Category: Fear

Free from the Fog of Fear

I thought this was a very good devotional on how fear affects our every day life. I can fool myself that I am not often afraid until I ponder the synonyms for fear….anxiety, concern, doubt, dread, unease, worry. Yep there is plenty of that in my life to deal with! Thanks for this great word about dealing with all of that!

devos from the hill

Mars Hill Staff Devotional
from Fred Carpenter

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18 NASB

Today we are talking about fear. Not the kind of fear that suddenly grips you with terror, but the kind that lurks below the surface of your conscious mind. The fear we equate with terror comes on us in an instant, like a life-threatening wound from a gunshot. The kind of fear we are talking about today is more like a slow moving disease. It’s the kind of fear you may not even be aware of, or have forgotten was there, until you’re faced with a challenge (or an opportunity) that reminds you of its power.

This is the kind of fear every one of us inherited as a son of Adam. This…

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Truth or Dare?

?   I don’t know if you have ever played this game, but I remember playing it in Jr High and I recall that some people would much rather attempt any crazy stunt than expose themselves in some revelation of a truth that others might not know. And usually, this “truth” involved our feelings about someone we were secretly crushing on. It is funny how shy and vulnerable we can be in sharing our true feelings and passions about others with others.

No one really likes being mocked or made fun of for their deep feelings and passions or core beliefs and standards. No one likes to appear foolish. I suspect that our shy feelings as young people stem from the fact that our admirations were not yet known and reciprocated. Thus we would feel terribly foolish to have them presented and be rejected.

As for core beliefs and standards, until they are firmly tested and settled we are again usually reticent to reveal them lest we find them weak and faulty and show ourselves lacking in knowledge and unprepared. This is especially true of spiritual matters…especially because when you believe in an infinite God there is an infinite amount of knowledge to be gained about Him!

But I am writing to encourage you and also myself that there are truths about Him that are foundational and knowable from the very beginning of faith and we should have the confidence to pursue these foundation stones and claim them, present them, and build on them. This “building” is our lives and our lives are there for others to see. And if the elements we use to build our lives are solid and TRUE then our lives will stand up to scrutiny and testing and we have nothing to fear.

To close, I read the following excerpt from a book by James R White, “What Every Christian Needs to Know About The Qu’ran” and his comments about pursuing and presenting TRUTH really struck a chord with me.

May I suggest, against the trends of contemporary culture, that to ignore our differences or refuse to discuss them forthrightly is itself an act of disrespect to your faith and to mine?

In other words, I respect those who disagree with me enough to tell them when I believe they are wrong. The world today says we cannot openly disagree, especially in the area of religion, without being hateful or bigoted. I suggest that, conversely, it is the world’s attitude that is hateful and bigoted. If we will not say that anything is wrong, then at the same time, whether or not we want to admit it, we also are saying there is nothing that is right. Herein we are denying the existence of truth in the realm of faith, and that is a slap in the face of every believer of every creed or background.

So it turns out that the biggest dare of all is to speak truth!