The Mighty God & The Taunting Giant: Overcoming The Giant Of Fear

"The antidote to fear is faith" 

Louis Giglio, Goliath Must Fall

Hello and welcome back to another article. If you are new: Welcome! We are back on track with our new series The Mighty God & the Taunting giant after one segue from the first article led to another segue (don't judge me).

Today we are talking about another giant that is somewhat difficult and embarrassing to name to the face of the world. We refuse to name it and even say it out loud because we are apprehensive of people's opinion and the way the world will look at us. The taunting giant we are talking about today is fear. It is everywhere, visible and yet so subtle, sometimes crawling under our skin, making our heart pound for no apparent reason or even keeping us up at night. Fear wears many faces and has a lot of names but the two that stuck with me were anxiety and PTSD because we spent quite some time together. I've had a tumultuous relationship with those two for about a decade, with a few (and brief) moments of finally being able to catch my breath (and sanity) only to be sucked back into the insanity again. 

Fear robs us from moments, from peace and from opportunities. Fear blinds us to the possibilities by binding our minds to the worst possible outcomes. Fear kills us by withering any hope we might still have to see and experience things getting better. 

As a christian fighting anxiety, PTSD and depression all together at some point in life, I have heard countless times that the answer was simply to pray because in itself, prayer is supposed to be a panache that cures everything, no matter what it is. In theory (which seems to be a rather amazing place where everything works or is better) it works. But in real life, it is an other story especially when those three can play tag and mess with your sanity at any random time of the day. 

Fear runs deeper than prayer and unless there is an awareness of where it comes from, praying will most likely look like taking an Advil to treat a recurrent headache which could be a symptom of something potentially serious or perhaps deadly. Uprooting fear from our core being requires a process just like explaining why those violent headaches mentioned above are reoccurring. It is a process of looking at the frequency of the headaches, what triggers them, are they always at the same intensity, how long you have had them and then once those questions have been answered, we design a treatment to be followed to possibly cure or lessen the intensity/frequency/duration/impact of the headaches. 

Where is fear coming from? Did you grow up around people that were all-time champions in the worrying category and so you were conditioned to constantly be worried? Did you grow up in an environment where fear was a constant thing? Was there a constant threat such as an abusive parent? War? Or was it an unstable environment that constantly left you on your toes wondering when things were good when they would get worse again?

Is it fear of your imperfections, mistakes or even sins coming out and all of the sudden you are afraid of people's stare, opinion or judgement?

Is it just the fear of not being in control of the way things are happening in your life and around you? 

I'm sure some of you will read this and will pinpoint one thing that you can identify with. My personal experience of fear made me check a box near all of the items listed above that Louie Giglio had organized in three categories: the conditioning, the concealing and the controlling. 

And just as some people believe that praying is the answer, it so happen that some of us believe that this taunting giant of fear - that shows up in the most unexpected way, at the most unexpected time, playing tricks with our mind and gripping us by the collar, leaving us grasping for air - cannot be defeated. And so we negotiate, we compromise, we accommodate the giant with liquid courage, we flirt drugs or sign up for a lifetime supply of Xanax. We try everything and anything that can silence the loud voice of the taunting giant of fear for a little while in order for us to catch a break and breathe a little. 

But what if we didn't have to live up to the expectations of this giant? What if we didn't have to accommodate it anymore? What if uncovering the root of our fears at the light of the Gospel and then bringing it to Jesus through prayer was the cure not to be fearless but to fear less? What if Faith was the answer all along? Not the one that Louie Giglio refers to as the "schizophrenic faith" where we believe in a mighty God capable of turning things around and yet, we accommodate the giant but rather true faith which foundations rest on the Word of God and His immutable promises.

Fear comes from what our giant tells us: You will never make it, you can't do it, it is happening all over again, things will always be like this, what makes you believe you are any different than your mother... father... sister...brother? you'll end just like them. Faith comes from what God tells us and says about us. 

So how exactly do you trade the words of the taunting giants with those of God? Louie Giglio gave us four powerful ingredients that when combined build a solid faith, which is the "antidote to fear." Here are the four things that we need to know and remember:

1- God is able

To save. To heal. To restore. To deliver. You name it. There is nothing too big for God to do. He is the same one who brought Lazarus back to life. He fed five thousand people and there was still food left. He is the one who delivered Israel from the hands of Pharaoh. The same one who fed the widow of Zarephath while his servant Elijah was dwelling with her. He gave Hannah a son and resurrected Jesus. His faithfulness and power are still at work and He is bigger than anything that might come our way during our walk on this earth. When faced with fear, these are the truths we need to lean on to build a faith strong enough to resist the assaults of fear and overcome it. Saturating ourselves with the Word of God is a powerful way to drown the voice of our taunting giant until he can no longer speak because his lies have been uncovered through of the truth of God that is His word.

2- Keep your eyes on the Lord

If you have read some of my past articles then you know two things: a) I am very found of the story about Peter walking on water and b) Hebrew 12:2 is one of my favorite Bible verse. Why those two together particularly? Well because I do believe that keeping our gaze on Jesus (and having faith) is what can allow us to do things similar (not quite literally) to what Peter has done. Nobody ever walked on water: the people before him failed but he did! When we set our eyes on the Lord, what seemed to be impossible before becomes possible. Setting our eyes on the Lord allows us to walk through the storm, to break through the ceiling of low expectations set up by the giant of fear and live a purposeful, fulfilling and abundant life, confidently knowing that God is with us even in the middle of the storm as He was with Peter when He commanded him to walk on the waters. 

3- Put a name on it

Name what it is that is keeping you up at night, making you feel anxious and restless. Bring it to God in prayer and for whatever it is that your anxiety, restlessness and fear is tied to, trust and believe that there is a truth in the Word of God, a promise that testifies of how big your God is next to that mountain. By bringing it to God and replacing fear with faith we are essentially telling God : "This look big and impossible to manage to me, but I bring this to you because I know you are a mighty God that can handle this". We give it to God and we go to bed, trusting that the God who came to the rescue of Daniel in the burning furnace and the den of lions will rescue us too and make a way where there seems to be no way. He is that kind of faithful and mighty God.

4- Praise and worship Him

Praising is not ignoring what is going on but rather acknowledging that God is with us in the midst of what we are going through. Worshiping and praising is standing tall, eye to eye, toe to toe, face to face with the very situation that the enemy is using to try to bring us down and tell that situation about your mighty God. Worshiping and praising is in the words of Louie Giglio :" [to] sing into the face of the uncertainty about a sure and unchanging God."

Faith built through these four ingredients essentially boils down to one thing: being aware of God's presence in every situation we go through, every step of the way, no matter how long the process is. God is with us, sees us, and knows each and every one of our moves because He is an all seeing, all knowing God. Faith is to put our focus on God, just like David did, rather than the taunting giant of fear who shows up to demoralize us everyday. Overcoming the giant of fear is a process, but God already granted us victory and our only requirement to live that victory and freedom is to manifest Faith. 

This is it for the second article of The Mighty God & The Taunting Giant: Overcoming The Giant Of Fear. I hope you found something helpful and no matter what you are going through right now, know that this too shall pass and in the end, God always win. Always.

Until next time,

The Happiness Fairy 👸