Does a faith in God mean I lose myself? We all have a really scary movie playing in the theater of our minds. An unredeemed imagination which left unmonitored will take us into all kinds of darkness and despair.
Fear is defined as an anxious feeling, caused by our anticipation of some imagined event or experience.
Psychology tells us there are 5 basic fears:
1. Extinction. Fear of death.
2. Mutilation or loss of bodily structure, losing the integrity of our body, mind, natural function. Fear of bugs, spiders & generally creepy things.
3. Loss of autonomy: fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or being controlled.
4. Separation: fear of abandonment, rejection, loss of connectedness, someone giving us the 'silent treatment.'
5. Ego-death: the Fear of humiliation, shame, or any mechanism of profound self-disapproval.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-five-basic-fears-we-all-live
Over the course of this message series we have been briefly touch on each Psychology’s top five as a point of awareness because awareness is the first step in solving the problem. Fear is a problem because it keeps us from what God has created us for. Over the last two weeks, we have covered the fear of ego death and the fear of separation. If you possess the fear of separation or of always needing to know, you can catch up by heading to the website download all our sermons. I hope when you are away you will always take 20-30 minutes to keep connected through this free resource. Today, let’s continue our walk through fear by digging in to the fear of being controlled.
The truth is we all have this fear. If you have ever found yourself at work being asked to perform a function to help the company and heard the announcer’s voice in your head say, “you don’t have to do that, it’s not in your job description,” you may have a fear of being controlled.
If you’ve never had that experience, let me ask you to review your childhood for a moment. Did you always listen to your parents? Did you always do what they told you? Why not? Be honest. You didn’t want to be controlled. Our parents weren’t always the dumbest people in the world. If fact, the older I get, the wiser they become.
Many among us have the fear of being controlled by a spouse. If you have uttered the words or even thought them, “who does he or she think she is?” You are afraid of being controlled.
If you have ever used the words, “He’s not the boss of me.” You are afraid of being controlled.
I had a friend once say after a particular incident with their spouse: “so I am just supposed to let them run all over me and tell me what to do? Doesn’t that make me a mindless idiot?” I said, “No. But it does mean you need to pray.” That, of course, went over like a punch to the face. This person wanted the answer on how they could regain control.
So how do we overcome this fear of being controlled?
Well, let’s take a few moments and review some scripture from the book of Daniel. If you haven’t been with us or missed a week or two, we have been walking through the book of Daniel. It’s a short book of God’s inspiration but it’s very powerful in terms of addressing and handling fear. I have asked everyone with earshot to read ½ a chapter a day. - Less time than some of you use to text at a stoplight. This week we were all supposed to have read chapter 7, 8 and 9.
Daniel’s not dealing with barbecues or lions; he’s dealing with dreams and visions. He says in two place after the first vision in 7:15 and 28, “I, Daniel, was troubled in the spirit and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me….I, Daniel was deeply troubled by my thoughts and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.” After the second vision in chapter 8, verse 27 he says, “I Daniel was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the kings business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.” In each vision Daniel asks for help from an angel for help in figuring out the vision and in both cases, Daniel struggles because the view of the future makes the world seem so out of control. He is discouraged and living in fear. Remember, fear is future events appearing real. Daniel is dealing with anxiety over the idea that God’s control might actually bring about the end of the world as he knows it. His solution is the same as my advice to that of my friend: He prays.
Let’s take a look at the scriptures. Please turn to Daniel chapter 9.
Read 1-3.
In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes(a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel in his frustration about what he has seen in his visions dives into the scriptures. He is captivated with Jeremiah’s writings and Isaiah. In reading them, he learns of God’s prophecies which he believes are about to be fulfilled or come true. And so, he prepares himself by using the disciplines of the faith: prayer, petition, fasting and ritual symbols (sackcloth and ashes). He then teaches us to pray when confronted with fear.
Read verse 4-6
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
Daniel’s approach to God was to appeal to for mercy and grace through the admittance of their guilt of not loving the Lord and then acting the part. The people had come to believe they were in control. And so Daniel comes before the Lord on behalf of those who call themselves believers in the most high God. Our God really.
Read verse 7-11
“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
He begins with adoration, moves to confession and then counts on God’s forgiveness. He emphasizes God is grace filled, faithful, promise keeping, never forgetting or forsaking mercy and grace. Daniel in his prayer names the offenses and recognizes God’s action against Israel was due to its unfaithfulness, sinfulness and disobedience. In so doing, he is recognizing the facts.
Read verse 12-14
You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
Daniel continues by recognizing God’s right to judge His people and even to do, in a way that might seem harsh to those outside the faith but is truly just when you considered it is not God that broke the covenant, it was man. If God wasn’t just with believers, how could he be just with the unbeliever? Daniel is admitting they have been given a just punishment. And this is where it gets interesting…
Read verse 15-19
“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
Daniel is now pleading with God for mercy because if they are forgiven, the people who have never believed will see how powerful God is. The real tragedy would not be the Jewish people losing their faith but that the pagans and gentiles might never find theirs.
The fear of being controlled is actually an opportunity to demonstrate to others our belief of who actually is in control. When we stop fearing being controlled by others, we can open ourselves up to letting God be God. When we surrender our fear of being controlled, we open ourselves up to God’s direction. In a world full of people who want to be in control, including us, Surrendering control of this life to God, conquers fear, demonstrates our understanding that God loves us and gives us freedom. It’s also highly attractive to others.
Daniel used the tools communication with God - reading the word of God, prayer, fasting, mediating and participating in the rituals – as a way to become more comfortable with God’s direction. We have these same tools. By using them, we admit to ourselves we are not in charge, there is a bigger world than our eyes are able to see and He will guide us if we will take the time to listen. In surrendering in this way, the world gets much bigger. We are no longer bound to the here and now but now and later. When as the apostle John wrote, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love,” he was pointing to a universal truth, when we surrender our will, our control and our fears to God, he meets us with love,peace, joy and hope.
It is also an understanding that while the world us against us, God is for us. Whom shall I fear?
The only question is how much of those do you want?
www.communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info/
