Throughout this month, we as a church are focusing on Going Forward. If you weren’t able to be at church for Pastor Wells’ first message in this series you NEED to watch/listen to it as soon as possible! It was a powerful and direction-setting message for 2012.
As Pastor was speaking, he listed things that happen to us when we fail to go forward in our walk with God. The first thing he mentioned was “When we fail to go forward we walk in fear instead of faith”. As I thought about this statement several things came to mind. It turned into a discussion last week in the student ministry and I’d like to share them with you and hopefully encourage you to push past your fear and into God’s plan for you in 2012.
There are a few types of fear that we encounter as we live our lives – each with different origins, symptoms and results. As a precursor, let me just say that I don’t believe all fear is bad. For example, a fear of playing in traffic will save you money in medical bills. Likewise, a fear of walking down a dark alley in a shady part of town will greatly reduce your chances of getting mugged. Although these seem like drastic examples, I think you can see that healthy fear, or respect, leads to wisdom and ultimately good decision making (Proverbs 9:10). There is, however, fear that hinders, cripples, and paralyzes us in our walk with God. Here are some examples.
1.) The Fear of Failure. We’ve all been there right? Wanting, wishing, hoping to do something for ourselves, our family, or our church. Having a desire to really try something, start something, or maybe stop something. How often do we fail to follow through because we are afraid we might not succeed? If we are honest, it’s more times than we care to admit. The truth is, we will all fail. But, if we never try we’ve failed before we ever begin. Michael Jordan (you may have heard of him) said it this way, “I can accept failure. Everybody fails at something. I cannot accept not trying”. Sometimes our greatest successes come on the heels of our greatest failures.
2.) The Fear of Success. Although this may sound a little odd it’s more common than you might think. Working with people, you have an opportunity to observe talented, gifted, charismatic individuals that seem to sabotage themselves like it’s going out of style. I’m not a psychologist, but I believe that this is partly because of what they’ve seen and how they see themselves. Think about Joshua, Caleb and the other 10 men as Moses sent them to scope out Canaan (Numbers 13). Even after seeing how great the land was and much better it would be, the only response the 10 spies could offer was “We can’t attack them; they’re stronger than we are. We are like grasshoppers in their sight”. In their own hearts and minds, they could never overcome those giants – they were too small. Are you sabotaging what God wants to do in your life because you see yourself as too small or insignificant? Be encouraged that you serve a BIG God that has BIG plan for you!
3.) Fear of the Unknown. We like to know, see and understand how everything is going to work out. Information brings us security. The thing about that is, with God, you don’t always see all the pieces to the puzzle. Truthfully, we’ll never see the entire puzzle. If we did, we wouldn’t need faith and we wouldn’t have to rely on God. With uncertainty, fear is often present, but so is the opportunity to trust fully in and rely on God (Proverbs 3:5-6). A scripture that I often rehearse to myself is Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path”. I may not see around the corner, but I have the assurance that He will light my next step. When I’m tempted to fear or doubt, God’s Word reminds me that as I put one foot in front of the other in pursuit of God’s plan for my life, He will show me the way.
Have you been struggling with fear? Be encouraged that God is faithful and can be trusted! His track record is stellar!
May 2012 be your best year yet!
