“Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on
its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD…”
Ezra 3.3 NIV
All of
us have had moments in life where fear has stopped us from doing what we felt
God was calling us to do. Even the
greatest leaders who accomplish amazing things deal with fear. Fear has the potential to cripple all forward
progress and leave us feeling inadequate and insecure. As a leader we must learn to face our fears
and continue to drive onward. We need to
harness the spirit of the great cowboy John Wayne: “Courage is being scared to
death, and saddling up anyway.”
During
the reforms of Ezra’s day fear was a constant reality. The Jewish people were prisoners of war. They were captive in a foreign land and forced
to endure life as glorified servants of their new masters the Persians. Eventually God touched the heart of Cyrus the
Persian king causing him to let the Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild the
broken down city with its temple to Yahweh.
The people banded together and journeyed back to their homeland
determined to pick up the pieces of their former lives. They faced opposition. People weren’t exactly kind to them nor were
they supportive of their rebuilding efforts.
Yet the people still worked. They
faced their fears head on and continued to rebuild. As a matter of fact, the verse above says that
they worked “despite their fear.”
As
leaders we will constantly face the challenge of working despite our
fears. Any time you try to step out and
do something new you will face fears. I
think that it is a natural human tendency to think of all the ways that our new
endeavor will not work instead of
thinking of all the ways that it will
work. We rehearse all the possible
setbacks and heartbreaks. We hear the
voice of our friends and family telling us why we shouldn’t do it. We remember the last time we tried to lead
something in a big way only to fall flat on our face. Eventually all of that thinking breathes life
to our fears and paralyzes us from action.
So I
say to you today – NO MORE!!! If God is
calling you to do it…do it! Embrace your
fears, yes that’s right – embrace them.
Trust God even though it feels like you are setting yourself up for
failure or embarrassment. Breathe deeply
and move forward. Like the people of
Ezra’s day, lead big despite your fear.
THREE THINGS TO DO WHEN FEAR STOPS YOU
1) Admit that you’re scared.
For
many this is a hard pill to swallow. It
is natural for us to feel the need to cover up all of our shortcomings. There are always things that only you and Jesus
know – and your specific fear may be one of those things – what I am saying
here is stop lying to yourself. Don’t
deny it and try to white knuckle your way through it. Confront the fact that you have fear or insecurity
or a hard time trusting God to bring you through this. You are a bigger leader than you fear. Confront what is confronting you and begin
the journey to push forward despite your fear.
2) Build one brick at a time.
Craig
Walker, Lead Pastor of Upward Church, recently said, “A brick wall is just the
same old boring brick over and over again.”
That statement rocked me. If I
want to build something big it is the result of consistently doing the same
things over and over again. How do you
overcome fear? Build one small brick at
a time. It won’t look like much when you
get started, but after a few more bricks you’ll begin to see progress. Take small steps to defeat the fear that is
threatening to stop you from fulfilling God’s mission for your life. With each step forward you are just (cheesy
Pink Floyd reference coming) putting “another brick in the wall.”
3) Communicate with those closest to you.
I
promise you that someone in your close circle of friends has dealt with a fear
similar to the one that is staring you face-to-face right now. They may even be fighting at this very
moment. Share the load. Talk with them about it. I have a few close friends who I stay in
close contact with who help me when I am dealing with fear (or anything
else). Proverbs 27.17 says, “As iron
sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (NLT). Let people into your life who can keep you
sharp. Pick up the phone, Skype, Facebook,
send a Tweet, whatever you have to do…do it!
You’ll see that having someone to face your fears with in prayer is
invaluable. I am convinced that one of
the primary ways that the devil stops our progress is by making us believe the
lie that “Nobody else deals with this.”
That is simply not true. Don’t
let that lie force you into living and leading alone. Communicate clearly and communicate
often.
These are just a few observations pertaining to how we can effectively
deal with fear. What are your thoughts?
