Fear.

Ever have it? A driving force for many people. Sunday morning we talked about what various kinds of fear. But let's face facts(are you afraid?), fear is fear.

And all of us have experienced it. Why is it relevant to me? My daughter, Amy, had the store where she worked, held up at gunpoint on Sunday morning. First, let me explain why she was there on Sunday. Because of school vacation they scheduled her in error, and then had no one to cover for her. And Amy, being the responsible person she is, said ok. And she went to church that night!!!

What happened was a man dressed in drag, came in smiled at her, she felt very odd and tried to convince herself that this happens all the time in the city she lives in(men being dressed as women, that is!). A few moments later she saw the man behind the pharmaceutical counter, and was told later that he handed them a request for narcotics at gunpoint, which they obeyed, and then was led to the back door. Another difficulty; the door did not open! He began to kick and get anxious. The end result was that Amy never saw the man go by her! As he was led from the store through the front door!

I have my own thoughts regarding that part. And suffice it to say, that like Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock, so was my daughter hidden in the cleft of the rock and His name is Jesus. She and I have discussed this at length. But back to fear. Because of this she has become afraid in areas she wasn't previously. She feels that the light must be on at night, and the door must be opened, and the outside doors doublechecked(I normally don't lock my doors!). And a 16 year old has been robbed of her freedom, not so much by a man, as by the devil. So I am working on it with her. Praying, talking, supplying her with scripture to help her back to a good place and beyond.

But I know that fear drives us and complicates our life and keeps us from attaining the life God desires. Everyone has fears. I personally fear heights, forcing myself to climb trees, go up in high buildings, and even a few years back forcing myself to learn to fly (which increased my concerns!) and realizing God has a sense of humour(He created me!) and that many of the prophetic words, dreams and visions over my life indicate being on foreign soil!!!

So when I was asked to perform a marriage last year, on a mountainside and the groom had booked a gondola ride hundreds of feet over the landscape, I consoled myself with the fact that there are 25 other Christians on board(many who share this problem) and that they would be praying so I could relax and watch the view.

So how do we overcome fear? Many believe the opposite of fear is faith, and yet I rest on the fact that perfect love casts out all fear. The scriptures bear that out. We need to buy into the perfect love of Jesus, which often takes longer for some than others. But it is there, if we stretch, and know Him. I have yet to meet someone without fear. Here is a common one. Fear of going beyond your comfort zone. But we will leave that for another day. Each one of you knows the area God wants you to overcome in. Its is frequently fear that holds us back. Some may call it pride, but pride is steeped in fear. Fear of failure, of being inadequate, of not looking right or dressing right(check out the young ones when it comes to this!).

It says in the last days people will die of fright. We as believers, can not operate in the fullness of the Spirit until we overcome our fears. We may be plus 10 in the gifts of the Spirit, but they will be nullified by the fear, reduced to powerlessness.

And the church (certainly in America) operates in fear. We are afraid of denominational breakthrough, concerned with the dress and the appearance of people, worried about finances(translated AFRAID!), concerned with what the church is doing next door. We can be "bold" in the pulpit, but timid in our lives. We are afraid of man and what He can do to us, rather than what God can do to us! We worry about so many things.

Let me share a pet peeve.

Have you ever heard someone say, "new Christians should be locked up for a few years!"? We are worried. Fearful. Why? Because they will fill our churches with other new believers? And we might have to make some adjustments. Praise God. Let's stop calling it ministry and begin calling it Jesus. Certainly there is teaching that comes, but I don't see that Jesus penned in the disciples. I am sure they all ran to their relatives and said, "You are going to hell! You need Jesus!" And they came. Thousands. Lets stop being afraid of what might happen, because it won't happen if we don't let it happen!

"Oh brother, you don't understand. They might give someone the wrong impression of Jesus." First, I doubt that and second I think AN impression of Jesus is better than none at all.

My daughter got her wakeup call. What will it take for you?