FEAR, is like an emotional “VIRUS”…

Are you struggling with a sense of direction, what to do, what to do?????
When we are looking to travel someplace we’ve never been before, today we plug in an address to a GPS, and it talks us straight to our destination. Before these new fangled directionals we had to rely on “maps”. In my case years ago… (it’s no secret navigating my way to new places was a bit of a challenge, distinguishing between what was North, South etc. was not my strong point, so consequently, I was a true Hoosier, I really did “wander” Indiana)….
Yet I realize this same aspect rings so true in so many areas of our lives. We try to navigate by faith without giving any consideration of other conflicting forces….and many times those conflicting forces end up taking us in the opposite direction if we are not guarding our choices. What is that conflicting force? FEAR.. you could even say… ahh, not me, I’m not afraid of anything!!!! But It took me a while to realize that fear is actually NOT a feeling from my perspective. It’s not an emotion… Its a spiritual force and even as it can and does affect ones emotions, it can be in operating mode even when it doesn’t feel like it.

I compare it to my computer, I know there are always many, many other programs running that I cannot see, but nonetheless, they are running and to me fear equals that of a “virus” that can cripple the proper use of our computers, because for most of us when that FEAR creeps onto the scene, it cripples us physically and emotionally.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1),   fear is the substance of things we don’t desire. Faith is what is unseen in spirit, yet manifests the promises of God

. Fear on the other hand reaches into the unseen too and manifests the threats of the devil (which causes doubt & confusion). Faith is the power God uses to create and Fear is the power the devil uses to destroy…

Hebrews 2:15 says “It is the fear of death that keeps us in bondage”. This isn’t necessarily talking about just the physical death when we leave this earth. The fear of death referred to in Hebrews has a wider meaning it includes the fear of sickness, lack, failure and everything else that is included under the Master Law of Sin and Death.
There have been times in my life where money was very tight… so I have to really work on being and feeling in bondage to the fear of “poverty”. Even when things are on an upward swing, that underlying fear can creep in whispering in my ear and robs me of my freedom to just relax and have faith & confidence. How bout you?
It took me awhile to really understand Ephesians 6:12 in application to myself… “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world”. What do those rulers use to rule? I’m betting your gonna guess right… FEAR… Fear can be so dog gone powerful. I find I have to take control sometimes daily so it has no power over my thoughts because where my thoughts are is what rules my day. So when I take back my authority (I control my thoughts) so the fear of poverty, sickness, and failure that fear is designed to deliver…

I go thru this little self discussion if fear is false evidence appearing real, then whatever situation I am afraid of I ask if this applies. What I realized is the things I fear are always “future” based its not happening right at the moment, so I am afraid of what has NOT happened yet, and truth be told rarely does.. So I literally lost time that could have been spent living in the true moment when I worry about what hasn’t even happened (but oh man, it could, but will it?)
This has been working for me, when I feel afraid or all that self-doubt talk starts rolling thru my mind, I speak out loud Psalms 118:6 “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.”