The battle with fear

Psa 2:11 Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.

Psa 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.

 

Is it possible that, just as “love” has become perverted, so has fear?  What if fear, in its pre-fall sense, was a blessing.  To be able to have emotions of wonder, awe and honor for God could have been a great thing.  What if is was more “natural” to feel emotions of aligning ourselves, agreeing with God, rather than selfishness or rebellion?

Worship, one of the words for worship can mean, “the dog at the hand of his Master”.  In a time of consumer driven religion and personal independence from God, most of us would not enjoy such a description of fervent worship.  We want worship to be about what we do and not who we are.  We want to matter more than we want to love and serve. (No always, but quite a bit)  We even want God to be impressed with our worship.  I don’t think any of my hunting dogs have wanted to impressed me.  Two of the best I have ever had did show me a lot of love!  Remember those years when we were growing up and love and doing things to impress were all mixed up together.  Did that turn out right for anyone?

I know many people who are battling fear right now.  Might one way we battle against the darkness be to restore the light?  What if we need to increase the good fear of the Lord so that the evil fear of this world can be driven back?  When we do this we trust more and more in God and surrender our desires to control and rule to him.  I know I have anxiety when I try to “take over” to many things.  My desire to rule has caused me to fear everything from my health to my eternal destiny.  The more I fear the Lord, the more I trust Him to make me, transform me, keep me. 

Over the last decade I have had a lot of negative stuff happen to me.  I am trying to use all that has happened for the glory of God and the good of others.  I am hoping that some of my battles with fear, anxiety, stress, pain and suffer can be used to help others.  I am not a counselor and I am not trying to become one of take their place.  I want to know what to do spiritually about fear.  What spiritual disciplines can we practice to develop a more holy life, a life that is fear less?

So this is what I know so far.  I know a little more, but this is want I want to go public with today.  Openly share your fears with others.  Fighting fear is not a personal internally matter.  Fighting fear is something we do as the body of Christ, as the family of God and as joint members with Jesus.