Fear, Worry, Stress

You are afraid. If you are "normal", you are afraid. Like they say, "You're either afraid or stupid." The truth is that humans are afraid from time to time. How do I know that's true? Because I am human. Fear is a part of being human.

What are we afraid of? Death.

That fear of death is subtle, it's hidden, it's quiet until it becomes loud. It's very, very real. And the enemy of our souls loves to exaggerate it. He even likes to push us towards death by the fear of death.

"Let's get it over with," kind of thing. "Just kill yourself and get it over with. You're going to die anyway, so you may as well end your life now. Why waste any more time on this earth? Nobody loves you. You're not serving any purpose..." and on and on.

If you've never had these thoughts, please excuse me and don't read on if it doesn't apply to you.

Remember as a child how afraid you used to be? I sure was. There were "boogy men" everywhere. Big people were all around. They were in control. We were subservient slaves who had to submit to their will. "Eat your Brussels sprouts or else."

Then, as you got older, you started to realize that the adults were afraid too. They just hid it.

For me, I experienced fear coming from an adult at four years of age, as my mother held me on her lap in the car. We were driving down a very steep incline on the edge of a cliff in sheets of rain and the car's brakes were not functioning at all on the slippery road! Talk about fear! My poor mother was clutching me and literally shivering with fear. It was raw. It was real. And I knew what she was afraid of:

Death!

Deny it if you will. Turn your back on it. Hope it goes away. But, death is a part of life just as much as birth. It follows us wherever we go and we never know when it will strike. When others are taken by it, we consider, "How did it happen? How did it feel? How old were they? Oh, a little older than me..."

Is there an escape from the fear of death?

ABSOLUTELY. YES. THERE IS. DEATH HAS BEEN CONQUERED, MY FRIENDS!

Imagine the best, most amazing, most perfect, marvelous God you can possibly imagine. Come on! Use your imagination to think and picture what the absolute BEST God would be like. Can you? I mean, imagine something "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE." A personal, merciful, loving God. A God with a sense of humour, able to appreciate a good laugh! A GOD WHO BECAME HUMAN SO HE COULD UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS. I mean, a GREAT GOD!

Really stretch your imagination to the max! Go all out! No holds barred.

Well, MY God is MILLIONS OF TIMES BETTER THAN THAT!

I do not even slightly exaggerate. Not at all. My God is THE BEST. He is kind, understanding, sympathetic, attentive, comforting, inspiring, thrilling, exciting, etc., etc. And one of the best things of all is that HE TOOK THE STING OUT OF DEATH.

By accepting Jesus as our Saviour, we conquer the fear of death. By staying close to the Lord, our fears are overcome. We hide ourselves in Him. He is our shield, our fortress, our bubble of protection!

If someone accuses me of using religion as a "crutch", I tell them, "Jesus is my wheel-chair." He protects me from the bullies. He cherishes me. He knows how many hairs are on my head and won't let one of them fall to the ground unless He knows about it. He cares about every detail of my life.

Why wouldn't I want to believe in Him? I'd be a fool not to!

Those who don't have a relationship with God suffer needless fears constantly. They worry, fear and panic all the time. And, most of their fears are unfounded. Most of the things we fear never happen. But, because we know that "some day" we will die, that fear never seems to go away. It just takes other forms. And like stress, it enters into our cell memories and causes distress like muscle pain, disease, high blood pressure or heart palpitations. It's all unnecessary anxiety!

Let it go!

Isn't that a song? Let it go! Let go of all your fears! "There's nothing to fear but fear itself!" Did you know that fear is a lie of the Devil? It's a LIE. It's a phantom! A fabrication of the Devil!

The Devil is real. But, fear is not! Not if you have Jesus! Hang onto Jesus and let go of your fears! Let go of your worries! Is worrying going to help? Will worry prevent that accident from happening?

Put your life in God's hands. He is the Only One Who is capable of running your life. He will make something wonderful out of your life! Fall in love with the Lover of all Lovers! He will take the fear out of your life! He'll take the fear out of your death, too! And, only He can do that because He is the ONLY TRUE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, people! Trust Him!

You know what the funny thing is? And I just thought of this. The thing is that GOD KNOWS WHEN AND HOW WE WILL DIE because TIME DOES NOT EXIST WITH GOD. RIGHT? Think about it! You and I have already died! Wow! Let's DO IT with NO FEAR! Let's put our death in God's hands and have a glorious, testimonial death!

What we will discover is that the very best part of this life is death.

I Corinthians 15:55 "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"