Fear Is An Emotion – Don’t Be Afraid Part 2

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-8 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:6-8 NLT) When things change rapidly, when it seems as if life has gotten out of our control (as if it ever was in our control!), fear rises up and fear tries to take over! Fear is an emotion that activates a part of our brain that puts us into the “fight or flight” mode. Hormones are released into our blood stream that make us hyper-alert, energized to flee from something or attack something. We’re not designed to sustain that state of being for very long at a time. We get angry, we look for someone to blame, we start to make panicky choices. (Philippians 4:6) But we don’t have to get stuck in fear mode! You see, God has given us a very complex brain (After all, we’re made in God’s image!), and there’s another higher part of our brain that we can use to think like God intended humans to think. It allows us to slow our thinking down, to calm ourselves, to reason, to think rationally, and even to think kindly and caringly about others! You don’t have to make bad choices based on fear. You don’t have to believe everything you’re thinking and feeling. You can choose to respond and not react. You can respond with faith and wisdom (Philippians 4:8). Then God’s peace will fill your heart and mind (Philippians 4:7). My daughter Melissa told me that when she feels anxious and fearful, she intentionally shifts from fear focus to faith focus. She tells herself: “This is anxiety and fear I’m feeling. This is not reality, it’s the way I’m interpreting and responding to what I’ve just read or heard. I can control how I’m feeling by giving myself some different input. I can control how I respond by making a rational faith-decision.” Let’s all shift from the fear focus to the faith focus! Will you make that faith-decision right now? Let’s do it! Prayer: Father, Thank you for all you have done! You are good and faithful always! We choose to reject the fear-focus and embrace the faith-focus. We choose to trust you with everything we’re facing today and we’ll trust you tomorrow as well. In Jesus’ Name!