When I was very young, I made a vow. That vow involved me never allowing my family to be harmed or to be put into harms way. Little did I know that it was that vow, made in innocence, that would perpetuate a paralysis in my life in years to come. I'm writing this now to share with you my story. My hope is that if you resonate with this that you will find that you too can break that bondage.
First, like I said above, I made a vow. A vow that allowed a spirit of fear to overcome me. That fear was the fear of man. For a long time I've been fearful of people walking past me that maybe didn't look the same as I do. I've been afraid to talk to certain people because they are different than me. I've been afraid to sleep some nights so worried that someone was going to break into our home. I've been afraid that I would not be able to protect my family. I've been afraid that I would lose my job. I've been afraid of what people think of me. I've been afraid of expressing my ideas. I've been afraid of death, dying, and that whole situation. I've been afraid of losing the ones that I love. I've been afraid of so much. This morning, I woke up, looked at my son and said enough!
I met with my friend this morning to actually talk about something else that later became part of this fear story, unknowingly. What I found was that just about every decision I've been making in my life has been based around fear and not faith. So we started to get to the root of things. First of all, fear of man is not holy or righteous in any way, shape, or form. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, "Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." So my fear of man was keeping me from living a life, as 10:31 says, "worth more than many sparrows."
You see my fear of life and death comes from a lie that was rooted a long time ago due to circumstances beyond my control. That fear led me to make a vow. And that vow was what turned that fear into something bigger than what it really was.
So this morning, we exposed the root. We exposed the lie for what it was and I started taking my thoughts captive. You see, as Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man is a snare...", I walked into a snare. However the verse goes on to say, "...but the one who trusts the Lord is protected." Living a life of fear is no life at all. I have found freedom in knowing that my life will probably not be easy. And from time to time I'm probably going to run into situations where it might get sticky. However there is good news! If someone takes it upon themselves to do harm to me, that is their freedom to do so. God gave all of us a free will. The good news is that even if harm falls upon me, God will give me grace just like he did with Stephen in the Book of Acts.
I know this might all sound crazy, but the truth is I'd much rather fear God than man. And why? Because as 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love." If God is love, and I am His child, then there is no fear to be had.
God loves me, he loves you, and he wants you to have no fear through faith and trust. He wants you to know that He loves you, and because of that love, you no longer have to fear.
P.S.: By the way, just so you know, just because you trust and have faith in God doesn't mean life is going to be awesome. So know that just because He loves us doesn't mean everything is going to work out the way WE want it to. However, it will work out the way HE wants it to. Besides, His will is better for us any way.
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