Surveys indicate some of our most fearful times are public speaking, heights, the unknown and death. Do you relate? It is said we all have some distress, fright of something happening to cause pain, danger or threat (real or imagined). The downside is fear decreases our joy, peace, hope, trust.

Examining fear in two posts, we will deal with several “three” statements.  First, here are three crucial questions:

1. Do you recognize fear in you?
2. What do you fear the most?
3. How do you deal with your fear – what do you do?

Then, there are three common ways people deal with fear:

1. Fight, attack, destroy it.
2. Flee from it.
3. Deny it by burying it.

These ways still do not resolve the fear and can even create unhealthy physical issues.

Yet, there are three steps for dealing positively with fear:

1. Recognize the fear – name it.
2. Decide how to respond. Being thankful is a good thing, especially when fear can be used to maintain safety.
3. Plan the course of action. If you are one who fights, your challenge is to respond with gracious, kind courage. If you are one who flees from fear and conflicts, your challenge is to use courage to speak. If you are one who buries fear, your challenge is to acknowledge what your body may be telling you.

This is a good time to ask God, as David in the Bible did, to: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my thoughts…”  (Ps. 139:23)

Tomorrow we will look at a couple of places in the Good Book where fear is mentioned.

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