Fear On Purpose

The culture that we live in attempts to control us with fear.

People in power attempt to control others with fear. They can insulate us from Yahweh and immobilize us if they can impose fears on us. Fear of hell, fear of disease, fear of injury, fear of bad luck, fear of rejection, fear of poverty, fear of failure, and thousands of other terrible consequences can bind us and render us useless and hopeless. Most fear is irrational. Most fear is imposed. According to Richard Bandler, you were born with two fears: falling, and loud noises.

Learning from a painful experience with a red stovetop burner not to touch one again when it glows is wise. Learning to be afraid of stoves is not. Fearing our enemies is as irrational as fearing stoves. Additionally, it could cause problems between you and your God.

“So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them! The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God, who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

“When the Lord heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath: ‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the Lord completely.’

“The Lord was angry with me [Moses] also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either. Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it. Your little children whom you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it. But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’              (Deuteronomy 1:29-40 Holman Christian Standard Bible® ©)