When Fear stops the Gospel.
So many of us fall short of completing and living God’s will in our life for the fear we experience. That fear is from the enemy and we can choose to bow to it or trust in God and walk boldly. We may fear what we will lose if we become that radical person for him, but think of the spiritual gain in trusting God in those moments. Some may have a fear of talking to other people, fear of what they might say, fear of them rejecting us. I believe we can all say that we have felt this fear when God was calling us to step out in greater faith or do something new. I have felt that fear myself when God called me out. How do I give up my comforts and the things I have worked hard for? How do I spread the gospel when I know so little about it myself? How do I lead Christians when I have failed so many times?
I got to a point where I could stand still in my fear and choose defeat or I could put my trust in God and walk in faith. At that moment I opened my bible and read this verse.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? (?Psalm? ?56?:?3-4? NIV)
We all need to learn and practice how to not “fear the fear.” Fear of the unknown is natural as well as fear of offending others. Fear of loss and rejection. Fear of change. If that fear is there, that usually means God is calling you out of your comfort zone and is stretching you to be more of what He made you to be. In those moments remember this.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (?John? ?16?:?33? NIV)
I recently experienced some fear that stopped me from sharing the gospel. I found myself in a foreign land (India) surrounded by nothing that I was used to. Everyone looked different, talked different, dressed different and everyone stared at me as I walked by. We were told to respect the culture, don’t offend anyone, be careful, don’t go out alone, don’t go to this area, don’t go out without a local, etc… So here we are, fulfilling Gods call on our life and we are too scared to even talk to anyone. Luckily God sent us two people that have been here before and helped us walk through that fear to be able to show Christ’s love and compassion the same way he did in a foreign land going against the cultural norms. I rediscovered this verse and it applied to my life in this moment.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (?2 Timothy? ?1?:?7? NLT)
What a revelation I had in my life! The team and I took off for the slums that were next to us. We have been here before just a day earlier and it looked so different. The day before we walked through in silence not greeting anybody for fear of offending them or upsetting the Hindus or Muslims that was around us. This time it was different, this time we were dead set on showing who Jesus was through our actions. People were smiling, kids were shaking our hands and laughing. Grown men stopped digging in the heaps of trash to wave at us and smile. Women smiled and laughed at the women on our team. The brought their babies over to the girls to meet them. Fear was broken and Christs love was being poured out. Later that night we visited a new believers house. We all sang worships songs, Josh Stoneman preached while Jen Eyears shared her powerful testimony with the women in the house. I was pulled aside to pray for the neighbor because he heard the word of God in the next room and had faith that God could heal him. He was healed of his stomach pains and said he felt a great peace come over his stomach. God is so good and we can do so many things on earth for His glory and His kingdom if we just step out to practice love and break the cycle of fear.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. (?1 John? ?4?:?18? NLT)
