Day 13. Out of nowhere

 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=2073090916840681

This is Charlie Makesey (author ) talking about the fear he sometimes feels which seems to come out of nowhere and doesn't have a specific trigger.   

I really really like Charlie.  Not only is he a superb artist and a massively sensitive author, he seems to be a truly lovely, humble, christ-like man.  It makes me in equal parts sad and cross to know that he struggles with fear. It makes me want to get my sword out and stomp and shout at the enemy.  The enemy is always looking for a weak spot to attack us ( especially people who are speaking for Jesus in the public realm)  I dont know where fear got into Charlies life but Im thankful that despite feeling the 'out of the blue' panic he chooses to do what He does for Jesus with the grace and honesty we see here.

Theres a saying which people sometimes use about fear.  ' Feel the fear and do it anyway'.  When I went to look for an image to pop onto the page just here, look what Google came up with 

Theres that umbrella again !

Whilst I sort of understand what Susan Jeffers and others are saying - dont let fear stop you from doing the things you want and need to do - I absolutely disagree with the catchphrase.  I dont think Jesus came to help us to accommodate and manage fear so that we can work round it.  I believe He trailed fear behind Him in his victory procession, utterly triumphant over it.

Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, but without sin. Fear is a fundamental lack of trust in God. Which means it is sin. It's that first fruit of the fall so it is something Jesus never experienced.  And yet He was fully human so He must have been tempted repeatedly to feel afraid.  He was confronted by the devil in the wilderness.  He was taken to a cliff edge to be pushed off by an angry murderous crowd.  He sweated drops of blood in the garden knowing what lay ahead of Him at Calvary.  Its hard to imagine that He wasn't afraid.  But He wasn't.  He was realistic.  'Father if this cup can pass me by.....'  He didn't want to die.  But He trusted His heavenly Father and knew He was perfectly loved. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus didn't fear. 

There was no sin in Jesus and there was no fear in Him either.  His Spirit lives in us and His Spirit knows no fear either.  So, our mission is not to ' feel the fear and do it anyway'.  We would not say ' embrace the sin and get on with it '   Our mission is to refuse, deny, repel, expel the fear, be filled with the presence of God and the love of the Father and then do it.

Lord I am truly sorry for all the times I have tried to accommodate fear, Ive lived with anxiety, I have submitted to worrying and avoided living life in all its fullness . Please help me to change my thinking . Give me wisdom and courage to step out from underneath everything to do with fear and fill me over and over with your Spirit who knows no fear and who is perfect love.  Help me to help other people do the same   Amen


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