Breaking The Chains

Fear is a funny thing. It can paralyze us. It can motivate us. It can imprison us. It can consume us. One thing is for sure fear is not from God. We are told in 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control." If you are like me your brain knows that. Sometimes your emotions can't comprehend it.

My biggest fear is asphyxiating. I have had more allergic reactions to food and medicine than I care to remember. All have landed me in the E.R. with my throat closing. I'm petrified every time I have to take a new medicine. I won't take medicine without my husband right beside me. He always has such a logical calming effect on me. He puts up with me insisting on praying over anything before I ingest it. "I've gotcha. Not a problem. We've got an Epipen and I can have you to the E.R. in no time. You are fine". He soothes my soul. Calms my irrational fears. Always a voice of reason.

What is not rational? Knowing that I'm going to be okay and yet 

I'm still terrified. The emotions are real. And rightfully so. BUT when they control me? Paralyze me? I throw freedom in Christ out the window.

The enemy wins. It's quite simply a stronghold.

The fact is that if we are saved the Lord has us. One of my very favorite verses in the bible is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know what I have planned for you,' says the LORD. 'I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.'" God has plans for me. For you. He wants us to lead successful lives completely free from fear. He wants the chains to be broken.

So how do we break the chains? How do we conquer the fear? I think the answer, realistically, is we don't. We don't have too. Once we grasp the fact that Jesus Christ took all of our idiosyncrasies, fears, and anxiety for us by dying on the cross? The shakels should loosen a bit. On the days I start to feel the choke hold? I continually tell myself that I am covered in the Blood of Jesus Christ. I usually follow that up with an audible "satan back the hell off! You have no power over me. I am sealed. I am covered. I am a child of the Most High!"

Faith is having the courage to know you can't do it alone. Faith is trusting God to intervene on your behalf. Allowing God to take over for you. Handing it all over to Him. Trusting that the final outcome is in His control not ours.

"He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains"-Psalm 107:14