Asked to leave the familiar security of my house, I would cry myself to sleep in a sleeping bag on the hard basement floor of my friend’s house. With my fragile, battered soul and any remaining hope ripped from me, I would simply collapse from the weight of my life. Images pounded me like the relentless, battering waves against a rocky sea shore as I replayed events in my mind. Chaos entered my life as my entire world eroded and washed away all around me. I became so completely crushed and broken that a part of me wanted to die because I couldn’t stand the torment of this deep, gut-wrenching pain. Broken and alone, I would silently drown within a puddle of my tears fading into this scene of sorrow.

My spirit ached!

I found myself standing between fear of the unknown and the weight of my circumstances bearing down on me, which felt like the death of any remaining hope.

The Israelites found themselves in such a place. They could see the expanse of dry land the Red Sea had once occupied; the mighty walls of water supernaturally held back by the awesome hand of God; and they could see that the armies of Egypt were bearing down on them. In addition to their not clearly seeing the other shore of the parted Red Sea and perhaps their apprehension that the walls of water could come crashing down on them was their fear of the unknown, and the Egyptian army was the means of their certain death. They became paralyzed by fear.

The emptiness is now very real!

These familiar shadows are closing in!

A suffocating fear descends upon me!

There is nowhere left to hide!

That was me years ago, completely paralyzed by fear! It put me in a choke hold, wrestled me to the ground and kicked me in the face on a daily basis.

That was no way to live!

We all know how powerful fear can be in our lives. It can control us, it can own us and most of us have a very difficult time shaking it loose…but it is POWERLESS when it’s up against love! 1 John 4:18 echoes this, “But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love!”

When we open the door to fear and begin to live our lives in that fear, we end up living in the paralysis of a cage of our own making. What’s even more haunting is that we actually hold the very keys to the cages we put ourselves into — by our choices!

Not sure what your fears are or where they come from but they become your master and everything you fear outside of God becomes a cruel master in your life. God is the ONLY master that will replace all of your fear with His love! [sidebar] I know people get all amped up when God is referred to as “Master”, but be we all worship or follow someone or something…so who or what is it for you?

When you begin to get this and action it out in your life it will give you the courage to speak right to your fears of man, failure, shame, rejection, fill in the blank ______. When all of your fear is directed towards God (Psalm 111:10) and all of His love is directed towards you…you will be able to begin to live a more fearless life!

If your life has been paralyzed by fear, if your future has been hijacked by fear or if your very freedom has been limited by fear…remember, God’s perfect love casts casts out all fear!

Take every chance and drop every fear, the choice is yours! Lucas Jonkman reminds us that if we fight our fears we will be in battle forever, but if we face them we will be free forever. Stop letting fear rule your life!

I know this is easier said than done, so here are 7 ways I’ve learned to manage fear!

May you take your first step into releasing fear’s grip on your life! May you begin to experience the freedom on the other side of your fears! May you come alive!