Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)  God has placed specific goals and desires inside of you. If they seem consistently delayed, fear might be the root cause.  You see, our hearts grow what we put in them. If you drop one apple seed into soil, over time, it will produce thousands of apples and even more seeds. Just as soil produces greater amounts of whatever we put in it, our hearts do the same.  That’s why Proverbs 4:23 warns us to guard what we allow into our hearts. If you allow fear to creep in, you can become afraid to pursue your dreams, which defers your hopes of them ever happening.  After a few …

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)  Operating from a position of fear negatively affects our lives in many ways. For example, anxiety can cause us to pull away from the very blessings God wants to bring into our lives.  Numbers 14:1-10 illustrates this. After the spies Moses sent returned from Canaan, some of them spread scary stories about the people and cities they had seen there.  Instead of heading in to possess the land God had promised them, the Israelites let fear grab the reins. They panicked, then plotted to assassinate their leaders the following day and wondered if Egypt would consider accepting them back as slaves!  …

Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.  Proverbs 29:25 (NLT)  There is truth to the old saying, “No risk, no reward.”  You see, God created us to take risks. Now, I’m not talking about gambling with your life or behaving recklessly. But the truth is, anyone who tries to live an utterly risk-free life will limit their enjoyment. In fact, trying to avoid risk at all costs can hold you back from the promises of God. Why?  Because fear works as a trap: it clamps down and prevents you from going anywhere. It limits what you’re willing to go for because you’re scared of what you may lose. It can hold you back from thoroughly enjoying relationships, church and God. It …

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  1 John 4:18 (NKJV)  We’ve been talking about ways to deal with fear in our lives. Second Timothy 1:7 makes it clear that fear is a spirit from the enemy’s camp, and it can produce several crippling symptoms if we allow it into our lives. Let’s unpack a couple of them.   A spirit of fear tortures people mentally. Some people can barely function because they’re in a continual state of mental anguish. Fear can even bring people to the point of feeling physically ill. These symptoms stem from psychological torment, and God didn’t create you to live like that.  …

So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.”  Numbers 13:32 (NLT)  Faith and fear operate the same way in your life. They both work to create a vision inside of you that will grow if you entertain it.  But here’s the difference: fear pictures something terrible taking place in your life, whereas faith visualizes something good.  Numbers chapters 13 and 14 give us a good look at what happens when we allow fear to paint pictures in our minds. Moses led the Israelites to the edge of the Promised Land, then sent twelve spies to scope it out. All of …