Fear of Becoming….
I’m often plagued by the poem by Marianne Williamson that states,
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us…”
While directing this statement I was led to the question, “Why is it that I have such a fear of becoming…?” I took this question to God in prayer and was led to Genesis 18; where Sarai laughed. She laughed when hearing how she would give birth to a son in her old age and be known as the mother of nations. She said to herself, “After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” Once again, I had to ask “why?” again. Why did she laugh?
I’m finding that anytime I’m faced with an idea that seems so great and so grand that unbelief automatically steps in causing me to fear the very thing presented to me.
This fear of becoming is steeped in unbelief.
Unbelief that God can actually accomplish that which he set out to accomplish. This unbelief stops us from becoming; from aligning ourselves with what God has for us! God plans to prosper us and bring us to an expected end. His thoughts toward us are good. His promises are “yes” and “Amen”.
So now that we’ve identified that we indeed have a faith issue the question becomes,
How do we combat this crumpling fear of becoming?
We must first understand that the opposite of fear is faith. Understanding that God did not give us the spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. We must use our sound mind to understand how to build our faith enough to surpass the mounting fear leaving us paralyzed.
Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God…
The only way to increase our faith is to increase our intaking of the Word of God! That means,
READ YOUR BIBLE!
We’ll do everything imaginable instead of reading our Bibles! We’ll listen to 3-hour long podcasts; 4-hour long sermons; read devotionals and self-help books; everything except read the very source those other materials are referencing. You could be having firsthand revelation from the Almighty Father instead of your determined to ingest others’ ideas and thoughts. This is a subtle but telling sign of idolatry at work in your life. Exalting the thoughts and opinions of others rather than God and the Bible is dangerous work!
We must read the Bible to know exactly who we are, so we don’t continue to operate outside of our function. We’re putting limitations on ourselves that God never intended us to have! If God promised that you would set the captives free and be a repairer of the breach for your family, then you must judge Him faithful who promised!
You must judge Him faithful who promised…
Is Jesus faithful? Do you judge Him faithfully? Do you judge Him to be a promise keeper? Do you judge Him to be a redeemer? Do you judge Him to be a way maker? Do you judge Him to be a healer? Do you judge Him to be a burden bearer? Do you judge Him to be a curse breaker? Do you judge Him to be Lord and Savior?
Have you judged Him correctly??
Cause if the answer to any of those questions is “Yes” then why are you afraid of becoming? Why have you yet to become? Joel Osteen would start every message he gave by holding up his Bible saying,
“This is my Bible: I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; I can do what it says I can do.”
Most of us need to repeat that saying to ourselves and actually believe it to be true! God has equipped us for every good work! Trust the one who’s doing the equipment!