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Fear is a real issue in every area of life. It can seem relentless- keeping you up and night and preventing you even from feeling FREE in your daily life. And that’s ultimately the goal of fear: to paralyze you. To hold you hostage, to not take risks and live within perceived comfort zones. To always play it safe, and feel AFRAID while you’re doing it. It’s total crap. But it’s real. And it seems to run rampant in our financial lives. Fear of lack or loss. Fear of not measuring up to some arbitrary standard. It’s all fear. And it all sucks.
The Emotion of Fear
There’s this tendency to overfocus on the EMOTION of fear. And while the emotions we experience are real, they’re just symptomatic. They are not the problem. So continuing to address the symptom will only give you temporary relief, not permanent freedom. You want to cut fear off at the roots, not just get rid of the visible fruit.
So what’s the root?
The Opposite of Fear
In order to get to the root of fear, you have to look at the opposite of it. A lot of us think the opposite of fear is faith, but the bible is clear – the opposite of faith is sight (ref. 2 Cor. 5:7). What then is the opposite of fear? The answer, my friends, is love.
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” In other words, fear and love are mutually exclusive. They cannot exist in the presence of one another. They’re polar opposites.
The root of fear, specifically related to finances, is not believing that you’re radically loved by the Father and that he delights in providing abundantly for you!
Fear can be sneaky— really sneaky. Sneaky to the point where you have absolutely no idea you’re making decisions from a place of fear. But every thought you have and every emotion you feel comes from one of two places – FEAR or LOVE. And when you realize this and you start evaluating your mind, will & emotions on a daily basis, it can be startling how much we live under the influence of fear.
So how do we get rid of this fear we often don’t even know we’re being influenced by?
We act.
The Actionable Solution
Fear wants you to be paralyzed, to shrink back, stay where you are and not do anything ever. And when you do act, fear wants you to make decisions out of the place of being afraid, not out of being powerful (which is who you are as a child of God). And when we act in the spirit of fear, we empower that spirit to have influence in our lives. Which is why the cycles I referenced earlier seem to never end.
So we must act in the opposite spirit: Love.
It’s not as complicated as you might think. Here’s an example:
One day I was driving to work and was suddenly overcome by a fear of lack. “Out of nowhere” all these thoughts popped into my head:
How are we going to financially sustain 2 kids? (I’m currently pregnant with our 2nd)
There will never be enough to cover all our expenses.
My student loan payments will never end.
Maternity leave is going to take us under financially.
Now, regardless of what our current financial situation may be, there are 3 important facts to take away from this:
1. These thoughts clearly came from fear. And if I made a decision from that place, I’d be empowering fear in my life and would experience it again sooner or later.
2. I know God always speaks in love – He is Love. So this was not His voice.
3. And I know that this is what God says about financial considerations:
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:38
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
Galatians 6:7
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”
Malachi 3:10
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:25-26
So my actionable solution in this situation was to give.
After I got to work, I sat down and gave an offering. And almost immediately after hitting the “give” button, I felt fear leave and the love of God settle on my heart. You see, in agreeing with what He says by acting accordingly, I empower His reality in my life. And His reality is love, which casts out all fear.
Fear of Lack
The truth is – everyone I’ve met experiences fear of lack. People with more than enough just the same as those scraping by. The reality is that fear doesn’t discriminate and fear of lack is killing our ability to dream and move forward in this world. You cannot create out of lack, or build out of lack. You cannot move forward in your calling out of lack. And we are all called to be creators of wealth and builders of heaven on earth. So here is your assignment to free yourself of fear of lack and the poverty mindset:
Identify the areas you feel bound or unable to act in complete freedom.
A hint to help: If “what if’s” are directing your choices, you’re not free in that area.
Ask Papa God to tell you what He says about those areas/choices/etc.
A Couple Tips: If you don’t hear anything right away, ask again. His voice will never contradict his word – so start there.
Develop a strategy with Holy Spirit to ACT.
Note: This is the key step. Acting in the opposite spirit is the point of all this. If you’re fearing not having enough – give. You can never out give God. As you measure, so it will be measured to you …
Do exactly what the spirit of fear is telling you not to do. As Vincent Van Gogh once said,
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Now you tell us – how have you struggled with fear and what have you done to overcome it? What questions do you have about taking action against fear in finances?
