Fear part 1

Fear: (as defined on dictionary.com) 1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

I am going to break this study on fear and how it applies to your life into several parts. The first part we will examine the meaning of "fear". We know for a fact that if you do not understand the definition of a word, then you cannot use it to your advantage. When you grasp the meaning of a word, it loses it's power to control various parts of your life anonymously, as a mysterious force. Once you know, you can control, it is knowledge and it's application that will gain increase in your world. In Hosea 4:6 we learn "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.". So, gain knowledge.

As defined above in the first paragraph, we can see that fear is an emotion. You would be wise to study on your own about how to take control of you emotions. The fear that you carry around with you in your daily life is there because some external event, suggestion, experience, or even a story that somebody shared with you. It is designed to protect you from harm. If most of what we actually fear can be looked at objectively, with solid facts to support it, with emotions set aside, we will often find that fear has no base at all for operating in our lives. It's roots are often deep in our subconscious mind and are a default setting for decisions we make every day.

Look at this example of fear controlling somebody's life, every day. In Arizona, we have more photo enforcement cameras than exist in all the rest of America. They are at all major intersections, on the freeways, on the arterial roads and even in some neighborhoods. I know a person who feared so much being caught running the red light at these intersections. That fear of getting caught running the light caused their mind to seek a solution to this problem. That solution was to speed through the intersection as fast as possible, white-knuckled and gazing at the light to ensure that it didn't turn red. Some weeks later, this person received a citation in the mail for speeding through that intersection, with some wonderful portraits and video showing the offense. Now, this person, avoids intersections with cameras at every opportunity. Routes to a fro have been changed, time to get to and fro has changed. This fear while having some kind of real foundation, through experience, is now a part of this persons life. The decision of which way to go is made before the car is even started and headed for the destination. This fear controls a part of their life everyday.

What "photo enforcement cameras" are laying out the route for your life? What do you avoid everyday and why is it that you avoid it? What fear has kept you from your real desires? I will bet with absolute certainty that you know what it is because I know what mine is. Even the act of thinking of that which we fear causes your heart to race and your mind to look for a way around it. That is a power over your life that you have got to gain control of.