Source of Fear

. Over the last few weeks in both our Sunday and Wednesday Streams, we have been talking about fear, what fear is, what fear does to us and also to the God’s church.

. tonight i feel lead to talk about finding and dealing with the source of fear.

. see our fear has to come from somewhere, there is some place that fear originates within us, and when we talk about dealing with fear, and overcoming fear.

. we cannot do this effectively if we don't deal with the source of fear

. It works in a similar way to weeds in your garden/grass, you can rip out all the weeds you want as often as you want that are seen on the top layer, but if you fail to pull of the root system of the weeds out of the ground that will continue to come back again and again because you have not dealt with the source of the problem.

. so with fear we can try to deal with things momentarily when they arise in our lives, we can try to deal with each individual experience of fear as it comes, but until we deal with the root cause of the source of that fear we cannot be free it completely.

. So what triggers fear as a response in us? Fear is the threat of harm whether real or imagined this threat can be to our physical, emotionally, spiritual or physiological well being. now there are certain things/circumstances that can trigger fear in all of us, we can also learn ( or be fooled into ) becoming scared of nearly anything.

. So we feel fear as a response to what is going on around us, or fear of an opportunity that is in front of us, or fear of taking a step into something new, or a fear of letting go of something old. because something is telling us that this thing poses a threat to our safety and well being in some way.

. lets read together a few scriptures about what the bible tells us about fear, and how we are not meant to be controlled by it.

John 14:27 NKJV

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Psalm 34:4 NKJV

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.

Isaiah 54:4 NKJV

“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.

. This last one is quite interesting as it talks about a few of the reasons why people allow fear to get the better of them! we feel ashamed and disgraced like we will be totally put to shame should we we try to do fail, or should i try to change my life and fail.

. in this case it is the fear of harm to our character and how we are viewed that brings this sense of fear.

. let me just go back to something i said before in the description of what fear is “ we can also learn ( or be fooled into ) becoming scared of nearly anything.”

. Have you ever experienced this in your life? or seen this in somebody around you?

. those scriptures i read don't even begin to scratch the surface of what the bible says about fear, in fact there are 365 instances in scripture where we are told to not fear.

. so how is it that we as people and as believers can grow to become afraid and fearful of something that at one time wads normal to us?

. and these things can range from something tiny and insignificant, to something huge and potentially life altering. but all steam from some source of fear that has been planted and developed in us.

. ill share with you one small example of this in my life and this is going to sound stupid to you all and in fact i know its stupid but hear me out. ( I became so scared and fearful of Facebook, specifically liking something on Facebook

. So what is the source of all this fear in both the little things and the big things? They all stem from a lie that we have been told and then believed that something is going to cause us some sort or harm physically, emotionally, spiritually or physiologically.

. So that means that the lie that we were told and that we believed is the source of the fear that we feel in a given situation. the source of fear is the lie that we believed.

.last year there was a study done on a bunch of college students who were very anxious and fearful people.

. they were to document there fears over 10 days, and after the study had been finished for 2 days to go over there journal and find out how often there fear was valid. it turns out that 91.39% of the time the fear was irrational and turned out to be a lie, only 8.61% perfect of there fears in that time came true.

. and even those that did come true, in most cases were no where near as bad as they believed they would be.

. so the source of all fear is the lies that we have been feed and believed, so we need to know where these lies come from.

John 8:44 NKJV

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

. When we are dealing with fears that we have we need to no longer just deal with each moment of fear as it arises in our lives, but we need to learn to deal with the source of that fear, which is the lies the enemy has slipped in and we have believed.

. We need to pray like this. “Father God, i need your help, help me to recognize the lies that i have believed that are not from you or your kingdom. Holy Spirit help me to become aware of all the lies that i have believed so that i can renounce them and give them over to you. I know that your Word says we should not be afraid or fearful, i know that our the enemy is the source of all the lives i have believed and i renounce them now in Jesus name.

. and we need to hold onto the scriptures that tell us that fear is not the way that God wants us to live.

2 Timothy 1:6–7 NKJV

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

. my hope is that you would learn to recognize the source of fear and the source of lies in your life, and give them them over to God, so that we as Gods children can truly live in the freedom that he has given to us.

Pray and finish.