Why Are You Fearful?

Matthew 8:25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!’’ 26. But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm.

Jesus has a way of getting right to the point doesn’t He? There was certainly no mincing of words, He came right out and said, why are you fearful and then went on to say, O you of little faith. You don’t have to read between the lines to see what He was saying, they had little faith. He didn’t say they had no faith, just little faith. If you are fearful you are full of fear. If you are full of fear you are not full of faith. Jesus had a right to ask this question, and to also rebuke them. The reason is because without faith it is impossible to please Him. Nobody would say I am trying to displease the Lord, yet if we are fearful we are doing just that. The result of Jesus’ faith was a great calm. I think most people would want that in their lives. So the question would be, if fear has been dominating me, what can I do about it?

You don’t have to look very far to see that the world is in chaos. It’s my belief we are in the last days and that Jesus is coming back very soon. Things are not going to get any better before He returns. So in order to stand up in the midst of a chaotic world and remain strong when all around us seems to be caving in, we have to learn to resist fear and walk in faith. There is no way of getting around this for a child of God.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Some translations say timidity, or cowardice instead of fear. That is not what God called us to be; fearful, timid, or cowardly. Fear always leads to failure, they go hand in hand. They feed off of one another and can cause a spiral of doubt and unbelief that seems hard to overcome. There is a way out, but we have to do what the Word of God says to do. We have been redeemed from fear yet we have to receive this truth and begin to walk it out.

This is something I have had to deal with in my own life, and I know that the truth I am sharing is not only practical but powerful as well. I would like to share some of my own testimony with the hope that others will see the power of the truth of the Gospel and realize they don’t have to let fear dominate them anymore. You can walk free just as I have.

When I was almost 6 years old I was getting ready for bed one night when I had a terrifying experience. I heard a voice that to me seemed audible. This voice began to speak against God using very strong language. I was only a child but I instantly knew that this was some kind of an evil spirit, I also knew this was blasphemy. I didn’t know what blasphemy was as I was only 6 years old, yet I heard on the inside of me, this is blasphemy, and clearly understood what that meant. This went on for what I guess was a minute or so, then the voice spoke to me and said, what I just did I am going to force you to do. I was so terrified that I ran into my bedroom and closed and locked the door and was afraid to come out for some time. I was too afraid to even tell my mother as I thought she would think I was crazy. I realize that children can have vivid imaginations but this was a very real and terrifying experience that negatively changed my life. A spirit of fear came upon me and greatly affected me to the point where I became withdrawn and very shy. I became timid and fearful.

At the age of 17 I gave my heart to the Lord and that extreme timidity and shyness seemed to diminish, yet there remained a shyness and a hesitancy that sometimes still lingered. Mindsets have to be broken before new ones can take hold and grow. I was very afraid of getting up in front of people to speak and knowing this was the very thing the Lord Jesus called me to do. At the age of 19 He spoke to me and told me He had called me to teach. I told Him He had called the wrong person. The truth is that God doesn’t ever make mistakes; He takes great joy in taking the weak things of this world and confounding the wise. I certainly qualified.