Face The Fear & Live

FACE THE FEAR & LIVE

“And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth.” – Matthew‬ ‭25:24-25 ASV‬‬.

Last weekend my husband and I went for a brief ride down Highway 1, along the coast. The view—at least the parts of it that I could see—was breathtaking. I will confess, my inability to appreciate the view of the spectacular scenery didn’t come as a result of an obstructing fog bank, traffic or even dirty windows. I missed the view, because I was afraid.

I have both a fear of heights and deep water.  The narrow road, sharp turns and sheer cliffs without guardrails, all became a bit too much.  I had a death grip on the door handle and my right foot stomped on my imaginary brake so many times, that had there been grapes on the floorboard, we would have wine today.

While our car going off of the cliff or the cliff giving way were possibilities, those accidents are rare and unusually involve extenuating circumstances, of which we had NONE.

Life is supposed to be an adventure.  Like a rollercoaster ride, both those having a great time and those in sheer terror and praying the ride will be over, are on the same ride. It is their faith and trust in the ones who created and maintain the ride that differs, and then colors their experience.

The Father designed this ride we are on.  We can trust Him to get us home. He intends this ride we are on to be a glorious tale of His faithfulness, but all too often, in our lack of faith, we plead with God to exchange our rollercoaster for the monotony of a pony ride.

Beloved, I encourage you to bring your fears before the Lord—the things that are holding you back from experiencing all that He intends for you.  If need be, seek wise counsel, then stand up and face the fear with the power of Christ as your strength (Phil 4:13).

Face the momentary discomfort...the concern about looking foolish and fear of change, and begin resisting the pull of what binds you.  Press forward (Phil 3:14), stepping away from a life of false safety and mediocrity, toward a life that operates with the power of God.

Wouldn’t it be a terrible waste to play it safe and fearfully bury the gift of your life in the ground?

Both good and bad happen to all of us (Matt 5:45). But we cheat ourselves of so much joy and beauty when we focus on the fright instead of the delight.  We wish our life away until suddenly, we get our wish, and it’s gone.  We come to the end having merely survived, instead of thrived, and existed instead of truly living.

Isn’t it ironic that we avoid facing fear in order to attempt to preserve our life, but we can only truly live by facing the fear?

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” – Matthew 10:39 NLT

We can trust the Father.  He has mapped out our course and appointed the number of our days. It may not be easy, but it will be well worth it (2 Chr 15:7). Face your fear, my friend, and LIVE!

Father, we come before You.  Remove irrational fears that hold us in their grip. Deafen our ears to the enemy’s paralyzing whispers.  Meet our shaky steps with the security of Your powerful right hand (Is 41:10) as we step out in faith. Use us to do great things for Your glory (Matt 5:16) and the furthering of Your kingdom.  And teach us to live a life of courage, worthy of the sons and daughters of Almighty God.  In Jesus’ Name❤️

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