Conviction

Chapter 8
Fear
Failure is obtained 100 percent of the time if that’s all you believe you’ll achieve because of fear. Fear will attempt to overtake the mind of those it inhabits! Having a sound mind is significant in the refusal to fear the things of life. One of my absolute favorite scriptures is 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and, and of love, and of a sound mind.” There is something paralyzing about fear within the mindset.

Fear penetrates places that are only imaginable in our worst nightmares. It consumes our lives and thoughts and disrupts the healthy patterns of logical thinking. Oftentimes people will point out characteristics of fear within you because it’s the fruit you’re bearing. Stabilizing fear is not the answer because we develop a systematic response to fear causing the development of a happy medium of blissful tolerance.

Fear is so strong that it counteracts faith, which is one of two important attributes necessary to please God and receive salvation through repentance. Fear in the sense of fight, flight, or adrenaline rush is necessary. But the fear that stops you from going to the store due to a local news story is unacceptable. We must foil fear and all its siblings! If the process of conviction can set us free from fear, then why are we still enslaved?

Holding on to the past due to the fear of stepping into your future will lead to destruction. As you may have noticed throughout this book, without the principle of conviction, I would have continued to struggle in various areas of my life. Some of my most intimate personal freedoms are written within this book. There were many times I allowed my thoughts to destroy my life because I was fearful of my weaknesses and being exposed. I am called to lead, but I wouldn’t move because I didn’t want my shortcomings and areas needing deliverance to be known or considered by anyone.

I lost valuable years and time, but thank God, He is the keeper of time! If you’re reading this, you still have time to consciously decide that fear will not run your life.

1 John 4:18 (NIV) says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” At one period in my life, I did not have the ability to love myself or others because I operated solely in fear. I remember being terrified to love with my heart, thus causing me to love at a heart’s distance.

I allowed love to get close enough for me to care a little, never having intentions of anything more because I was fearful of being hurt. There were things, words, and life events that caused me to fear. Ultimately, I wanted to be delivered and freed from fear. I had a false depiction of what fear looked like. Monsters, scary movies, and spooky dark places were my perceptions of fear. That was definitely not the right thought regarding fear!

However, there is a fear that can bring knowledge, and that’s a fear of God. Would you look at that? The very thing that separated me from love had a component that was needed to receive knowledge. I had no awareness that while I digested mine and the enemies-imposed fear, I spewed out the fear of the Lord due to lack of knowledge. I would never want to reject the knowledge of God, so I began to cooperate with the move of God through conviction. I began to stand up to the fear that was tormenting my thoughts. I am constantly working daily to walk in continuous deliverance and conviction against fear.

Ambitions on releasing this book was a conquest over fear for me. I must admit there is a constant battle of fear. You must be careful and on alert regarding fear. Sometimes you don’t recognize it until you’re dealing with it face-to-face, seeing a red light when God has given the green light! As long as you stand on the freedom to move as God gives and not rest in the valley of fear, you have the victory!

God had given me the green light to write and publish this book. The thoughts and information within me had to come out for the masses to evaluate. I was petrified to open myself up to others by voluntarily inviting them into my life to give opinions and reviews. It wasn’t someone else’s thoughts to be evaluated; they were mine. I am the one responsible for the customer service scores. The responsibility to sell my brand, ideas, and thoughts, leaving me vulnerable to what others might say, was fearful to me.

Thanks be to God that I have a constructive outlook on what other people say. I know how to filter through what’s fruitful and what’s unfruitful. I have a healthier way of thinking, and I’m no longer afraid to embrace who I am or to make a difference in the world without fear. Of course, there are still the natural points of fight or flight, but not fear! I utilize the Word of God and testimonies of overcomers to combat falling back into being fearful.

If you’re battling fear and moving into your stance of conviction, it takes some work. There are many scriptures on which I had to constantly meditate. As I grew and developed in overcoming fear and maintaining a conviction of fear, I went through some very rough valleys. The enemy was always fighting to keep me stagnate. Once fear is rooted, many goals and dreams are pushed aside.