Confront Your Fear (2)

‘Not in human wisdom but in the power of God.’ 1 Corinthians 2:5 NLT

One of the greatest breakthroughs in modern psychology is the Law of Reversibility. It works like this: when you feel a certain way, you act accordingly. And when you don’t feel like doing something, but you do it anyway, that same dynamic creates the feeling consistent with your actions. Sure, it’s possible to live a life that’s opposite to the words you say, but at the end of the day you cannot live a life that’s antithetical to what you believe. Because fear is a learned response, it can be unlearned. There are two kinds of courage. The first kind calls for action. President Andrew Jackson said, ‘Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. One man with courage makes a majority.’ The second kind calls for patience: the tenacity to keep persevering after you’ve done your best and before you’ve seen results. Often the difference between a hero and a coward is that a hero hangs in there five minutes longer! When you run from intimidating situations, fear multiplies until eventually it controls your life. But when you tackle your problems head–on, ‘not in human wisdom but in the power of God’, your confidence rises until you reach a point where you’re no longer controlled by fear. William Cowper wrote: ‘God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm… Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.’