There are many places that the Bible tells us not to fear. To not fear is a skill we must train up. I teach people to do it like forgiveness. Imagine a scenario that is easy to forgive and practice being ready to forgive it. To not fear is to imagine low key scenarios and to not worry or fear in them. As you get good at imagining small things to not be afraid of even if they’re out of your hand, practice bigger things.
I find when I am ready to eat whatever the fast-food worker messes up on my food, or practicing not road raging, or practicing being okay with people cutting in line… I find when I’m well trained in my mind for accepting and forgiving minor unfairness, it unlocks a part of my brain that is ready to forgive large unfairness. Eventually, you come to the point where you tell God, “I forgive everyone that I have the right to forgive.” and this pleases God. Our ability to be forgiven is clued in on how much we forgive ourselves by the Bible. Be ready to forgive by practicing forgiving small things.
Fear can be the same way. My first time I had a fear was going over a bridge on the way to an amusement park. “Whoa! You’re going to trust our lives to engineers?” Meanwhile, my five-year-old self is riding in a car who if the brakes, steering or floor fell out would be just as bad off. But I had a fear on a bridge cuz it was sudden and unexpected. Prepare for this or that situation. Would you blast off around the moon if someone offered? You probably should even though rockets are risky. Small note: Horror movies are not good for this type of personal practice for reasons I won’t get into here.
As you practice getting over small fears without worrying and forgiving readily, you start to develop a cavalier attitude that pleases God. You’re well on your way to being a valiant spiritual conquerer in God’s kingdom. With a lot of spiritual power on your side, you can defeat giants in your life as David did. This confidence further makes you fearless.
Death? You mean that stingless defeated foe? The worst that can happen to me is that I go through some pain, lose abilities in this life and rely on God until I reach Heaven. We must remember that even if we’re spiritual conquerers, the greatest of the spiritual beings often get great persecutions and attacks. So we can do everything right, be good and loving to everyone we can, and help the poor, but still, get crippled in life. If crippling occurs and we’re down and out, we must not lose the spiritual conqueror attitude for keeping that helps keeps you not fearing death. Even if you don’t feel like a spiritual force when you’re down and out(because you can lose the feeling of being a spiritual champion when down and out), at least cling to God still and know he promises a resurrection. Knowing that things don’t get worse after death lets you have great confidence in not fearing becoming dead.
There’s a song by Mercy Me called “Grace Got You.” One of the lyrics says, “So when you’re standing in the wreckage, you might as well be dancing. Why? Cuz there ain’t no storm that can change how this ends. So when you feel blue, don’t let the smile leave you.”
This line reminds me of Hines Ward a famous American Football player who would take huge hits that obviously hurt him, but he’d bounce up and give this huge beautiful smile. His opponents actually voiced they didn’t like it because they thought they could shut him down by hitting him hard, but he smiled through it all. That’s a tough guy. They praiseworthy called him a psycho for smiling through the pain.
If you can manage to have an upbeat spirit despite going through tough trials because you have faith in God, your spiritual enemies of death, demons and the devil tremble for a similar reason. They become very afraid of you because you trust in Jesus. If after everything the devil throws at you, you’re still clinging to God, the devil has nowhere else to go but defeat. And you get to go to Heaven. Go listen to that “Grace Got You” song thinking of enduring with joy because Jesus already won victory: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xtiUjNT_vAM
Bonus Material: When God spoke to me and revealed he was real, I was on a bridge: www.goodnewsjim.com
Photo Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/wiloberdier/art/With-Just-a-Sling-and-a-Stone-444176641
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