Tag: fear

Operating Out of Fear vs. Faith

Did you know that the Bible tells us time and time again, don’t fear? And you know what is funny? One of our first human instincts is to worry. 

We worry about what we will eat.

We worry about what we will put on in the mornings. 

We worry about our jobs.

We worry about what others think or say about us.

We worry about our health.

We even worry about things that could potentially happen, but will probably never even come to pass.

We are big fat worriers.

My husband and I have walked through some challenging times, and I always tell him, “We are people who operate out of faith not fear.”

But I am sad to share that I have been operating out of fear. I have been allowing my mind to jump from one negative outcome to the next until I am spiraling and planning for the worst case scenario. 

I believe that we have to get our hearts of faith and our human brains on the same page. I have been in so many situations where my heart of faith is so confident that God is going to come through while my human brain is freaking out wondering out how everything will come together. It is a constant game of tug of war between the two. 

I love the Bible. Whatever we are wrestling with, the Scriptures give us encouragement, guidance, wisdom, literally everything. It is God’s Word to us to help us in our everyday faith walk. Today I looked up the word fear in the index. The last verse listed was Philippians 4:6. 

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7

God’s Word tells us not to worry but instead pray and give thanks. When we do this, then God will cover us in His unexplainable peace. 

Remember how I said that a big piece of operating out of faith instead of fear is training your mind to line up with your heart of faith? The next verse tells us to do just this. 

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy–dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

We must fix our minds on the things above. In order to be people who operate out of faith, we have to retrain our thoughts and make them come into alignment with God’s Word. When we allow our minds to dwell on what the world says or what seems to make sense, we begin to act out of fear instead of faith. On the other hand, when we dwell on thoughts that are pure, lovely, true, just, and admirable, then we begin to respond out of faith. 

May we cast all cares to our Jesus who is always available and more than willing to carry our loads. May He guard our hearts and minds with His peace that passes all understanding. And may we be people that dwell on the things that are eternal so that we can drop the fear and operate out of wild faith.

What Fruit Does Fear Produce?

Let’s take a quick little  poll here…

Raise your hand if you have a if you have this passion or gifting brewing inside of you, but you don’t dare to step out and see what it may entail for fear of failure.

Okay now  raise both hands if you are staying put bottling up your passion because of fear of rejection.

Well, we are in the same boat my friend. But the good news is that we can jump ship, ditch fear, and dive head first into what the Lord has made us for.

I have said it once and I will say it before, I am a recovering people pleaser and I know that I am not the only one. When in a room full of people, you can catch me sitting with my mouth glued shut even though I have 1,001 thoughts running in my head that I would like to share. And like so many others, I have so many dreams and passions brewing instead of me that I suppres. It is because I am too stinking afraid to put myself out there and be vulnerable to any hint of rejection or criticism. 

Why in the world do we allow fear to hinder us from pursuing the things that are so strong on our hearts? What would it look like if we no longer overthought everything and we put the crazy what ifs aside and jumped fully into what God has in store for us? Can you imagine the fulfillment and joy that we would experience if we lived more out of obedience and less out of fear?

Ever since I was in college, I have really found an interest in writing. I went to a Christian university where our syllabi consisted more of writing papers more than taking tests. Okay, well sometimes we had to do both. Our professors had some strict guidelines for the outline of our papers from the page length, sources, content, etc. Although I sometimes threw a fit for having to glue my booty to the chair and write one paper after the next, I started to enjoy getting creative with my writing. Then my big move to the Dominican Republic gave me a reason to start a blog, and well now here we are. 

I have got to tell you though, that sometimes I get nervous to share my blogs and what is on my heart. There are times when I fear how others will respond, if I receive criticism (which constructive criticism is good. But I mean let’s be real here, who really wants to receive any sort of criticism?), and I even wrestle with feeling like I may annoy people with all I want to share. These may seem like silly little fears, but they are real to me. And maybe some of you dance around your passions too because of little fears in you.

By hiding and covering up the gifts that God has placed in us, we are neglecting those gifts and how the Lord wants to use them. If we allow fear to stand between us and our dreams or passions, what fruit will we see? What fruit does fear produce?

God wants to use us and our gifts in such mighty ways, but we often allow timidness to get in the way of stepping out in faith to do what is on our hearts. 

I want to encourage you today, friend, that whatever God is calling you towards, whatever He is brewing inside of you..go after it 100%. With all you have and with all your are, pursue the passions that He has placed on your heart because He wants to use you.

And whatever you feel you lack, whatever you feel insecure about, the words you are nervous to say, the Lord goes before you and brings all these pieces together. Look at the Bible. God called the most normal people to do the most incredible and miraculous things. He equips those who feel unequipped. And as we walk in obedience and just trusting His guidance, it brings Him glory because He uses us to produce mighty fruit. But first, we have to ditch the fear.