Fear is a thief. A coward. It sneaks upon on you. It never can come to you plain and bold. It hides, lurks in the shadows, always waiting for an importune moment. It is always ready to be at war, ready to consume. Fear is passionate in its pursuit. Never relenting. And when it catches you, it isn't polite when it greets you. It doesn't ask for permission. It has no sense of boundaries. It comes anyway. And you have to stand up to it each and every time. You must be vigilant. You must be militant against it. If you give it room to speak, make sure you have a response. Always have a response to fear. Because if you allow it to speak, giving it an audience, it will eclipse every hope and expectation. It will cast a shadow of impossibility that was not there before. It kills hope. It kills joy. It kills expectation. It dances with doubt and intimidates you to abandon your purpose, your work. It dulls your senses, and obscures your vision, until you cannot see beyond what is in front of you.
That is, if you let it.

Fear is a thief. But it can embolden you to defend what is yours. Fear can be conquered, even in the midst of a deluge of challenges. God encourages you not to be fearful, especially when you are at a disadvantage. Fear closes you up to strategies, and options in the thick of things. But you must stand bold and protect your vision and your goal. What he will not deliever us from, He will walk through with us. And that is our assurance, that we will make it. But you must stand up to fear. Stand, and guard what is yours. Do not let it steal from you. Do not surrender what is yours. Do not allow fear to kill and destroy your expectations in life. Hang on to that dream and feed it. Plant your seeds and water them. Prune those gifts and talents. Protect them. Don't forsake them because of fear, yours or another's. Do not let fear make you a coward.


For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind| 2 Timothy 1:7|