A FEAR OF BELIEVING

At first listen, there are those who might say, is it even possible to be a believer, and yet have a Fear of Believing.

Sounds like an oxymoron I know, but the answer is YES, its possible.

I’ve even had it myself before a time or two hundred and will likely have it again.

I’m not the only one either, take a look at what one person had to say.

Immediately the father of the boy cried out with a desperate, piercing cry, saying, “I do believe; help me to overcome my unbelief.” Mark 9:24

This father was a believer, yet he had A Fear of Believing what he needed to for his son.

Sometimes, we need help believing. I’m a believer Lord, but can you help me overcome some areas of unbelief.

In life, a situation can present itself that requires you to believe more than you are comfortable with believing at that time.

We might feel comfortable believing at one level, but if a situation arises that requires five or six times more than what we’re comfortable with believing, then we have a problem.

The clinical term that relates to this is Pisanthrophobia, which is the Fear of Trusting.

Our trusting issue has less to do with God and more to do with us.

Why would I say that? I’m glad you asked.

Because we know way more about ourselves than we know about God.

You see we know ALL the bad things that we’ve done. One by one we can count them. So that makes us have trust issues within ourselves.

We have a hard time believing that if anyone knew the true us, that they would approve of us.

So, we find it easier just to have a fear to believe. I’m actually afraid to believe it can happen for me.

All of us are likely fearful of something in life, if we’re being truly honest about it.

Whether it is for us or for someone else. We were born with fear.

But a Fear of Believing doesn’t have to be the end of us, or our story.

Faith has levels, great faith, little faith, and no faith.

Believing has levels also, and steps to be climbed to reach its highest heights.

I’ve experienced 5 common believing steps that I feel we must all climb up.

The First Step to climb up to get over our Fear of Believing is what I like to call the Fear of Self.

In the Fear of Self step, we must forget what we think negatively about ourselves.

I can’t. I aint, I won’t, I didn’t. We gotta stop the negativity.

To climb this first step, you are going to have to believe contrary to perhaps what your current situation, circumstance, training, or pedigree portrays about you.

It is not about who you’ve been, its about who you are becoming.

This step is critical before you can climb any further. You gotta believe you’re better suited for the next level than you might think you are.

Not arrogantly or narcissistically, but by faith in God.

Next is Step Two, we must climb the Fear of Perfection. Contrary to what you may feel or have been taught, you do not have to be perfect. No one is, so stop trying to be the first one. Perfection is ever illusive because it changes frequently, and thus it cannot be attained. We have all been created Divinely Dysfunctional. Pick up your copy today Divinely Dysfunctional: Unique on Purpose — Benton T. Thompson III (bentonthompsoniii.com)

The Third Step to climb is the Fear of Failure. Failure is final, so if you never give up, then you will never fail. We must contend with failure. It will not be easy; failure is no pushover. So, fight the good fight of faith. If it doesn’t happen the 1st time or the 50th time, you are not a failure. You are a contender on your way to becoming a champion. All because you have kept fighting the good fight of believing.

Step Four, we’re getting closer so more will be required. The Fourth Step to climb to overcome our Fear of Believing is the Fear of Running Out of Time. Success cannot be put on a clock. We will just have to believe there is a dedicated time when all things will align and thus usher in what we are believing for. When our beliefs change it puts things in motion. Belief alters Time. The Bible clearly states there is a time for everything.

The Fifth and final step that I’ve had to learn to climb to get over a Fear of Believing is the Fear of Trusting God Personally. Yes, I saved the biggest step for last.

As I said earlier, we don’t really know God. We know of him, we’ve heard about him, we’ve read about him.  The easiest way to learn to trust God is to think about his rep. Yeah, his “Rep”. God is not going to ruin his reputation over little ole me or you. If God said it, he will do it. Gods word mean everything to him. Gods word means everything to us. Everything we know and experience in life was created by Gods word. So, if he lies to anyone of us the whole universe will explode and it wont matter anyway. But, but, but. His word says he can’t lie. So, he won’t even be able to lie to us. Guess we can trust him then!

So join me as we step through our Fear of Believing.

Jesus said, “Why do you say ‘if you can’? Anything is possible for someone who has faith.

This is a Thompson Truth