Embrace The Fear

I remember a few years ago when we had a bunch of hurricanes go through our area in Central Florida. During a one month period 3 went directly over Lakeland. It was a crazy situation. During that time, I was working as a video guy at the local church. So while everyone else was at home riding out the storms, my buddy Brian and me were out filming. I even sold some of the footage to Fox and ABC.  It was a scary thing to do. But even though it scared us, it was a rush. I remember taking my car (a tiny little hyundai hatchback) down Interstate 4 in the middle of the hurricanes. I would be going 10 mph with the peddle on the floor if I drove east, and if I drove west I would be holding the brakes to keep it below 50 mph. It was an incredible feeling of having no control. But even with no control it was fun. I had adrenaline pumping in my veins. I was alive and doing exactly what I felt I needed to be doing. 

During one of the storms we found a house that had two trees fall. One had crushed the garage and cars in it. The other was being held off from the main part of the house by two live power lines. I was running under the tree and filming everything I could. It was an incredible sight to see. It was even cooler to see all my footage on the tv that night. The shots of the house actually made it to national news that week. 

I say all that to say this. What risks have you been too scared to make? The fact is, no one ever changes the world when they are comfortable. There are thousands of people and ministries in the world that really want to make a difference, but never seem to achieve it. Pastors that have a vision to see their town come to Christ. People that want nothing more than to see their coworkers come to church with them. Youth pastors that struggle to get kids involved in worship. Teenagers that want the other students at school to have this same relationship with God that they have. For every thousand of those, there are a handful of success stories of pastors, people, and students changing the world. 

Have you ever noticed that you end up hearing the same stories over and over at church. The same examples of the kid that rocked their school by preaching on a lunch table. The pastor that grew a church and a town towards God by huge numbers. A person that rocked their workplace with a mind blowing reformation. There is a reason we hear the same stories over and over again. Because thousands are scared, and only a few no what it means to embrace that fear. 

The bible says in Romans 8:15 

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.”

 But then it also says in Psalms 2:11

“Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.”

How can those 2 verses both be true?  God didn’t give me a spirit of fear AND I am told to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling? I contend that the word fear could be substituted with a word that helps this make sense to us.

SURRENDER

You see, the thing that keeps the normal people from making an abnormal difference in the world is that they are surrendering to the wrong thing. God calls us to surrender to Him in Psalms. But in Romans He says, the only thing you need to surrender to is Him. Do you understand, that if you stop surrendering to the fears that you will fail, be made fun of, or treated differently, and start surrendering to the call God has given you….you will start to have an excitement when facing that fear. God calls us to not fear what the world fears. Stop letting what the world fears get in the way of what you know God wants you to do.

“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 1 Peter 3:14

I promise you, there is nothing like the adrenaline rush that comes when you step out and do something that God calls you to do in the face of what most people see as “smart” or “prudent”. Embrace the fear, and change the world.

Peace – Love - Recycle

Posted in: