Moment With Betty

Fear is a natural human emotion, but when it controls our decisions, thoughts, and actions, it becomes a prison. Many people live their lives under the shadow of fear—fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the unknown, fear of what others think, and even fear of success but, life was never meant to be lived in bondage to fear.  Come to think of it, fear is one of the factors that affect our faith and similarly, fear and faith are the two most powerful but unseen forces that rule every human being.

When you live in fear, it occupies your mind and affect all you do and so also, when you live in faith, it occupies your mind and affect all you do. This is the reason why God asks us to live in faith and not live in fear. Fear paralyzes our potential and has a way of stopping us from stepping into our purpose in life. It whispers into your minds things like, “you’re not good enough,” “you’ll fail,” or “no one will support you.” and these voices often keep people stuck in unhealthy situations, stagnant careers, broken relationships, or limited dreams. So, when we allow such thoughts overthrow our minds, we live in fear and choose to fail.  Mind you, when you live in fear, you have already taken a decision to remain stagnant, fail and not to succeed. In other words, you have taken a decision to live as a victim and submit to the object of your fears and therefore, you begin to sink like Peter sank when he allowed fear to overshadow his focus while walking towards Jesus on the sea. He lost faith at that point and started to sink down in the water so, he cried out, ‘’ Save me, Lord’’ Matthew 14: 26 – 32’’

We sincerely need to understand that fear is not a situation, it is often just a feeling, and feelings are not always reality. Fear helps to magnify problems and minimize possibilities. It blinds you from knowing that you were created with strength, potential, and purpose. This simply tells us that many things that we think are fearful in themselves may not be truly what they are until we try them. Take for example, the case of the apostle of Jesus, they saw Jesus walking on the sea while they were in the boat and they thought that it was a ghost when in the actual sense, it was Jesus and not a ghost. So, sometimes we live in fear out of nothing. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1: 7 ’ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.’’ This means that fear is not from God, it is not part of your divine design. Instead, you are empowered with boldness, love, and clarity of mind to face whatever challenges life throws at you. Another thing is that, many things we fear to encounter may be packaged with blessings. Sometimes, they are packaged in difficulties waiting for us to grab it heads on and try it but, we remain stuck in fear and that is how we miss out in that blessing or opportunity. So, until we conquer fear and act, we will never know the blessings lying in wait for us. Therefore, do not fear because, fear may be the thing you need to conquer and to get to where God wants you to be.

The question that we should always ask is, what do we need to claim our blessings, actualize our dreams or even fulfill our destiny? my answer is simply, Faith and Courage.  Trust me, one of the most powerful antidotes for fear, is faith. We need to put Faith over Fear. Faith reminds us that even when we don’t have all the answers, we can still take the next step. Whether our faith in God is in a higher calling or in the inner resilience we have built over time, faith gives us courage. Remember, that courage doesn’t sometimes mean the absence of fear, it means that we are prepared to move forward despite the difficulties. Besides, some of the most successful and impactful people in history, felt afraid but chose to act anyway. They started businesses, wrote books, challenged injustice, raised families, and launched movements while feeling unsure or afraid. It is true that sometimes, we have some reasons to fear and remain afraid, this may be as a result of a lost job or a bad business deal and so, we are afraid of the future etc. but, Jesus is telling us that despite all of these, we should be courageous and not fear. Remember, the apostles where afraid while in the boat when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, but Jesus said to them, ‘’Be courageous, it is I’’ He is saying the same thing to us today,’’ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified’’ Deuteronomy. 31:6.

Jesus is assuring us today and always not to be in fear but to trust in what He can do for us even in the midst of trouble. We should therefore, avoid to live in fear because fear robs us of our peace. Look at it this way, when we live in fear, we are in constant worry and worry weakens our emotional and physical well-being, it also limits our growth as we become afraid to try new things. It discourages us from expressing our thoughts, ideas, live our identity, separates us from our purpose in life and even prevents us from fulfilling our destiny in life. Believe it or not, if we continue to live in fear, we can never feel really ready to do anything and the conditions may never be perfect. Therefore, we need to take the risk, take advantage of that opportunity, speak up. forgive. start the dream and do it after all. Trust me, you don’t overcome fear by waiting for it to go away, you overcome it by confronting it head-on.

Just as Peter walked on the water which in the normal sense can never happen, we can also walk on whatever challenges that may come our way, if we remain faithful. Peter could not reach Jesus because he removed his attention from the Lord and focused on the storm. The truth is that, as we sail through life, as we walk to victory, the storm of life may come from nowhere, they might push us to focus on the conditions instead of our destination and when we put our focus on the conditions instead of God, we will begin to sink. So, let us seek the face of God even in the midst of troubles and call out to God to save us when in danger, just as Peter did. He shouted, ‘’Lord save me’’ and the Lord will not waste a minute in coming to save us. Let us be reminded  about God promise in Matthew 7:7’’, Ask and you shall receive.’’  May God bless us all and help us to overcome all our challenges. Amen.