Did you know many of us have a best friend that we idolize?  This friend will tell us something we believe without question.  This friend is the first we will go to when we are in any difficult life challenge.  We confide in this friend. Our friend returns our trust with loyalty, never letting us down. He is ready to counsel us at any time of the day or even in the wee hours of the night.  We have called our friend many times when we can’t seem to sleep. While tossing and turning on our beds, he is there for us, true to his word. 

Our friend’s name is Fear, and he is our go-to for everything. We run everything by him, and he even screens our calls, emails, and texts before we answer them. Fear has become our interpreter for everything we think, see, experience, and believe. Fear knows us the best, so we give him the important job of watching out for us.    

Fear is extremely jealous when we practice Faith, because he is excluded from our life.  So, fear will do all he can to chase Faith away.  So needless to say Fear and Faith are enemies. 

Strangely, from what we know about Fear, we keep him as our best friend. Most of us don’t realize how we live and make decisions – through Fear’s influence. We ‘enjoy’ life through the counsel of Fear. One of the tell-tales that Fear is our bestie is we don’t know what Faith is in experience. Further to this, our prayers are most likely influenced by Fear.

Fear takes the place of the Holy Spirit. It drives us to do what it wants. Make no mistake – though we be believers in Christ. Fear lets us believe in Christ. However, it must control us if we want him (Fear) to be our best friend. Fear will always torment us and twist us up inside. 

Time to give Fear the boot! 

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  1 John 4:18