Good morning, DearOne.

Fear shuts us down, doesn’t it?

It clouds our thinking.

Stops us in our tracks.

Kills momentum.

Makes us second guess every move.

Debilitating.

And, when fear and intimidation mix and gets set in place, it’s hard to clean up the aftermath and stop that pattern of behavior. It’s hard to rebuild people and empower them when they’ve been emotionally beaten or fear doing life because the heavy hand might take it wrong, twist it, and make it into something about them.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress gets results. It’s also bullying. And, it is wrong to treat people like that.

In the movie “Titanic” there’s an exchange where Rose says, “You must be thinking ‘poor little rich girl what does she know about misery?’” And, what’s his name … Jack .. Jack replies something along the lines of … “No, that’s not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was, “What could’ve happened to this girl to make her think she had no way out?”

We really can’t predict what others might be thinking, yet our own imaginations can be our worst enemy on what others think of us, or what they may be thinking. Do you ever look at someone and wonder “what has life done to you to make you so paranoid? To assume all people have ill-intention? And, must be dealt with. ..with power and fear and intimidation?”

What kind of ego assumes ill intent of good hearts?

The first Christians were persecuted. They must have struggled with fear and what people were thinking and saying about them. Paul wrote encouragement to the church in Colossae from various co-laborers in the faith. Paul mentions, “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col. 4:12).

This one verse implies that the struggle with fear is a wrestling match that must be done through the power of God. This is a prayer issue. I am not able to rationalize the fear away, as the fear often causes me to over-think any challenge. A different approach is needed – surrendering the unknown future of the challenge to God in prayer. Paul also wrote to the Philippian church, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6,7).

The result of going to God in prayer with the fearful situation is that the power of God guards the very parts of my life that Satan attacks with the fear – my feelings and my thoughts. And, know this ANY ATTACK OF FEAR IS SATAN AT WORK. The enemy’s agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy your peace. Through prayer, the power of God steels back my mind and my feelings to resist the “doom and gloom” thinking and instead focus on what God is able to do.

Wake up.

Wrestle it out in prayer.

Go.