in the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes many of our emotions. When the amygdala is activated due to possible danger, it elicits the fear response.While the amygdala processes emotional experiences, the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex control things like language and impulse control. When we experience fear, our brain re-routes energy to the amygdala, slowing down processing in other areas. That is why it can be difficult to speak or make rational decisions when we are afraid.” That explanation explains how fear is the enemy of faith. Fear robs you of rational thinking and can lead you into making poor decisions. When you let fear and anxiety control you, you lose your ability to practice empathy and hospitality to those in need. Which is what happened to me in the grocery store.

The spirit of fear is a distraction. It keeps you from doing God’s work effectively. I mentioned at the beginning of this blog how this is also encouraging me. God has really been dealing with me on this because your girl has been struggling ok! Ultimately God questioned me one day and it was so profound to me. “Do you not know how many people are missing out on an experience, encounter, relationship with Me because you are operating in a spirit of fear?” That was like a punch in the gut, but I love when God gets me all the way together. The reality is this Christian walk is not about you, the great commission tells us that. (Matthew 28:16-20 NIV) Those words were given to every follower of Jesus. If I am His disciple (a follower of Jesus), I am commanded to go and make disciples of others. The commission is not to wait for the world to come to us; it is to go into all of the world. In order for us to be successful in the great commission, it requires us to not live with a spirit of Fear.

Important Tips to Help Combat the Spirit of Fear

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1. God Does Not Call You to Have a Spirit of Fear: (2nd Timothy 1:7 KJV) “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” This verse is very popular in the Bible; it’s Paul’s letter to Timothy. Paul is reminding Timothy that God is more than capable of handling anything that he faces and to not fear. Fear can enslave you and Christians need not be a slave to fear. Not because there’s nothing worthy of our fear. But because our God is bigger than those things. As followers of God, we have His strength living within us giving us strength and power. Because of that we can walk through this life fearless because we know we have God on our side. Love is who God is and what He calls us to do. It not only changes our lives, but the lives of others. A sound mind means having the capacity to think, reason, and understand for oneself. Having self control is important, the bible states in Proverbs 25:28 “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” Paul gave Timothy this reminder, but it is for you as well. Remember who you serve! God is more than capable of conquering any fear and providing a way for your escape (1st Corinthians 10:13), trust Him. We are called to greater than fear, it is not of God.

2. God is Aware: Omniscient is one of the attributes of God and it means, “all knowing” Isaiah 40:28 states: “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” God knows all things past, present and future. He is the source of all knowledge and knows the potentialities of any situation. He even knows every person’s thoughts before we think them. Therefore, we have no reason to fear because we serve a God that already knows what will happen before it happens.

3. Be Watchful of What You are Feeding Your Spirit: This is an important tip that I cannot stress enough. You MUST be watchful of what you feed your spirit. A few examples would be: participating in negative conversations, social media, the news, music, TV etc. These things can be utilized to influence the spirit of fear. Personally, even as hard as it can be at times, I try to limit my time on social media and with news updates. A tip that has helped me is hiding my apps and turning off app notifications. That way they are not the first thing I look for when I turn on my phone and because my apps are hidden I am not receiving notifications. I can find myself reading or watching videos about things that are happening in the world and I can feel the spirit of fear start to rise up in me. I’m not advising to totally be unaware of what’s happening in today’s society, but I am advising that you know your limits. Simply put, know when enough is enough. I really love the bible verse (Philippians 4:7-9) because thinking on these things will combat that spirit of fear. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.”

4.  Seek Help!: If you find yourself in a place where you are constantly living with a spirit of fear and trying things on your own doesn’t work, please seek help so you do not have to fight this fight on your own. Help can be in many different forms: joining a church, attending a prayer group, attending bible study, therapy, life coaches, talking with a close friend, etc. There are a plethora of resources out here so you don’t have to do life alone. “No one gets a gold medal for suffering.” – Latoya Mullen FNP-BC PMHNP-BC

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Y’all, I wanted to share how hard the enemy was fighting me to write this blog. I had been working on this blog for over a month and I believe he was fighting me so hard because he knows this is important. It’s imperative for believers to be checked in regard to fear because the enemy thinks he has won with all of the chaos going on today. I’m glad God used me in this capacity as a wake up call for some of you. Today is your LAST day walking with that spirit of fear. You will no longer be imprisoned in your mind, house, community, church, school, job, etc. We are called to a greater work and as much as the enemy is wreaking havoc right now, our calling has not changed and our calling is bigger than the four walls we are in. So as hard as it may be, fight that spirit of fear. I’ll be praying for you. Be obedient to God and continue the great commission. Someone’s soul is waiting to be saved, someone’s healing, someone’s deliverance, someone’s breakthrough is waiting for you to conquer that spirit of fear. Be encouraged, my fellow followers of Jesus Christ, because He has already won! (John 16:33)

Love Your Sis,

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