Scary Movie: Fear Of Control #3 Series

Does a faith in God mean I lose myself? We all have a really scary movie playing in the theater of our minds. An unredeemed imagination which left unmonitored will take us into all kinds of darkness and despair.

Fear is defined as an anxious feeling, caused by our anticipation of some imagined event or experience.

Psychology tells us there are 5 basic fears:

1. Extinction. Fear of death.

2. Mutilation or loss of bodily structure, losing the integrity of our body, mind, natural function. Fear of bugs, spiders & generally creepy things.

3. Loss of autonomy: fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or being controlled.

4. Separation: fear of abandonment, rejection, loss of connectedness, someone giving us the 'silent treatment.'

5. Ego-death: the Fear of humiliation, shame, or any mechanism of profound self-disapproval.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-five-basic-fears-we-all-live

Over the course of this message series we have been briefly touch on each Psychology’s top five as a point of awareness because awareness is the first step in solving the problem. Fear is a problem because it keeps us from what God has created us for. Over the last two weeks, we have covered the fear of ego death and the fear of separation. If you possess the fear of separation or of always needing to know, you can catch up by heading to the website download all our sermons. I hope when you are away you will always take 20-30 minutes to keep connected through this free resource. Today, let’s continue our walk through fear by digging in to the fear of being controlled.

The truth is we all have this fear. If you have ever found yourself at work being asked to perform a function to help the company and heard the announcer’s voice in your head say, “you don’t have to do that, it’s not in your job description,” you may have a fear of being controlled.

If you’ve never had that experience, let me ask you to review your childhood for a moment. Did you always listen to your parents? Did you always do what they told you? Why not? Be honest. You didn’t want to be controlled. Our parents weren’t always the dumbest people in the world. If fact, the older I get, the wiser they become.

Many among us have the fear of being controlled by a spouse. If you have uttered the words or even thought them, “who does he or she think she is?” You are afraid of being controlled.

If you have ever used the words, “He’s not the boss of me.” You are afraid of being controlled.

I had a friend once say after a particular incident with their spouse: “so I am just supposed to let them run all over me and tell me what to do? Doesn’t that make me a mindless idiot?” I said, “No. But it does mean you need to pray.” That, of course, went over like a punch to the face. This person wanted the answer on how they could regain control.

So how do we overcome this fear of being controlled?

Well, let’s take a few moments and review some scripture from the book of Daniel. If you haven’t been with us or missed a week or two, we have been walking through the book of Daniel. It’s a short book of God’s inspiration but it’s very powerful in terms of addressing and handling fear. I have asked everyone with earshot to read ½ a chapter a day. - Less time than some of you use to text at a stoplight. This week we were all supposed to have read chapter 7, 8 and 9.

Daniel’s not dealing with barbecues or lions; he’s dealing with dreams and visions. He says in two place after the first vision in 7:15 and 28, “I, Daniel, was troubled in the spirit and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me….I, Daniel was deeply troubled by my thoughts and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.” After the second vision in chapter 8, verse 27 he says, “I Daniel was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the kings business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.” In each vision Daniel asks for help from an angel for help in figuring out the vision and in both cases, Daniel struggles because the view of the future makes the world seem so out of control. He is discouraged and living in fear. Remember, fear is future events appearing real. Daniel is dealing with anxiety over the idea that God’s control might actually bring about the end of the world as he knows it. His solution is the same as my advice to that of my friend: He prays.