Which fear do we have?

"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because 

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

1 John 4:4 

Don't you just love it when the Lord's been teaching you something and the pastor at your church just happened to preach on the same thing?!  It is such a confirmation to me of what I need to be working on.

Lately I've been struggling with fear.  Now, there are several different types of fear.  Here are two definitions of fear in the Websters 1828 Dictionary:

1. To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil.
2. The worship of God.

The first type of fear weakens you and leaves you useless to the King.  I've been learning that the devil tries very hard to control people with this one.  If we're so afraid we're no longer a threat to him and his plans.  After honestly searching my heart I discovered that the root of my fear was self.  I've been so worried about me, what's going to happen to me, how this will work out for me that I've lost sight of my mission.  My mission is not to make a lot of money, be famous, or even be successful in the world's eyes.  My mission is to be a witness for Jesus; to serve Him and no other.  The Bible frequently encourages us to not be controlled by this fear (see this post).  He wants us to overcome and He wants to use us if we allow Him.

In today's sermon I learned that the second type of fear, the fear of the Lord, is the antidote for the wrong type of fear.  If I'm so focused on the Lord and the vision He has for me {and He does have one for me it just hasn't been revealed yet.... :)} then I will not be scared away by silly little things.  If we're focused on the eternal and not the present, the spiritual and not the physical we will find the fears of yesterday disappear!  Wow!  How freeing, how incredible simple yet so hard to practice.  What do we do when the fears start bombarding us on every side?  Well, what did Jesus do when He was tempted by the devil?  He responded with Scripture.  This is one reason why it is so important to hide God's Word in our hearts!  Now that I know that fear is an issue for me I should be diligently memorizing verses that combat fear.  I need to be ready, armed, prepared for battle.  Ultimately we have nothing to fear when Jesus is on our side!

There's a little peek of what I've been struggling with and learning in my spiritual life.
I'm interested to know what the Lord has been teaching you.

Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah :)