Fear Management
Too often the teaching on fear in the global church is simply, “don’t feel fear.” But that is not actually what the Bible teaches. It says, “Don’t do the action of fear.” In the Bible, fear is often an action verb.
See also:
This means the Bible is assuming we will feel fear, but it’s saying when you feel fear, don’t do the action of fear. It means God is expressing his request (wish) that when we feel the emotion of fear, we volitionally choose to not do the action of fear and instead obey him. It comes down to what choice we will make in the face of feeling fear.
Either way, ignoring fear decreases our resiliency, and actually increases our fear simply because we haven't faced it. So where do we cross the line from a legitimate fear of a dangerous world to a fear that not only imprisons us but also offends God?
It has to do with what or whom we fear, and where our fear drives us. Does it drive us to protect ourselves or does it drive us to God, our Protector?
Fear Management means to go through a systematic process of recognition and addressing your fear feelings, and then choosing to act in courage. Watch this video which explains the process. It’s easy to understand and takes work to implement.
N.A.M.E.
Name your fears
Fear has an object. “I’m fearful of, or I fear” …what comes to mind? Write them down.
Order your fears from least to dread fear.
Look at the fears.
Ask yourself:
If it happened, what’s the worst thing about it?
What does that cause you to feel?
When you start to feel ______, where does that take you? (List your emotions and physical responses.)
Meaning and Imagination:
Meaning: If it happened, imagine where God would be in the situation? How could he work? What purpose would he assign to your pain and fear?
Imagine: Imagine Jesus telling his Father about your fear. What would his countenance be like? What would he be saying? Imagine him interceding with the Father about your fear.
How and where we focus our attention dictates the content of the brain structure we create. We can choose to strengthen our fear-anxiety pathway or weaken it by turning to God and asking for help (this is cultivating secure attachment habits).
We do this by “choosing to focus our attention on hope, our attachment to God), and sustaining that moment for 25-seconds. Doing this over time will replace anxious, worried thoughts with realistic, balanced thoughts, physically causing the synapses of our brain to disconnect and make new connections, new pathways, and cells devoted to right thinking. It’s called the process of neuroplasticity; a new brain is created to replace the old brain.”
The Path of Fear and Courage
When we combine all these elements, we see one path leads to acting in mature courage and hope, and the other to acting in paralysis, despair, difficulty, or even inability to follow him.
Looking at the fear, we often begin to focus on it and feel overwhelmed. This leads to avoidance and inability to obey God. Anxiety breeds more anxiety. The more let my fear overwhelm me, my fears grow in size, and the more I fear my fears. It’s a vicious cycle..
If we instead look to God and tell him about our fear (N.A.M.E. it), we ask for his help to respond with courage, There’s a responsive, sufficient light to know what to do next, even if it’s just doing a household task. This moves me step by step to mature hope and mature courage.