There are things in this life that we get a bit nervous and anxious about … but every now and then we’re confronted by something that strikes fear into our hearts. Fear – how do you handle it?

When was the last time that you were afraid? I’m not talking just about being a little bit nervous, I’m not talking a bit anxious about something, I’m talking serious fear. That sort of gut wrenching, debilitating fear that we all go through from time to time. When was the last time you felt the cold blade of fear pierce your heart?

I have no doubt whatsoever that you know exactly what I’m talking about because we’ve all been there in that place and I have no doubt that you can remember the last time of great fear in your life as though it was yesterday.

I can think back to maybe four or five times in my life when I’ve been incredibly afraid. One time was when we just bought a new house. It was an old place built back in the 1890’s badly in need of renovation. An old three-storey terrace and we felt really led to sell our previous house and buy this one and do it up.

We tend to make big decisions in our lives only after praying, only after committing them to God and we, my wife Jacqui and I, felt really this is the step that God wanted us to take so we did. And once the house was settled and we moved in we submitted our renovation plans to the local council, it’s all pretty normal and what came back shocked us and filled us with fear.

Despite all the normal disclosures by the venders and all the normal searches by our solicitor during the purchasing process it seems there was some obscure ruling that designated our house as a low cost rental boarding house. Now there are a few large terraces in our street that were just that but our place? And the result of that was that not only that we may not be able to do our renovations at all but quite possibly the government could force us to turn the place back into a boarding house.

The night I found that out I was sick to the stomach. I didn’t sleep at all that night; fear gripped every cell of my body. I don’t know how it is for you but when we buy a house, hey that’s pretty much all our savings that we pour into it. Well, were we about to come completely unstuck and lose everything? And the battle with city hall went on for over nine months before the whole thing was finally resolved.

Do you remember that sort of fear in your place; that fear that grips every cell of your body? Maybe it was during a time when one of your children was gravely ill. Perhaps you’ve travelled through divorces, so many people have and you know the fear of the uncertainty of your future.

The terrible thing about fear aside from how it makes us feel is that it’s totally debilitating. It does one of two things, either it causes us to lash out and do stupid things, things that aren’t in our best interest, things that are only going to make things worse instead of better.

Or the other thing that fear does is that it makes us freeze. It’s as though we’re totally immobilised, incapable of thinking straight, incapable of taking any actions that are going to make things better and keep us safe. Like the proverbial rabbit on the road at night, caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, it freezes. Unless it moves quickly it’s going to get run over.

Over the last little while on the program we’ve been talking about how to live an extraordinary life in a series of messages that I’ve called, ‘The Art of Living’.

You see my theory is this: we only have one crack at life here on this earth. We can either waste that life completely or we can live a mediocre life that never really amounts to much, that never impacts other people’s lives, that’s what most people seem to do or we can live an extraordinary life. Part of living that extraordinary life is knowing how to get through fear, how to deal with fear and cope with fear because it doesn’t matter who you are, what your position or your status or your wealth is, you are going to experience fear at some point in your life.

Now I’m a very strong person emotionally, it’s the way I’m wired, my personality type has some down sides but one of my upsides is that I’m strong but still there are times when I’m afraid and the only place where I’ve been able to deal effectively with that fear, the only place where I’ve been able to discover the peace in the middle of a storm is in God Himself. Have a listen to what God has to say about fear, Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10:

Don’t be afraid, I am with you. Don’t be afraid, I’m your God. I’ll strengthen you, I’ll help you, I’ll uphold you with my victorious right hand.

This God who sent Jesus His Son to suffer and die for you and me is a God who loves us and a God who doesn’t want us to be afraid and the truly awesome thing about that is that we only really discover the power of that love when we’re afraid.

I have no idea where you are in your life. It may be that you simply don’t believe in this God, and okay, that is completely your decision. I’m not here to ram anything down anyone’s throat but what I’ve discovered in my experience is that it doesn’t matter how fearful I am, it doesn’t matter how overwhelming my circumstances are, this same God of whom I speak is prepared to step into our space, to walk with us and to be with us and to protect us and to provide for us.

I don’t care what it is, a tsunami, an earthquake, God is right there in the middle of all of that. Psalm 46 from the Old Testament beginning at verse 1:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid even if the earth should change, even if the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with this tumult we will not be afraid.

And it doesn’t matter which way you look at that, what angle you come at it from, that is such good news, it’s great news, it’s fantastic news and the only way to discover whether it’s true or not is to try it next time you’re afraid. To pray, to commit your situation into Gods hands and wait for Him and see what He’s going to do. You know what? There is absolutely no other way to find out if it’s true or not.

Someone once asked me, “but Berni is it the right thing for me to do, to in a sense just assume that God wants to help me, to rely on God in this way? Isn’t it wrong just to expect God to show up when I’m afraid? Maybe He wants me to be afraid, maybe He’s too busy, maybe… Am I being presumptuous?”

I can kind of understand but my answer is “absolutely it’s the right thing to do”. Listen to a few Scriptures here, Joshua chapter 1, verse 9. God says:

I hereby command you, be strong and courageous, don’t be frightened, don’t be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Psalm 23, verse 4:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will not be afraid for you are with me.

Romans chapter 8, verse 15:

You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear; you have received a spirit of adoption as children by whom we cry ‘Abba – Father’.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16:

Therefore come boldly before the throne of grace so that you may receive mercy and grace in the time of your need.

And so it goes on. Friend, that’s just a handful of Scriptures, just a smattering of the many, many passages in Gods Word where He tells us that He wants us to boldly and confidentially rely on Him.

I’m really conscious that right now that someone might be listening who is travelling through a difficult time. Can I say to you, God has not given you a spirit of fear but a spirit of love and of power and of a sound mind so that you can confidentially say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid, what can anyone do to me?”