I struggle with fear

[stormy612]

1 John 4:18: "For there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

I struggle with fear a lot! I fear people, situations, my lack of knowledge and wisdom, etc.. I want to bring the love of Jesus to everyone, but fear stops me. I am afraid all the time!

I know this verse but I'm still afraid! And what is this punishment John talks about?

How do I walk when I'm so afraid? I have to get over this because it's really hurting the ministry Jesus is giving me. I feel safe here, I can take my time to think and to pray and to answer. But not out in my day to day life. Out there, I have to give an answer immediately. And when I react, something always goes wrong. Obviously, I haven't been made perfect in love. I feel guilty and ashamed for being afraid-and I do mean afraid-I tremble and hide and dread any contact with people or situations.

Any help in understanding this verse, as well as 2 Timothy 1:7- For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline, would be a great help to me.

[tah]

Lord bless you, you are not alone in your battle with fear..

We all struggle with it..

I know there will be someone along shortly who the Lord has shown this very thing and will answer your question in a special way for you..

But fear is debilitating and when you are full of fear you cannot think clearly..

When fear hits me and the battle begins I am so many times overwhelmed by it ..

then I can get clear enough a head that I know I am overcome by it and I begin to tell the Lord that I repent of allowing it to overcome me..

then I begin to remind myself that in Christ I have nothing to fear..

I stand on every Scripture I know about trusting God in all situations ..

We grow a little more in faith with every battle ..

If we lose then He will let us learn in another battle ..

He will give us victory...I believe it...

Kind of like a body builder strengthening himself with workouts..

Praying with you that He will give you victory and you will be able to walk without fear the path He has set before you...

[Godfearer]

i encourage you to pray about this. not just once or twice. put this in continualy prayer. God can and will take away fear from you. i used to be afraid of certian things. today it is hard to scare me by sneaking up on me(and this annoys people trying to scare me)

for the second timothy verus you quoted:

other versions of bible use the word sound mind instead of self disipline. either way the word in the greek is the same.

strongs 4995

a combo of sos, "safe" and phren, "the mind" hence safe thinking, the word denotes good judgement , disiplined thought patterns, and to be abl;e to understand and make right desicions. denotes qualities of self control and self disipline.

this verus was one God used to help me overcome fears. medatate on it day and night.

will be praying for you stormy612

edit: oh btw, just the fact you have posted this and quoted those scriptures is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. keep seeking and victory is yours.

Edited October 15, 2008 by Godfearer

[Smalcald]

My natural inclination is toward some anxiety. However the wonderful thing about having faith in Christ, being a Christian is that we can give that up, nothing on this earth can hurt us, in effect we are already gone, we don't even really live here our home is with Christ in the eternal, which is where we will spend most of our lives. There are numerous passages that deal with Christians not worrying or having fear.

So for me I just say to myself why do I have fear? Usually when I give up myself I lose my fear.

Anyway that is just my two cents.

[Guest man]

I tremble and hide and dread any contact with people or situations.

Why are you afraid?

What do you think is going to happen?

[Ningning]

My natural inclination is toward some anxiety. However the wonderful thing about having faith in Christ, being a Christian is that we can give that up, nothing on this earth can hurt us, in effect we are already gone, we don't even really live here our home is with Christ in the eternal, which is where we will spend most of our lives. There are numerous passages that deal with Christians not worrying or having fear.

So for me I just say to myself why do I have fear? Usually when I give up myself I lose my fear.

Anyway that is just my two cents.

Right. Just think of this, when you decide to do things for Christ, the devil uses an armada of weapons to hinder you to become an effective witness. Sometimes, that includes your own self.

You can pray about it, listen to godly songs of comfort, and encourage yourself to be strong.

For me, whenever I feel fear, I sing the lines from Isaiah 41: 10 and 13.

" Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness...

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee Fear not; I will help thee."

Fear is everywhere, but thank God, we can all claim strength and courage for we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, lifts us, and allows us to go through the storms of life with gladness.

[psalmone]

Hi

I'm not yet fulfilled in this as I'd like to be but the bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, so I felt it'd be good to get our fear and trembling dealt with in our morning prayertime so that there'd be none for the situations we have to face.

This worked well in the past for me.

Exercise helps too.

[stormy612]

I guess I just don't feel safe. I've never felt safe. I feel safe when I read the bible, when I pray- when I'm alone with God. But when I have to walk out the door...I feel vulnerable, targeted, and in danger. I feel the same way when I meet people either in groups or one on one. I feel this way even with people I've known for a little while. It's worse now because the people in my past that I did start to trust betrayed me deeply.

Six years ago, when my husband was arrested for molesting my daughter, I was interrogated too because they thought I had known about it. That has, so far, been the worst terror I've ever been through. Something in me died because of it. I use to just be afraid, but now...all I can say is that I couldn't handle anything like that again. Just thinking about it...I'm sorry.

But I will go through something like it again, and worse. I've been called as a warrior for Christ. And I want to be a strong warrior too. If I don't figure out these verses, I won't be any use to God.

[Guest man]

If I don't figure out these verses, I won't be any use to God.

You know, God really doesn't care how smart we are. Our spirit isn't measured by the amount of bible knowledge we have.

Let me see what I can tell you about those verses. I read the New King James.

1 John 4

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

2 Timothy 1

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I don't like saying this because it sounds so judgemental, but you need to trust the Lord more than you do.

That fear you have is all in your head. It's imaginary.

No one's out to get you. No one's going to hurt you. You have to let go of the past and live for the future. You can't go back, you can only go forward.

You need to forgive the people who hurt you. You don't have to confront them. Give it all to God. That's what He's there for. He has the power to heal you. Let Him.

When you read your bible and you come across something you don't understand, don't wrap your head around it, let it go, move on. There are verses I must have read a hundred times and never fully understood the meaning until the hundred and first.

Read Proverbs. In the very first chapter, there's a verse that will tell you how to get closer to God. There's another one in chapter 4 and another one in chapter 9. I'd tell you what they are, but where's the fun in discovery if someone shows you where the treasure is.

There's another jewel in Luke, chapter 11. If you pay attention, you'll see that the one in Luke, works together with the ones from Proverbs.

Then read Matthew, chapters 5-6-7.

Give it a whirl. If you're stumped, PM me. I'll show you something.

Anyway, that's all I have for right now. I gotta get up in 6 hours and go to work.

One more thing.....take your time in reading. Don't rush it.

Later.

[Guest]