Have you ever come up against something that terrifies you?
Perhaps it’s something as big as a cancer diagnosis or a huge financial setback.
Maybe it’s as little as a spider. I know some of you freak out at the sight of them.
How do you react to the statement: “God is the only legitimate fear object.”
Does it sound silly and trite to you?
It is neither silly nor trite. It’s the truth.
As Jesus is preparing the disciples to go out and minister in His, He tells them that a lot of bad things will happen to them at the hands of people.
He exhorts them,
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Well, that’s easier said than done especially because of our natural instinct to preserve our lives.
Even Paul, who was given a glimpse of heaven grew weary of the constant death threats and needed the Spirit to exhort him to not fear.
Beloved, I am not saying that we should not ever feel fear.
Rather, we need to help our brain process more clearly when it’s doing threat assessment.
What do I mean?
Our brain is constantly taking in information through our optic nerve and processing the question, “is this important?”
This is done on the subconscious level so we are not even aware of it.
When our brain responses “Yes” to this question, the information is passed on up the brain stem to the next processing center which asks and answers, “Is this safe?”
If the answer is “No” the fight or flight instinct kicks is and adrenaline is released.
When our frame of reference at the subconscious level is renewed with the truth that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus…not even death, we are empowered to react in faith instead of fear and continue the brain processing function to the front part of the brain, staying in the moment without being overwhelmed by fear.
Have you noticed that Jesus never gave into fear?
Beloved, we have the mind of Christ.
We are safe in Him even if we are under attack from someone or something that is seeking to hurt or kill us.
He is with us and He will keep us which means that nothing can kill our souls or spirits….nothing, not even the death of our bodies.
Blessings!
Robyn Henning