Wounded and Sick: Things That Cripple Your Faith

Fear: The Spiritual Poison

•Fear: The Spiritual Poison•

Fear is a line of defense- a primal instinct that can protect you from physical, emotional, and spiritual danger. However, fear can become too powerful if you aren’t careful and it can begin to hinder you from completing stages of your journey through faith. If you let fear gain control of you, it can begin to consume you. 

Fear, as stated before, is an instinct, but where does it come from? What’s the cause? Simple: unbelief. Let me explain. Fear is an expression of distrust. When you become afraid of a grizzly bear running toward you, it is because your body is telling you that you can’t trust the animal to pass by you harmlessly. When fear enters your spiritual life, it’s a reaction to some seed of distrust that has sprouted inside you- whether it’s distrust of people, distrust of yourself, or distrust of God (JOY). When you feel you cannot put your full trust in something, you become afraid. 

Fear has “symptoms” that are outlined in the Bible: 

"Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up."

(Proverbs 12:25)

Fear can cause your heart to feel heavy and drag you down. It can make you feel hopeless, depressed, or unmotivated. It can dull your faith, your heart, and your mind. 

"My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me."

(Psalms 55:4‭-‬5)

 Fear can be overwhelming. It is almost like there are two sides of the spectrum here: either fear will dull you or overstimulate you. When fear begins to overwhelm you, you might feel stressed or restless. It might cloud your judgement and cause you to make rash decisions or lash out without thought. 

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in You."

(Psalms 56:3)

 So what is the cure for fear? As simple as the cause: Trust. If distrust is the cause of fear, then trust, logically, is the cure for it. When you are afraid, you need to: (a) turn to God with that fear and (b) trust  Him to take care of it and you. 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

(Philippians 4:6)

When you are afraid or anxious, pray and ask God for help.

I want you to listen to this and take it to heart. It is so much easier said than done to simply let go of your fear and trust. For that matter, it’s easier said than done to humble yourself and ask for help, even, if not especially sometimes, from God. I think sometimes- lots of times- we expect too much of ourselves. We expect to be stronger than we actually are when it comes to things like fear or doubt (which we’ll be talking about next), and we aren’t, we want to hide our failure from God. We hide because we feel ashamed of our weakness, and fear His disappointment. We see this all the way back in Genesis actually. Back in the Garden, after the Fall of Man, when Adam and Eve heard God coming, they hid from Him out of shame of their disobedience… their weakness. The thing is, though, He already knew. He already knows. He already knows that we are afraid or doubtful or angry or.. Or anything else! He created us, for goodness sakes! For that matter, He created these emotions and thoughts that we have! I think this is something that we can forget sometimes, but He created fear. He created fear to protect us from dangerous situations. He knows that because of our human weakness and sin, it can become corruptive and damaging.