Living in the Fog…

I learned long ago that the believer’s only enemy was fear because fear defeats the promises of God. Not defeated in the sense that God could be defeated, but defeated in terms of stopping the believer from receiving the results of the promise. Fear is never based on truth. Fear is another option. Fear is an alternative choice. Fear is a belief and when believed produces a result. Fear is your problem and has always been your problem (and mine). I often write about fear and the need to extricate yourself from it’s grasp, as you would expect from someone called specifically to set the captives free. Yet, in my heart I know the message often gets missed. It is missed because fear exists in obscurity. It is a thickening fog obscuring your vision and like the man post cataract surgery, you did not know what you were not seeing. Fear is a multi-layered beast with many folds and turns. The fear that manifests when you encounter a rabid dog or a bear is the obvious surface. People muse, “I have no fear” yet live slaves to fear on every side. The fear question may be simplified in asking, why you are doing what it is that you are doing? Is your pursuit a good result or to avoid a bad result? It is that precise and the devil is indeed in the details. Fear says if you do not do this, [insert negative] will happen to you. By accepting its premise, you now consider it as an option. Choices. Choice A.) Believe good things will happen for you because God promised He would or Choice B.) Fear bad things will happen to you and drive yourself mad trying to do all that is required to be a self sufficient, yet afraid person. Yeah, life sort of summed up briefly there. But, fear does not stop there. The fear that you accept as “normal” or simply part of being a human being is a lie. Fear is always a lie. At least in the beginning. We have all been trained by the world to accept it as part of life. Yet every acceptance of fear diminishes and adds obscurity. It is a fog rolling in. It’s a veil over what is. It is an obstruction. It is life diminished and robbed by deception. It is life less than intended. Yet, for all that, how many people still try to live and thrive in the fog of it, never realizing what they were missing all the while they could not see. Living above fear is about finally getting out of the fog and into life.

What gets you up in the morning? What puts a pep in your step? We are all doing stuff for a reason, you know? Are you enjoying your life or just sort of surviving it? We are all surviving at times and there’s no shame in that.  But, honestly, what is your long term picture? Is your life prognosis good? You headed toward the life you want or trying like hell not to end up where it looks like you are heading? Are you working hard? Performing? Are you on the treadmill, because God knows you can’t stop treading or your life will fall apart. You finding out yet how damn hard it is to be the sole source of help in your own life? Fear lurks in those bushes. Fear is calling the shots, the ones that feel responsible or smart. Fear takes, no, robs you of your natural enjoyment of life! You are not free to see or truly experience because you are still living in the fog. It is like a heavy shroud you must carry, a required weight. And for what? A false sense of security from that which you are afraid? It is life with a persistent need to keep looking over your shoulder. To temper your happy now just in case. Hold back, reserve it, blessed is fleeting and problems persist. It is a constant consideration of another option which is not really an option but rather an illusion with hooks attached. It is an invitation to consider. You can tell if there is fear, albeit hidden, in your life, by answering a simple, yet profound question. Are you happy? Not what have you amassed or where do you live? Are you happy in your experience of life? Does it feel good to you? The honesty of that answer will tell you what you need to know. The choices are clear and foggy. You still get to choose.

On the other side of fear (cliche excluded) is your real life. It’s a place you live where your day is not governed by the next gut wrenching issue brewing up. It’s a place where you by no means have all the answers, but you trust that God does. Things still arise that scare the hell out of you, but you are no longer relying only on you. It’s not a life of willful blindness or naivety regarding what is, but instead accepting what is or what appears and giving it over to God to handle instead of trying to do it yourself. You beat fear by making another choice. The world has one thousand different requirements to get what you need and you never quite get there. God only has one requirement and that is only that you believe what He promised you. Or will you believe the alternate choice and keep living in the misty flats? Overcoming fear and departing from obscurity is not about how good you can get. It’s about discovering Him who is truth and all that you could ever desire from this life. In His light and love, absent fear is the life you have imagined. It is life in the light where fear is not the ruler. It is no longer exhausting yourself trying to figure everything out. You don’t have to keep living in the fog if you don’t want to my friends.  Consider there is another choice. I love you.

Just some good thoughts…