Faith versus fear, they are two sides of a coin. Faith empowers us to do great exploits but fear cripples us. It hinders and destroys our quest to do exploits. Both faith and fear come by hearing; faith comes by hearing the word of God while fear comes by hearing the voice of man or Satan.
Fear is a spirit that affects and impacts every life, 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. The spirit of fear is a tool in the hands of the enemy to hinder or disrupt our destinies.
There are two types of fear in the bible:
- The fear of God that leads to repentance. This is a deep admiration for God, His word and a Holy reverence for His presence.
2. The fear of things which can be broken down into 5 different manifestations.
These five fears disrupt our lives and our abilities to do exploits.
- The Fear of the Unknown
This fear paralyzes you. There is a saying, “Doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever could”. We cannot be afraid of the uncertainties that the future holds, we must push through our fear of the unknown because God is in the unknown. To make it and leave a mark in this world, reach out beyond your comfort zone and do not settle for the status quo.
- The Fear of Failure
Man’s default setting is to always expect the worst. Failure is the proof that you made an attempt at success. Some of the greatest discoveries and exploits in this world were achieved by people who never gave up after they failed. We should use our failures as learning curves and stepping stones to success.
- The Fear of Going First
Most people are more comfortable with following in others’ footsteps. We are afraid of being the fore runner or an innovator. If you doubt your abilities or any good idea because no one has ever done it, you avoid taking the risk and seeing what God can do through you.
- The Fear of Investing
For us to be successful we have to be ready to invest in ourselves first before anyone else can take us seriously and invest in us. To do exploits you must be ready to invest your, time, talent, abilities and finance. Remember the story of the 3 servants in Matthew 25, the one with 1 talent let fear rob him of a great opportunity to work and invest in himself.
- Fear of Opposition
To get the position you have to face opposition. There will always be people who will speak against you. You must learn to look past the naysayers and remain focused on the goal.
Pastor George Irabor