Fear You Don’t Own Me!

Several months ago I wrote about fear, and it bears repeating because I believe that even greater than what the coronavirus is doing in taking lives, is the fear that is attached to it. That it may be a real contributing factor to "men’s hearts failing them from fear". Whenever we hear of something that carries a death sentence, it causes us to sit up and take note. I remember year’s ago, when people got a diagnosis of cancer, the automatic thought was they were going to die. Fortunately, that is no longer true. The survivor rate for most cancers is 50% for ten years or more. One day we will not look upon this virus and not have the fear it presently generates. However, there will no doubt be something else that will surface that will cause panic, anxiety, and fear.

The Psalmist says:

But in the day that I’m afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart.{sale 56:3 (TPT) 

This has been my go-to scripture. For although I would like to say that I am brave and trusting in the Lord at all times, it would not be true. Over the years of my life, fear has gripped my soul more than once. The good news however, is that I had a rescue agent to come to my defense. It was none other than HE, the Holy Ghost. I never will take credit for the times when I stood flat footed on the promises of God in spite of all odds. Neither will I say that I always trusted God completely in every test and trial. As Andrae Crouch penned so beautifully, "Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God".

We experience spurts of growth after we go through various trials and tests. In fact that is what they are designed for. The scripture says, we grow in trees of righteousness (Psalm 92:12) The travesty occurs when we fail to grow after the things that we go through. When we continue to faint when challenges come our way, rather than trusting in the Lord our God.

I am reminded of the contemporary gospel song," The Break Up Song" by Frances Battistelli:

.​..Fear, you don’t own me
There ain’t no room in this story
And I ain’t got time for you
Telling me what I’m not
Like you know me well guess what?
I know who I am
I know I’m strong
And I am free
Got my own identity
So fear, you will never be welcome here…​

Let us make a pact with ourselves and God that there is no room for fear in our lives, not now, not ever.

Maria