Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Lions are stealth hunters.

Lions like to creep up on their prey. Their tawny color camouflages them, and they are often able to inch closer than ten yards before making their move. They are careful to stay downwind so that nothing alerts the intended victim to their presence. Then at the optimal moment, they spring out from their concealment and bring down the prey, usually with one great bite.

Unless the lion happens to be old, or he has lost a little zip in his stride. Or maybe he has lost some teeth so that first bite isn’t going to be a killer bite. When that happens, the lion changes his strategy. Instead of using stealth, the lion roars. He depends on the fear his roar instills to paralyze his prey and give him the opportunity to make the kill.

No longer able to hunt by speed or strength or stealth, the roaring lion depends on fear and intimidation.

The Apostle Peter in his letter to believers scattered by persecution says your adversary the devil is a roaring lion. Not the stealthy kind, the roaring kind. Definitely dangerous, but he relies on fear and intimidation and an inability to act for his success. The Message translates this verse as “Keep a cool head.” Other translations pick up different nuances, like “be self-controlled” and “keep your mind clear.”

In other words, don’t be controlled by your emotions, especially your fear, but cling to the truth about your adversary. He is a roaring lion. Yes, he’s dangerous, and yes, he will take any opportunity he can to destroy you … but he is also defeated.

And he is no match for the Lion of Judah.

The post About That Roaring Lion appeared first on Paula Wiseman.

Fear makes you forget.

Consider Israel. Fear certainly made them forget.

And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Exodus 14:10

Israel had just witnessed God’s care of them.

He had protected them through ten devastating plagues.
He had displayed his mighty power on their behalf.
He had delivered them from the bondage of slavery.
He had called them His very own and committed Himself to them.

But because they were afraid of the Egyptians, they forgot that God stood to defend them.
They forgot the promises He had made to them.
They forgot who they were.

What Egyptians are marching after you?

Don’t be afraid. Don’t forget what you know about Jehovah.

He cares for you.
He has protected you.
He has displayed His power on your behalf.
He delivered you.
He called you His own and committed Himself to you.

Stand still and watch what God does next.

The post Fear Makes You Forget appeared first on Paula Wiseman.

Last week we looked at our mission. The Enemy has plenty of weapons to hinder us, including anger, pride, and self-absorption. Perhaps the most effective weapon, though, is fear. If we are going to be effective, fighting fear is going to be a key skill.

What is fear?

We don’t usually think of it this way, but fear is the absence of trust. When we don’t trust the quality of our studying, we are afraid to take a chemistry test. When we don’t trust physics and Boeing, we don’t get on airplanes. When we don’t trust people, we are afraid to invest ourselves in friendships and relationships. When we don’t trust God… nothing else works.

How to fight fear

God, in His grace, knows that fear is a major issue, so He talks about it a lot in the Bible. There are hundreds of references dealing with fear, worry, and anxiety — all different heads of the same monster. Here are a few to implement:

(2 Tim 1:7 – KJV) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear NEVER comes from God. He gives us a spirit of power (yes I can do what He gives me to do) a spirit of love (loving others is the key to carrying out the mission) and a sound mind (thinking clearly and truthfully about ourselves and our situation.)

(Psalm 118:6) The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

That’s IS. Present tense. Right now. Count on it. Not “I hope He’s with me”, or “He might be if…” If I get the IS part, the ” I will not be afraid” part is a piece of cake. And that’s GOD with me. What can a man do to frustrate the purposes of Almighty God? Nothing… (Why don’t I remember that?)

(1 John 4:18) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

GOD IS PERFECT LOVE. He defines it. He loves me perfectly and so seeks only my best interest. Granted His definition of ‘my best interest’ and mine often clash, but that’s my lack of trust popping up again. His perfect love carries an eternal perspective that I can’t always see or wrap my mind around.

God called us to go forth and conquer, not stay home and whimper. Fight that fear!

The post Fighting Fear appeared first on Paula Wiseman.

Not too long ago, my son asked me a very pointed question– Is fear a sin?

I was reading just this week, that the Bible contains 366 “fear not” kinds of verses. That’s a lot. And when you read Revelation 21:8 the fearful or cowardly are listed with some big-time sinners who will have their part in the lake of fire. So the Bible commands us not to, and those who do get judged. Open and shut case.

Except I don’t think it’s quite that cut and dried. Fear is an emotion. Often emotions happen without any connection to our brains. Anyone who has had, or been, a teenager knows what I mean. They are impulsive, even instinctual reactions to a situation. Sometimes fear is a good, protective mechanism. Fear of injury and death gets us to leave a burning building. Fear of germs and who-knows-what-else keeps us from eating that cookie we found under the refrigerator.

So, the question is not, is fear a sin, but rather, what does fear prompt you to do or not do?

• Fear of rejection makes us cave to peer pressure.
• Fear of exposure makes us lie.
• Fear of exclusion makes us hide our faith.
• Fear of deprivation makes us betray our values.
• Fear of failure prevents us from acting.

Consider Jesus’s take on fear. But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Mark 5:36 ESV

In short, fear can lead to distrust of God’s goodness and disobedience to His commands. Suspicion of God’s goodness and His motives is a sin as old as Eden. Disobedience and rebellion are the very definition of sin.

Anytime we allow our emotions to drive our actions and decision-making rather than the truth God has given us, we venture into dangerous territory.

It is important to recognize that most of those “fear nots” come with an alternative. In Mark 5:36, Jesus said, “Do not fear, only believe.” Replace fear with trust. We’ll look at this a little deeper next time.

The post Is Fear a Sin? appeared first on Paula Wiseman.

So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:10

We just passed Halloween, and by this point, we’ve picked through all the good candy and are left stirring around the Laffy Taffy, hoping beyond hope that we overlooked a Snickers in the bottom of the bucket. Or is that just at my house?

We like Halloween, not just because of the chocolate. We like the idea of being scared. Not really scared, but a carefully controlled version of scared that gives us the jolt of adrenaline without any real risk. We control the boundaries and the dosage. It’s the reason we like scary movies, and it’s the reason we like thrill rides.

But real fear is a different story.

Real fear paralyzes us. Psychiatrists have labeled thousands of phobias. Counselors spend hours addressing anxiety in all sorts of forms. Fear interferes with our lives and our relationships. It keeps us from moving forward, from moving on, and sometimes from escaping because we’re afraid of the unknown. It even takes years off our lives.

It’s as old as Eden.

Adam was given dominion over creation. Nothing could touch him. He had never known fear, nor was there anything to be afraid of.  But the very first words out of Adam’s mouth after his transgression were, “I was afraid.” His was the terror of facing a holy God and having his sin exposed.

We’ve never gotten over that. To this day, we hide behind our accomplishments, our good deeds, even our reputations to keep from being exposed. We distance ourselves from anyone who might uncover our weakness. We flee intimacy from God.

Perfect love casts out fear.

You see, in the midst of our failures and fear of exposure, God seeks us out. He doesn’t wait until we come crawling to Him. He comes to us. He takes the initiative and meets us at the point of our frailty, not to upbraid or shame us, but to deal with our issues. He erases our sins. He restores the relationship and clothes us in His own righteousness.

It’s been replaced.

In 1 John, the apostle talks a lot about God’s love. (A lot.) Consider Chapter 4:16-18 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

God replaces fear with boldness. Boldness. In the day of judgment. If we don’t have to fear the judgment of Almighty God, what is there left to fear, really? The key is in verse 16. We have known and believed the love God has for us.

Love is the antidote to fear. It always has been.

Know His love. Believe His love. Trade in your fear.

The post The Antidote to Fear appeared first on Paula Wiseman.

Fear doesn’t limit itself to late October or long nights or lonely seasons. No, it slips in during happy times and waits until you notice it. Sometimes it dresses itself as worry or anxiety, but it’s still fear. Occasionally it disguises itself as anger or compulsion or something else, but that only makes the costume harder to see through. It doesn’t change the fact that fear is there.

Fear is a curse.

It grays our hair, etches lines in our faces, strains our hearts and steals our sleep. Fear is almost as old as sin itself. It drives us from the presence of God, like Adam and Eve in the Garden. It kills our joy, clouds our vision and snatches our dreams.

God knows this about us. He offers to make an exchange. Because He loves us with a perfect love, one that is complete, unconditional, and neverending, He will cast out our fear. Cast out. This is authoritative. This has the muscle to back it up. This is “get out and never come back.”

Then to fill the spaces where fear lived, He offers peace. His peace. The supernatural kind that’s beyond explanation. The peace is ours to keep. And He will make this exchange as many times as we need.

Even after we open the door and let fear in one more time.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56:3

The post Fear Is appeared first on Paula Wiseman.