Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

Fear is a very interesting emotion. Unlike other emotions it actually grows larger the farther we run from it, but smaller the closer we move towards it.

But how are we as believers to move towards our fear? Well, we must do so with faith in the God who is bigger than any of our fears.

Listen to David in Psalm 27:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

David did not avoid his fears; rather he confronted them by bringing them before the face of God.

Such courage or lack thereof is very contagious. Indeed, we should be very careful about the vibe we give off with our children. Certainly, we want to be gentle and empathetic with their fears. Certainly, we want to teach them not to be foolish in the choices they make. But above all, we want them to walk in faith, trusting in God. We want them to learn how to take calculated risks, to move beyond their fears and towards obedience to God and love of others. This requires us to model such faith in front of our children. It requires us not only to empathize with their experience of fear, but also to nudge them out of the nest. We need to direct them to trust in God for themselves, so that they might find Him faithful in their own experience.

Confronting our fears builds confidence, but not confronting them kills it.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.
For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”

~ Psalm 27:1-6 (NASB)