"..I am your faithful God.." - Isaiah 41:10 (TPT)

Fear is one of the most crippling emotions that can hold us back from the most abundant blessings of God and is one of the things that Jesus told us to avoid by telling us to not fear. 

Fear is described like this in Webster's 1828 dictionary:

"A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us."

Another thing that elicits fear is pain, the expectation of pain, either emotional or physical. 

Fear can be something that either motivates us or disables us, depending upon how we respond to it. If we are in physical danger, then fear can be a good thing to protect us from anything that can harm us. If fear becomes irrational and debilitating and manifests itself as anxiety, it can stifle us from growing emotionally and walking in the freedom that Christ has given us. 

Fear is one of the tactics that the enemy uses against us to keep us in bondage when we face the unknown, but the truth is every day we face the unknown, and fear keeps us from exercising faith to trust in our God who loves us and promises to protect us.

Tell who worry, the anxious and fearful, “Take strength; have courage! There’s nothing to fear. Look, here—your God! Right here is your God!  The balance is shifting; God will right all wrongs.  None other than God will give you success.  He is coming to make you safe.” Isaiah 35:4 (VOICE)

There are so many scriptures that tell us not to be afraid and to trust in the Lord for His strength and encouragement. The Lord is our source of strength when we are fearful; there is nothing that can come against us that can harm us or move us away from His love.

Jesus taught his disciples, saying, "Listen to me. Never let anxiety enter your hearts. Never worry about any of your needs, such as food or clothing. For your life is infinitely more than just food or the clothing you wear. Take the carefree birds as your example. Do you ever see them worry? They don't grow their own food or put it in a storehouse for later. Yet God takes care of every one of them, feeding each of them from his love and goodness. Isn't your life more precious to God than a bird? Be carefree in the care of God! "Does worry add anything to your life? Can it add one more year, or even one day? So if worrying adds nothing, but actually subtracts from your life, why would you worry about God's care of you?" 
Luke 12:22-26 (TPT)

With so much of His love for us, we can rest in the assurance that God will accomplish what He has started to do in our lives and see it through until we reach the end of our journey, that journey is the purpose of our creation, not the destination. It is the journey that changes us and causes us to trust Him fully.

"I am the Lord your God; I strengthen you and tell you, 'Do not be afraid; I will help you.'" The Lord says, "Small and weak as you are, Israel, don't be afraid; I will help you. I, the holy God of Israel, am the one who saves you." 
Isaiah 41:13-14 (GNT)

As the Lord abides in us He transforms our heart and proves to us that He can be trusted to stand beside us when we go through difficult times, He becomes our confidence and we can put our full trust in Him for He is our strength and our defender. The Lord is steadfast, He will never leave us or forsake us.

"Don't be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I'm fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?" 
Hebrews 13:5-6 (MSG)

My purpose in writing this post this morning is to demonstrate that we can put fear to rest and place our full confidence in the Lord to see us through anything that comes our way. 

It makes no difference if we have either physical or financial difficulties, He will meet us where we are and meet our need, we have no reason to fear, for our God is like a roaring lion ready to take on any challenge that comes our way, He already has won every battle. 

We have no reason to fear, for our God will make a way for us where there seems to be no way; we only have to trust Him, and not fear.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett