Fear Not: Finding God's Comfort for my Fearful Soul

Notes from a women's conference: Fear Not: Finding God's Comfort for my Fearful Soul 

*this first portion I turned into a devotion to share with the staff and faculty at Heritage

Two weekends ago I went to a women’s conference whose theme was “Fear Not: Finding God’s Comfort for My Fearful Soul.” On the Friday night we had to fill out a card that would get handed in and read only by our presenter, Tara Barthel.  On that card we had to write down what our level of fear was from 1-10 and what were those things that we fear.

The next morning Tara said that she had read all of our cards and had taken the time to organize them into different categories based on what each person shared as their fear.  Fears ranged from personal finances, to illness, to broken marriages, to singleness.  She mentioned how in all of her 13 years of speaking at conferences, the core issues surrounding the issue of fear are different depending on her audience.  Our group had a recurring theme of fear that she had never seen intimated on such a grand scale.  A large percentage of the women feared that their children or their grandchildren would not come to know Jesus as their personal Saviour.  This was a presenting issue as there was an even deeper issue at stake which was revealed as more anonymous cards were read - a deeper fear that our group had not been or currently weren’t good enough Christians to merit salvation. This deeper fear correlated to the fear of having children who were not saved.  The thought process would probably sound something like this - if I was a better Christian, I could regenerate the hearts of my children, or put into our context - if we were better Christian teachers, we could regenerate the hearts of our students.  Some may feel unacceptable to God and struggle with the fear of being inferior to salvation.  This is committing cosmic treason as we then put ourselves in the place of God.

Praise the Lord that we don’t have to be good enough and that we don’t have to bear that burden of trying to appropriate the role of God!  We’ve got an Intercessor in whose merit we are found favorable and can be reconciled to God. This weekend we’ll take the time to celebrate that Christ took our guilt and clothed us with innocence; that he bore our shame and lifted us to a place of glory and honour in the sight of the Father; that he took our short-comings and presented us with a cup that overflows; and that he took our fear and gave us the courage to continue trusting him.

Christ is our advocate. He receives the accusations from Satan, from the world, and from our own sinful nature and frees us from that bondage and from that fear.  There is no accusation that his grace is not big enough for.  Accusations of being not worthy, of being not good enough, of being a failure are met with Jesus’ intervention who is worthy, who is good enough and whose triumph over sin and hell makes him a perfect mediator. 

Other random thoughts gleaned from the weekend: 

Adrenaline kills theology because it kills short term memory.  When we're angry or frustrated, we have to have our theology of love your neigbour deeply set so that we refrain from saying or doing things that serve to tear down instead of edify.

In faith's fight against fear, memorize Scripture!  We begin to take ourselves by our hands and encourage ourselves instead of seeking that reaffirmation from others.  

When we see someone else's struggling in light of our own struggles, we can both go to the cross.  Through this perspective, we are reminded to be gracious and find the words to encourage one another.

Fear wears us down and warps our perspective.  It tempts us to despondency.  Defeated weariness comes just before cynicism.

How to deal with pain/struggles - 1) Feel it, 2) Name it, 3) Grieve it, 4) Trust God, 5) Move on

Worriers are visionaries without the optimism.

Whatever we think we need, is closely related to fear.

The person who fears God, fears nothing.  Fear of God simplifies life.