How to Get Rid of Fearful Thoughts {Thursday Therapy}
Do you ever entertain fearful thoughts? Me too. Yet fear is always an assumption of something that hasn't happened. It's an expectation of evil. Of evidence that may appear real, but hasn't been proven.But mostly fear's a time of living outside of the awareness of God RIGHT NOW.Scary. And all of us do it. We fill our minds with fear and slam the door on God. Oh, we'll think about him later when our emotions calm down. Maybe.But that's not how God works. He is always present in the now. He was there in the past, and he'll be there in your future. But now is what counts. Not WAS or WILL, but IS. God is. He was and will be, but "is" is what matters when fear strangles you.Gregory A. Boyd makes this statement in Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now:
The past is gone. The future is not yet. We remember the past and anticipate the future, but we always do so in the present. Reality is always now. And the single most important aspect of reality is that God is present in it every moment. To forget that God is present in any given moment is to forget the most important aspect of that moment.
So fear isn't the most important feature of your emotional upheaval. God's presence in the midst of the upheaval RIGHT NOW is the most amazing, freeing, and awesome part of your fear struggle. Here's how that works:
Get rid of fearful thoughts
1. Remind yourself that you are, right now, cushioned in God's love. He won't let you go. Whatever your body is in contact with—chair, floor, or bed—is a reminder of God's loving support of you. Feel the physical support and imagine it being God's love. Rest his love.2. Remember that God's love doesn't change. It doesn't waver or grow dim. His love is BIG and sends fear fleeing.
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 (1 John 4:18 NIV).
So the challenge in fearful situations is to ignore fear's assumptions and focus on God's love for you this very moment. And the next moment. And the next. Until whatever you were fearing is no longer your problem, but God's.Want more help in dealing with fearful thoughts? See How to Let God Love You, How to Cleanse Your Mind With a Mind Detox, and How to Leave a Problem in God's Hands and Not Steal It Back.Until next week! Enjoy your summer fairs, family gatherings, and living in the love of God this very moment, Susan"Jesus likes it when we share." -Adelaide, age 3: Pass this along to everybody and their brother. OK, maybe not everybody's brother, but you know, all of your friends would be nice.