Can God Really Help You?

Fear is the single biggest problem that most of us face. It pretty much underpins every other problem we face in our life. It is insidious. It creeps upon us without us even realising it, sliding deeper into our lives, until eventually it steals them. It steals our confidence, makes us feel insecure, affects our relationships and stops us doing things. It becomes so deeply embedded within us that most of the time we don’t even realise that it is there, it becomes part of who we are. I was the type of person that was always annoyed or agitated about something. I thought it was just the way I was, until God began to show me how every incident had a root of fear. I was always afraid of something; afraid of being late, afraid of not finding a parking space, afraid of not having enough money, afraid of missing the plane, afraid of upsetting people etc. The list goes on and on, I won’t bore you with it all, but I’m sure you get the drift.

Fear and worry go hand in hand. We worry because we are afraid something might happen. For many people fear and worry become a way of life.

Fear affects our relationship with food. There are two ways that it does this;
1) The feelings of fear and worry lead us to seek comfort. Where from? Yes, you guessed it, food.
2) We develop specific fears around food, this makes us eat more.

The main fear connected specifically with food is the fear of being hungry. It can live within us without us even realising it. Sometimes this fear develops in children who are not fed regularly. It is a common problem with abused children; we often hear stories of adopted children who will eat anything that they can get their hands on. However, I believe that this fear develops in dieters. When you have dieted (and failed) many times, you become afraid of being hungry because you know that causes you to give in and eat. When you have an allowance of calories, units or whatever else, the fear develops that they will have been used up and you will still be hungry. You also worry that you will become too hungry and binge.

If you have been a regular dieter, believe me when I say “Fear will have a nice big stronghold inside of you”.

Fear is a spiritual force. Unfortunately it is contagious. If one or both of your parents (or grandparents) had (or have) problems with food, fear will have been the underpinning spiritual force, particularly for those who came from poor backgrounds and/or lived through the war years and food rationing. The bad news is that you will have been infected. This is why you can find yourself exhibiting behaviour towards food that doesn’t seem to make sense.

The good news here, is that fear only has the power that we give it. We can stand against it and defeat it. Jesus came to set you free, free from bondage, free from fear.

Fear is the opposite of faith, they compete within you. They are opposing forces. Fear pushes out faith, but likewise, faith pushes out fear.

We defeat fear by standing against it. F D Roosevelt said “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”. If you learn to stand against fear, you will have nothing to fear!

As you progress over the next few weeks I hope that you will come to a point of learning to trust God and that your faith will increase and push out fear. However, because fear is a spiritual force, you need to attack it spiritually. You can begin this today.

Today....

1) Every time you find yourself worrying about something, immediately pray about it. It doesn’t have to be a fancy prayer, and it doesn’t have to be out loud.
2) Rebuke fear; say “The Lord my God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind”. Keep saying this, it is a powerful scripture.
3) Confess the following, ‘I will not fear’.
4) Start trusting God to provide, remember the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’.
5) Stop worrying about when you will have your next meal. If you are hungry, eat. Don’t eat in case you become hungry, you will never be far away from food and it really isn’t that bad to be hungry for a short time. Stop being afraid of hunger, confess, “I am not afraid to feel hunger”.
6) Keep away from people who worry and express fear. If you have no choice, then try to change the subject or confess the above anti-fear statements in your head.

The Scary Storm
A little girl walked daily to and from school. Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trip to school.
As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning. The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school, and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child. Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword would cut through the sky.
Full of concern, the mother quickly got in her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile. Another and another were to follow quickly, each with the little girl stopping, looking up and smiling.
Finally, the mother called over to her child and asked, "What are you doing?" The child answered, "Smiling, God just keeps taking pictures of me."
- Unknown