It is important to note that not all fear is bad. There are good fears, and everyone should embrace the good fear. The good fears are:
- Fear as an emotional response to real imminent danger i.e., if suddenly you find yourself on the road and a car is coming at 80 miles an hour towards you, the emotion of fear will propel you to have a reflex action in one way or another.
- Fear of the Lord. Everyone should and is commanded to have the reverential fear of the Lord.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” (Psalm 111:10)
As we see in the scriptures above, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…Godly wisdom is produced when God is reverenced and honored as He should. Fear, within the right context, is healthy, necessary, and part of the normal emotions of humans however, in most cases, fear is allowed to run riot and creates a lot of damage in people.
We take a further look at the characteristics of these unhealthy fears in the next 3 blogs:
Fear involves torment.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
The nature of fear involves torment. It is tormenting and God will never give you what will torment you. Therefore, why torment yourself? Why get yourself into a state with anxiety, high blood pressure issues etc. because of fear?
If your life is rooted in God; your affection is in the love of God; and you have embraced the righteousness of God, then why would you allow fear to dominate your life. Its nature is to hinder you, stop you, and paralyze you from your God given destiny.
The bible says that perfect love casts out fear or putting it another way, when you are operating in the love of God, you can’t also operate in fear. Therefore, ask the Lord for more of His love that will cast out fear.
