How do we remain positive when fear seems to be all around us?
I do not like Fear. He is a bully and a liar and makes people do things they wouldn't normally do.
He screams, he rants, he fumes, he whispers, he nudges and he pushes.
He uses truth to spread lies.
He knows our every weakness and remembers all the things we ever did that we are ashamed of and uses them against our forward progress.
He is one of our Enemy's favorite minions who seems to command armies of fear-mongering little mites that have infiltrated all aspects of our culture.
He has been working overtime to convince you and me and an entire world that we should be afraid all. the. time because it's the only way to be safe. As if being afraid of what might happen, and then striving to make sure it doesn't, is the pathway to peace.
It's NOT!
Now for the good news. (And don't you want some about now?)
Fear is powerless. He knows he has no real power over our lives so he works overtime with lies and "what if" scenarios to convince us he does, even though he knows it isn't true.
Fear can't keep us stuck. He wants to make us believe we are stuck in whatever unpleasant situation we find ourselves in, but he cannot keep us there.
Fear knows how powerful we are. He keeps talking and keeps pushing because he knows that all we need to do is stand firm in the truth of who we are and what we are created to be and he evaporates.
What is the antidote to fear? LOVE.
"Perfect love casts out FEAR" (1 John 4:7-20).
Love overcomes fear. She triumphs over his folly and foolish ways. She wipes out his lies with the truth and heals our fragile hearts and broken spirits. She repairs, restores and reignites.
Where is the Love I'm talking about from? She comes from the Creator of the Universe, the One who resurrects lives and restores them: Our Father in Heaven. Love represents the power of the Holy Spirit; it is love from God for US that fills us and overpowers fear, casting him into an abyss of nothingness where he can't hold us back any longer. Love does the bidding of Jesus in our lives, giving us the hope of God in every circumstance we face.
Love is who fights for us when we are stuck.
Love is who fights for us when we feel powerless.
Love overcomes.
How do we remain positive when fear seems to be all around us?
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." ~Jesus. (John 13:34)