The Enemy Within, The Fear that Shapes
You are shaped by your thoughts – those internal beliefs and ideas taught by parents and teachers and formed by circumstances and the fears that often result from painful encounter with others.
There is a warning about this kind of fear:
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:35
Your driving force soon becomes, “What will people think? The snare is now set.
This creates great distractions in your life.
Criticism, rejection or failure, opens the door to the fear of man and occupies your attention and fills you with anxiety.
As the fear grows, your mind comes more and more under its control.
You soon find that this fear creates most of the problems you face in life.
When your fear is magnified, the offenses and problems in your life will also increase.
Your words and actions reveal the fear that now influences and shapes your life.
As long as you leave God out of the solution, you will find that your problems grow as you submit to their claims.
The level and power of your anxiety is inversely proportional to your faith and trust in God.
Whenever you believe and embrace a lie about God, you move into anxiety.
Magnifying, thanking and praising God greatly reduces the fear and the control your problems have over you.
You must recognize that the problem is not with God, but with the influences, attitudes and beliefs you now carry.
Ask yourself, who taught you to think the thoughts you have about yourself, others and God?
Were those thoughts life-giving?
Your thoughts are mostly the result of someone else’s influence, which is often not life-giving, but is the worldly pattern of thinking.
What is the familiar voice in your life: “You are a failure, a sinner?” or is it the truth, “You are more than a conqueror, a child of the most high God?”
Magnify God, not your fears.
The voice you listen to will open the door to your identity and destiny, either death or life.
You choose!