fear

[calluna]

You may know by reading a couple of my posts that I have been dealing with fear. I am regularly struck with fear about everyday things Or anticipate pending doom.
I am afraid to drive to knew places, afraid I might get lost. I am afraid to do new things or meet new people. I am afraid of saying or doing something stupid, or I think they are judging me, afraid of what they think of me. sometimes even typing and leaving posts here creates a feeling of fear. How crazy is that?

I was nervous of going to that new bible study the other night, I suppose that is a kind of fear. I was afraid I might say or do something wrong, or they would laugh at my comments. The people there were mature Christians and knew way more than I did, I found that a little intimidating. But they were all really nice and friendly and so that fear was totally irrational.

I went to the prayer chat night on the 25th. I was even afraid to go there I have never been to a chat room before! Fear of the unknown! I actually went there to ask for help for this very issue of fear and it was suggested that this may have something to do with doubt. It maybe, I am not sure, is it more of not believing, is that the same as doubt? But I believe this scripture, when I first read it 'God didn't give me a spirit of fear, but of power and love'.

I consider my self as a 'baby' Christian because of the lack of knowledge of the bible and Jesus. I never really read the Word properly until these past few months. I did not realize that I had been given this power by the Holy Spirit to help overcome these mental strongholds.
I did not realize that being afraid is maybe even self-centered. That I am not trusting in the Lord. Is that possible? I don't want to be like this.
I am tired of being afraid, I don't want it. It is limiting and binding and restricting. It steals freedom.

Someone in prayer chat also mentioned that I might even have to confess this to the Lord. Now, that lit a light bulbmg: Wow I never had thought of that, that maybe I needed to talk to the Lord about my fears, confess it, wow, why didn't I think of that? So I did straight after I left chat. It felt great to be able to unload that, I didn't know I needed to. Just so many things I don't know, but I want to know and learn.

In my original post and testimony, I said I don't want to be stuck in this mire 5 years from now. What kind of life is that to be held in captivity? how can I serve the Lord if I am walking in fear all the time? It just contradicts itself.

I believe I am making headway with this, I believe there has now been a turning point, since I laid down my confession of fear to God in my prayer.

I still need your prayer and encouragement and any input you care to give me on this. Maybe some of you have dealt with fear yourself, it would be great to hear how the Lord helped you.

Thank you
Your friend in Christ
Heather

 

[sunshine307]

Aww Heather. :girl_hug: Here sits a woman who was totally bound by fear, but by the grace of God He delivered me from them all. I was housebound for 18 years, had the fears to a certain extent for 5 years before that, and have now been totally free of fears for 4 years. All glory, honour and praise to God. At my worst I was confined to bed as I was convinced I would die if I got out of bed. Yes I was a Christian during all those years. The verse you quoted from 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" kept me going for all those years.

One of the first things you need to do is renew your mind. As you already know God does not want you to be full of fear. Romans 12:2 " ...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

There are two ways of looking at it. You either believe what God is saying or you don't. For example, when God says in Isaiah 43:1 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine." He is commanding us not to fear. It is not an option. You need to realise who you are in Christ, satan is afraid when we know who we are in Christ. You are a child of the King. 1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

A great book I would recommend you read is "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer. I read that over and over again when I was letting go of my fears. The best thing about the book is that it is grounded in scripture. You will start to believe what you are reading in God's Word.

Here's a few more scriptures to encourage you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 "And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed." When you realise He is constantly with you, you will see you have nothing to fear. Believe me I know how real those fears are.

Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You." Trust in God, set your mind on Him and He will give you perfect peace.

Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Give all your fears to Christ, then stand in that freedom, refuse to take them back again. What really worked for me here - since I had been a Christian for all those years yet I still had all those fears - was to "start again" with God. I told Him I was starting again and from here on in it was a complete new start and I was going to believe His Word. It really made a difference. I did believe His Word and I was free of ALL fears.

Here is also a few wee quotes of Joyce Meyers that I know you will understand:

"Even though it hurts to get free, it hurts even more to stay in bondage."

"Faith is like muscle, it is strengthened by using it, not by talking about it."

"Choose to place your trust in God. It requires a greater faith, but it pays marvellous dividends."

"Believing is so much simpler than not believing."

Heather, I pray some of this may help you, do not hesitate to contact me any time. :girl_hug:

 

[Dreamer]

Don't be ashamed. Pray, pray, pray, and search the scriptures. I also, like sweet Sunshine, have overcome fear. I still am a rather timid person, but am now able to hold down a job, look into people's eyes when I talk to them, and shop at the grocery store without having a nervous breakdown!

15 years ago, God began dealing with my fear soon after I rededicated my life to Christ. In my case, God began with me by having me forgive my parents for my upbringing. Then, piece, by piece, He began tearing down walls of fear, as I walked with Him. It's a covenant---He loves you and builds you up, and you obey so that He can bless you and heal you.

I believe God has already begun a good work in you, calluna. You have much to look forward to.

Sincerely,
Dreamer

 

[Jonah2005bt]

I, too once was filled with fear - so much fear that I could never keep friends, because I always felt they where only pretending to be my friend & secretly where planing to hurt me, one way or another. I finally got tired of this fear & decided that I have to get over my fears or get some help. I too, have tried counseling, but it just didn't help. Then, I became a runaway. I would runaway from home all of the time. Only, to find that I was only building up in side of me more & more fear of people. For what I had witnessed, was what The Almighty GOD tried so hard to teach us to stay away from, which where people that only wanted to do us harm. {*Proverbs 2:11-15*}
One day the thought came to me - there is still one thing I haven't yet tried! And that was - I had not yet tried to live by The Almighty GOD'S Rules & Regulations & by the teachings of our beloved Savior Christ, Jesus.
When I truly put ALL MY TRUST in The Almighty GOD, I would Solo Bible Studied & I also would have Bible Studies with others as well, and I could see my fear of people was getting less & less. Now I find myself not being worried by fear, but have become to be quite bold. Putting my trust in The Almighty God & in Christ, Jesus really changed my life for the better! And I found the only way I could put my trust in The Almighty GOD was to except HIS love for me, allowing myself to take in the fact that HE is real & so is HIS love for all of mankind! For by allowing myself to do this - gave the strength to TRUST in HIM & to give HIM my love in return. And where there is TRUE LOVE there is TRUST! :girl_hug:

 

[fearnot]

Fear is something crippling and it keeps a person from having a normal life. My whole life I was caught in the crippling jaws of fear and fear ruled my life. I was basically afaid of everything. I know its definately not a life I wanted to live. Most people said that I need my pastor to pray for me to bound the spirit of fear in me.

Yes I had it done half-heartedly quite some time ago - thus not trusting God in delivering me from this agonizing fear.

Needless to say that things just got worse and I was broken down to be able to be set free. What I mean by this, every thing just got too much too handle and that evening the pastor prayed that God will give those whom suffer from fear and anxiety the courage to step forward for prayer.

I step forward outof pure desperation. Yesterday, two weeks ago I was finally set free from fear and anxiety.

I have never in my life felt so free and I thank God for every day of this new-found freedom in Him.

I know the enemy is using fear to keep us from fully worshipping God and yes he is sometimes trying to let my fear come back, but that is the time I just pray the blood of Jesus and rebuke satan as satan wont take this new-found freedom in Christ away from me again.

One thing I have learnt - keep faith and keep asking God to set you free, cause it is His desire to set you free. Also God's timing is better than our timing too.

 

[calluna]

What can I say... thank you soooooooooo much you guys.
Sunshine, Dreamer, Jonah, Fearnot. and anyone else. Wow these responses are so encouraging, everything you say makes sense, and I love all the scripture references, some I didn't know. And yes I do have Joyce's book, I'm actually going through it now.

Dreamer you made me laugh - shopping at the grocery store without a nervous breakdown, yep.. been there

Jonah, yep did the counselling... no good really, Jesus has helped me more than any counselling.

Sunshine set free from all those years, what a testimony!

Fearnot, you too free from anxiety and fear...awesome.

Praise Jesus for all our freedom, yes ours ..I am including myself free indeed!

I am going to print out these pages so I can refer to the scriptures and your testimonies. Thank you all for your kindness, advice and help. :girl_hug: and to all. You just don't know how much I appreciate this. Jesus is awesome... He really uses Talk Jesus for so much good.
God bless you all.

Heather