Conquering Fear and Intimidation

It is time to step out of the prison of intimidation and fear. Our God can deliver us through the fire if we walk courageously and face our fears while holding on to His promises.

 

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

                          ……Oh, yes, it was!

                                    But it was worth it!

It was time to face a personal giant, a giant that held me captive in fear and anxiety for decades. Intimidation was my prison guard for far too long. The Lord had equipped me with the skills necessary to face it. I received wise and godly counsel, sought the Lord’s direction in prayer, and studied His Word. It was time for me to step past fear and intimidation. I needed to trust God with my physical and emotional safety as credible threats against my life had been made in the past. The Holy Spirit persistently prodded me to walk with Him in trusting obedience.  Eventually, my desire to serve Him outweighed my desire to flee from the object of my gut-wrenching, ungodly fear that had controlled my life for so long.

I asked faithful intercessors to pray for me. I created a security network and made a safety plan. There was a definite possibility of physical danger, as I had been warned to keep silent. With fear and trepidation, I wrote the letter I needed to write and then submitted it to trusted advisors, who encouraged me to be even more assertive in tone. I did as they suggested, but gut-wrenching, fear-driven cramps overcame me as I walked to the mailbox to mail the final draft.

The moment the stamped envelope slipped out of my fingers and into the mailbox, blind panic overcame me. What have I done? Breathing deeply, I stepped back and released the situation into the Lord’s hands. Immediately, a sense of peaceful resignation crept into my heart, pushing away the terror. I knew I had no control over the outcome, yet I sensed God’s pleasure in my obedience.

Ten days later, I received a phone call from the mediator I had set in place. A letter of reply had arrived in her office. To my surprise, the familiar panic and fear of reprisal I had lived with for so long didn’t overwhelm me. Intimidation abandoned its post. No matter what the letter contained, I had no doubt it would be anticlimactic. I didn’t need a trumpet from Heaven declaring God’s pleasure; the peace that wound its roots around my heart was a reward in itself. Fear no longer was the Lord of my heart; the Prince of Peace had taken His rightful throne.

Like the young friends of Daniel, I had been through the fire, yet no stench of that fire remained on me.

Daniel 3:27 – “And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counsellors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.”

When we obey His call, He is faithful to walk beside us. God will never command us to go anywhere without taking us by the hand and equipping us with all we need to face the challenges ahead. Choose to trust the Good Shepherd, even when His rod and staff lead where you fear to tread.

Personal Application

Suppose you listen to the voice of fear and trepidation more than the voice of God calling you forth into adventurous freedom,  STOP. Right at this very moment. Repent from placing fear on the throne of your heart. Declare Jesus Christ is on the throne, then live that out.

How do you live that out in practical ways?

Remind yourself of His truth. You might FEEL a particular emotion, but God’s truth always trumps our fears. His reality must take precedence over our distorted presumptions of what our future holds.

Take a risk today. Has God been speaking to you about a situation holding you in bondage? Do the what-ifs of intimidation plague your thought life? Seek wise counsel for strategy but take that first step today. Freedom is waiting for you on the other side.

Until Next Week

©2023 Katherine Walden