OVERCOMING FEAR
“Our breakthrough starts as soon as we stop being impressed by the size of our problem”. Learn how to break free from a life of living in fear. I once read a quote in a journal that said: “Fear is forward”. If you look back on a situation that could be dangerous but was fine, we are not scared anymore. We have the capacity to imagine situations (that still need to take place in the future) that can go haywire. Recently I was in Los Angeles for the weekend and I found myself walking around in some unsafe areas. Just as fear gripped hold of me, I chose to not focus on that. After I returned home safely, I didn’t have any fear of that place because I know nothing bad happened. Fear is forward. Rather use your imagination to think how good something can turn out instead of fearing the future.
Credits: Teaching by Pastor Bill Johnson, BSSM First Year 2015/2016
‘LOVE VS FEAR’: BSSM LECTURE NOTES
Fear is the primary emotion that keeps us from our walking in our destiny.
Fear is faith in the inferior.
If the doctor gives you a bad report, the doctor isn’t evil, and neither is the report. You have the choice on what you want to focus – the problem or the reality that there is always a solution. Faith means putting your trust in a superior reality, which means trusting God instead of looking at the bad report.
In the command to love, is the capacity to not fear.
Just because God says, “Do not fear,” it doesn’t mean that we’ll automatically not fear. Mark 7: “You have rendered the Word of God powerless by your traditions.” It is as if you have this powerful machine, but you’ve pulled the plug out. God has given us authority and the ability to pull the plug as it pertains to our own destinies. You choose to which emotions will steer your life – fear or love.
WHY IS FEAR SO POWERFUL?
Fear is the natural outcome when your whole world spins around you. However, if you know how much He loves you – if He is your focus (and not you) – you won’t have any reason to be afraid, because you’ll see how large and awesome He is.
Fear isn’t sin. Embracing fear is. When you partner with a lie (fear is a lie), you invite loss and destruction into your life.
God says we’ll be far from oppression. Fear attracts oppression.
Fear starts as a sin of the flesh, and any sin that continues becomes a demonic stronghold. It becomes obsessive. The enemy can tell when there are thoughts of fear going on in your mind. Flies attract decay. If you have filthy thoughts, you attract the demonic. It’s like a bad fragrance that attracts evil.
WHAT IS THE PRODUCT OF YOUR LIFE?
I John 4:12-14, 20
“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
If someone claims to love God but hates people, they are liars.
If I receive the love of God, it is still possible for me to battle fear, because your love will only be made perfect and complete until you love someone fully.
Our breakthrough starts as soon as we stop being impressed by the size of our problem.
Whatever you give your attention to will remove your “plug”.
A great way to get your attention off your problem and move from fear to love is by reading the Psalms until He speaks to you. Find a Word from God that speaks life to you and think about that.
Replace the lie with truth.
What do you pray? Some people sustain their anxiety through prayer! Jesus said, “Come to me, you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We give Him our heavy stuff and He gives us His light stuff, i.e. there is an exchange. If there is no exchange, I’m not praying. I’m actually just busy complaining.
The Father is so devoted to you and me that before we were ever created or conceived, He had already experienced us through His imagination of what we will be like and what our destiny will be.
When God gives us a promise, He is just explaining something that He has already done.
Joel 3:9-10
“Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ””
When I speak His Words, He creates the reality that He promised.
If God takes us into a battle, we know that He will give us the victory. Every time that you are under attack, you are close to another victory.
4 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BREAK FREE FROM FEAR
- What you need to do: serve someone.
- What you need to think: the truth, not the lie, and the promises of God.
- How do you pray? There must be an exchange (see notes above). Give your burden to God and receive life from Him.
- What do you need to say? Declare: “I am strong”.
I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me that God does not have in His head about me. I am strong!