Seeing Fear Clearly: What It’s Really Trying to Tell You

Fear is not such a bad thing. It is not a monster or a hindrance to success, or to stepping forward, or to moving up.

Fear is actually a pause, a nudge to keep us grounded, to reflect.

It is our response to Fear that makes us vulnerable to mediocrity, immobility, or indecision. On the other hand, this same response can also save us from the pitfalls of thoughtless actions, or even from the mockery of our soul’s integrity by the enemy of the spirit – the Adversary.

If we picture Fear, it is a shadow lurking behind an ajar door – a shadow of an obstructing object with its back against a light source. These shadows serve as thresholds to human limits or at least, perceived human limits. At the same time, Fear challenges our understanding, recognition, and acceptance of our capabilities.

However, because Fear is such a powerful emotion, it can be weaponized by the Adversary to make you cower from all potential for greatness. This is when Fear becomes dangerous – when we succumb to the Adversary’s kind of Fear – a Fear that torches the spirit of the warrior within.

This happens when Fear starts to consume you, when you no longer have control over it – when it keeps you awake many nights or brings dark thoughts about yourself, your future, your life, your world. It is the kind of Fear that cloaks hope in vast darkness, telling the mind that nothing is in sight and that there is nothing ahead, no matter how much you struggle or how far you run.

If Fear begins to strip you of happiness, enthusiasm, and the prospect of becoming better, then something is wrong. That kind of Fear is meant to be temporary; it must not define your days or your existence. Nor should Fear define you – when someone tells you that you are full of fear, a coward, a weakling.

I tell you this: whoever maligns your ability to be thoughtful, considerate, and then fearless, is of the Adversary!

Fear not God

If a person relates to God mainly through Fear, that is, fear of punishment or fear of constantly doing something wrong – it usually means they see God more as a judge than as a loving, compassionate Father.

In any case, in my opinion, Fear is not something I associate with God. I do not Fear Him in order to render obedience. I believe in Him, and therefore I obey. I trust God; hence, I obey. Fear – strong and powerful as it is – can get in the way of my communion with God. Fear distances me from His gaze. Fear can lead me to speculate about how God sees me, or to think that He undermines me if I do not measure up to His love and graces.

Yet He must have trusted us enough to declare that He created us in His own image. I can never fully fathom God’s compassion toward His creation—toward His children, toward me. His love is revealed to me in sparks and micromoments which, if you also allow yourself to experience them yourself, can be breathtaking.

Love does not breed fear

When someone loves God honestly and authentically, and believes that God loves them, Fear dissipates. And when we respond in His love, Fear loses its place in the relationship. The same holds true for human relationships – a love that is grounded in faith, trust, compassion, and all the things of God; Fear does not exist.

When we love God, no matter how flawed that love may seem to us, the meaning we place in loving God in our own ways, according to our own understanding, and growing it minute by minute, day by day, not only shrinks any fear – if any – but also becomes the sword that slays the Adversary.

To say the least, and in my humble opinion, Fear makes us human. It is a mechanism not meant to deter us from growth and evolution, but to remind us to stay grounded, to prepare, and to take responsibility for outcomes. Most importantly, it signals our need to be in alliance with God, because we cannot depend on our strength alone.

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