Free From Fear!

I haven't written on here in a while, I do want to more often. I hope I can carve out more time to.  This post is a discussion post from an online course I took this summer. I really enjoyed writing this one and I wanted to share it on here. The book quotes/references are from the text book, Zondervan Handbook to the Bible. Enjoy!

                      Psalm 27 and Psalm 112 have always been some of my favorite Psalms. Upon reading them they reminded me of a trial that I went through in December 2013. Close to that Christmas time, I was dealing with some stress. It was pretty good stress, for an exciting turn of events recently came in to my life. Without going into detail, the stress lasted about 2 weeks. During that time, fear got a hold of me.
                   From this new stress, I was very excited and my heart had a hard time staying calm. So, because of this excitement, I was in a very vulnerable position to be attacked by the enemy, partially because my focus was elsewhere, on me and the present circumstances. So, one night, the enemy made me think about something out of fear, and that very night I had a hard time sleeping. The next day, I started noticing strange symptoms in my body. They got progressively worse each day. One example, was that, I could not feel my face. Christmas night was when it peaked and I couldn't sleep so I had to have my parents read Scripture to calm me down so I could sleep.
                 I went to the ER, but they could not find anything wrong, despite what I was feeling. Through that time God was faithful. The fear left because of my parent's prayers. After that two weeks ended, I was feeling better. I was still recovering from residual fear and would listen to sermons about God's love casting out fear. He also gave me many verses.
                Psalm 112 was the one that God used powerfully in my life to totally dispel fear and gave me truth that I did not have to fear. Psalm 112 is a description of who we are as believers. It talks about the righteous and the blessings they receive. Thankfully Christ has made me righteous. The verse that God used to speak to me was, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." Which is verse 7. That verse comforted me and let me know that I did not have to fear anything. Evil tidings could be any form of fear that tries to get a hold of you. Whether it be storms, chemicals, or terrorists. Whatever it may be, God says we do not have to fear. I love how are text states, "They can withstand life's knocks, secure and unafraid." (Alexander 385)
              What I learned from this trial, and my take away is, do not let fear get a hold of you. By all means, do not dwell on fearful thoughts. Living in fear as I experienced, can mess you up, in your mind, and even your body. I realize today that many of the symptoms were psychological. I share this to let you know what fear can do and I pray for you all to remain in peace. I will close with Psalm 27 verse 1, "The Lord is the light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" I am glad I know where I can turn to in trouble (Alexander 369). Praise the Lord for freeing me from fear. I am happy to be alive.


 (I do want to leave you all with another verse dealing with this subject.)  "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nether let it be afraid." John 14:27 KJV