Max Lucado and Rick Warren are two of America’s prominent ministers in community-style congregations. They offered thees ideas about Americans’ fears.
Worrying is “half-minded living.” One part of our minds wants to cower before fears; the other part wants to fight, by all means, to put them in a pine box in the ground. The answer to this troubling situation is to believe in Jesus Christ, to let Him lead us beside the still waters and for us to lie down in green pastures. We must remember that God’s help will come, but in His time, not ours. Many of us would like to order our lives like we order specialty coffees, coffee with all the nice things but no nasty tastes. Asking Him to be present in our lives, we can off-set the negatives.
To find confidence in God, we should surrender our hearts to Him. To find hope, we need our minds to be emptied of worry. To attack our fears, we move past our set-backs and replace fear with faith. We should turn off negative talk radio, info-pod casts, and negative television shows and movies. Hang with people of faith, not those who fear. Filling our minds with music that praises God eliminates the pain we feel about life. We need to base our hope on the promises of God.
One of our biggest fears is about death. Death should be considered as a corner to be turned, a bridge to joy, not a door to nothingness. We need to see death as the next safe adventure. Jesus promises us the courage for our final passage to Eternal life. Death gives us insight into the Holy Spirit.
Fear can help us if used to push us in the right direction towards a positive life, but if it is unchecked, fear can grow into paranoia. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He felt fear as He asked God to take the cup away from Him. The cup equaled God’s anger in the Bible. Who among us is not afraid of God’s anger? Jesus prayed honestly to face His fear and accepted God’s will for Himself. We, too, can find honest prayer when we pray together with a group of like-minded friends or while attending church.
Many of us see our problems through the lenses of fear and doubt. Christ sees our problems as possibilities. You combat your fears by trusting in God. He, alone, will answer your questions with wisdom, love, and grace. All we need do is to wait patiently on Him.
Anna Hartt
