Fear. False Evidence Appear in Real.
Fear is such a weird concept to me. Because although the things we are afraid of seem so real they actually hold absolutely no weight in the real world. Fear is by no means a tangible concept. But somehow fear is crippling. It has the ability to hold us back from what we were put on this earth to do. Isn’t that so strange? How many times have you not done something because of a fear of how that thing would turn out, when in reality that fear had absolutely no guarantee that things would be that way. Our minds are infinitely powerful and I think if we fully comprehended what we were capable of we would be so surprised! But there are these deep dark abyss’s in our minds, in the corners of our minds where our imagination creates fears of things that are so not real and hold us back from experiencing the life of freedom we were created for.
I am writing this post in complete transparency of ridiculous humility. Recently every piece of literature (cause I always read like 5 books at time haha) has been on the topic of fear. While I was reading I was like wtf? I’m fearless I don’t need to read these chapters. To the point where I nearly skipped each chapter. But the more I delved into the concept the more I realised that I am actually full to the brim of fears that I didn’t even want to go near. Because they are scary. But actually that’s a lie. Because fears aren’t real. They hold no weight in reality. They are these misconstrued ideas of how things might be. Fears aren’t real. But still they hold us back and if we let them they have serious power.
Literally the only way to overcome fears is face them head on. You have to do exactly the thing you are most afraid of. To conquer that fear you have to walk straight into it’s arena and realise you are capable of conquering it. And you are capable of conquering. You are infinitely more capable then you give yourself credit for. Please don’t be dumb and go drown yourself if you have a huge fear of drowning. That’s definitely not what I mean. What I mean is make that phone call to that person who you’ve lost contact with but would love to reconnect with and are afraid of what they might say, to that business owner that you know is hiring and it’s your perfect job but you are afraid of rejection, to that bank to get a loan to go after your dreams but are afraid they might say no, being single when it’s ridiculously scary but you know it’s right, being in a relationship that you know is forever but that scares you.
So basically I have been known to wear my heart on my sleeve every now and then, I’m a pretty mad hopeless romantic. Not everyone knows this about me cause I don’t really show it but every now and then I have really had my heart broken thanks to the hopeless romantic taking the driving seat and my rational mind completely out of the window. Anyways these past experiences have created in me this ridiculous fear of having my heart broken again. Honestly I didn’t even realise it but to the point that it’s messing with other relationships in my life. And well that’s just one example of a fear I think God has really been dealing with recently. I need to let go of this ridiculous fear that actually holds no weight in reality. There is no tangible evidence that I will ever be hurt again. I mean maybe I will, in fact I probably will have but living my life in fear of it makes no rational sense and in the end is only going to hinder me from living the life of true freedom that I was created for.
SO here’s what I think – the bible says “perfect love casts out all fear’ in 1 John 4:18. And to me the story of Easter is the greatest love story ever told. Jesus died for our freedom. God sent His son to earth to free us from our fears, to liberate us so that we may live our lives in abundance, to the fullest capacity, like really really living. Jesus gave His life so that we might live a life better and more influential than in our wildest dreams, so that we can live in full joy and wholeness. Whaaaaaaaaat?! To me that honestly is perfect love. And He did it for you and for me, whether you love Him or not that sacrifice was still for you. How crazy is that thought?!
And well when you look at it that way the cross equals love. You may have seen the symbol around and about. To me the cross represents Jesus’s sacrifice. It represents God’s desire to see us free from the constraints we put on our lives, free us from the fears that plague us, free to live the lives that we were created for, full of joy, full of life, blessed and loved, liberated from the cares of what others think of us, liberated from the constrains that world tries to place on us, liberated from insecurities, jealously, sadness, fear, stress, anxiety, I believe that’s what God wants every single one of us to understand this Easter that although Easter is all about chocolate, hot cross buns and family it is SO much more than that. It is a reminder that Jesus died so that we might live in freedom.
TRUE FREEDOM.
This song blows my mind and Joel Houston’s comments are honestly unreal in this vid. I find my life when I laid it down. There is nothing more true. In surrender is where I experienced this true all encompassing feeling. Joy, freedom and healing are inevitable when you let Jesus in.
I believe true freedom is found in surrender.
And that’s all folks 😉 Although I would honestly love for you to join us at church this weekend!!! You can find all the service times here. Cape Town, Somerset West, Pretoria and Jozi town. You take your pick!!
Tessa Nicola-Jayne 