We Have To Be Aware of What We Are Inviting Into Our Lives

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a disciplined mind.”

~ 2 Timothy 1:7

It’s a new week and I am starting off this week feeling inspired.  I was watching Joel Osteen again yesterday (another one of those instances where I accidentally turned to the channel) and the topic of his message was fear, specifically activating faith instead of activating fear.  Obviously this is an issue that I have within myself because I have been known to miss a lot of opportunities due to my fear for one thing or another.

However, this message wasn’t just discussing how fear holds you back but rather about how dwelling on our fears is giving those fears power and essentially when we are fearful we are coming into agreement with whatever it is that we are afraid of, therefore giving it a right to become a reality.  There were so many things that Joel Osteen spoke about in his message that struck a chord with me and I really wanted to share them with those of you out there who feel like they are constantly fearful of whatever might happen and who increasingly worry about being defeated and failing.  Below I have listed the things that had the most impact on me and maybe they can impact your life as well:

1. Whatever you meditate on is what is going to take root.
2. Fear and faith have something in common; they both ask us to believe something is going to happen that we can not see.
3. Fear is using your faith in the wrong direction.
4. The first place that we lose the battle is in our own thinking.
5. When you go around dwelling on your fears, expecting the worst to happen, you are inviting the worst into your life.
6. By worrying you are saying that you do not have faith in what God has in store for you.
7. When the enemy is placing negative thoughts in your mind and you agree with those negative thoughts, you are coming into agreement with that negativity;  Pay attention to what you are coming into agreement with.
8. Fear always presents itself to look much bigger than it really is.
9. Fear can create a barrier; wrong thinking can keep you from God’s best.
10. Don’t agree with what the fear says about you, agree with what God says about you.

In the end of his message Joel Osteen asked two really important questions.  How many times do we kill our own dreams with our thoughts and how many times have we stopped God’s blessings and his favor because we are dwelling on the fear?  We give the fear we have way too much power and by giving it that power we in a sense agree with whatever our fear tells us is going to happen.

Fear has become something that the majority of us deal with on a pretty consistent basis (I feel like I am attacked by it most times) but watching Joel Osteen yesterday I started to realize that the key to dealing with fear is not to face it head on, but rather to not even invite it in your life to begin with.  Instead of worrying about all of the things that can or have gone wrong, take note of all of the things that have not gone wrong and trust in the fact that God would never put anything on your path that was meant to harm you or to keep you from the destiny that he has prepared for you.

Rather than inviting fear and defeat (or bad luck) into your everyday life, invite victory and realize that with every obstacle that we face and every hurdle that we jump over, we are becoming even more victorious in reaching the life we were destined to have.  Have you been unknowingly inviting all of the things that you are afraid of into your life?  Don’t activate fear, activate faith!  When fear knocks, let faith answer the door.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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