Triumph

Over
FEAR

Fear not; I am the first and the last!

Michael Bimbo Ojelabi

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DEDICATION:

In the name of God Almighty, and solely to the glory of God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this little treatise is written and
dedicated to the reading pleasure of all children of God, and, especially
written in memory of my father --

Joseph Babjimi Ojelabi

Kellington.
(1900 1975).
Retired Senior Stations Manager,
Nigerian Railways,
Loco Running Shed, Jebba,
Nigeria.

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Preface
It takes absolute faith in God to be truly brave and bold in this world.

Absolute assurance in God is real confidence, while a lack of faith in Him means a
lack of power, leaving you exposed to danger, and making you feel insecure,
helpless, weak, even unsure of yourself, and afraid to make the next move.

A mans belief in God as his supernatural protector serves as a buffer from that
man's fear of all things in nature, while a mans belief in a heavenly inheritance
through Christ, makes him strive to go through life passing the "narrow way,
having no fear of Satan, demons, or death.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had
slain all the prophets with the sword.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying,

So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of
one of them by to morrow about this time.

And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to
Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat
down under a juniper tree:

and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now,
O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (1Ki 19:1- 4).

Why was Elijah afraid of Jezebel?

Elijah prayed, and performed a great miracle through absolute
faith in God to bring down fire, signifying the acceptance by God
of His offering, which embolden him to call upon faithful
Israelites to slaughter 400 idolatrous priests of Baal.

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It takes absolute faith in God to be truly brave and bold in this
world, either before physical hindrances or spiritual foes and
friends.
Without doubt, Elijah knew that God would always preserve a
portion of Israel as His inheritance, and that it is only in God that
he can place his confidence without any iota of disappointment.
However, shortly after his audacious stance to annihilate
idolatry in Israel and kill Baal priests, Elijah became so afraid
Jezebel, the wicked and fetish wife of King Ahab that he fled
immediately from being caught and killed by the woman.
Nevertheless, the highly gifted prophet became afraid and
terribly fearful when he lost focused faith in God, when he
mistrusted Gods faithfulness, and thought that his running away
will shield him from the wicked onslaught of Jezebel and Ahab.
Elijah was a man with a nature like us all, with occasional doubt
and momentary failing in the all-powerful God, our Lord. Only
perfect love for God and complete obedience to His commands
casts out all fear.
Jezebels death threat caused Elijah to flee a days journey into
the wilderness, and at one point made him to become so
discouraged that he desired to die.
Fear and worry are so blind that neither could discern nor
fathom the future, but Jesus sees the end from the beginning.
Christ has His way prepared to bring relief in every difficulty.
Elijah had had such an incredible victory on Mount Carmel only
to be defeated by fear, anxiousness and panic.

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On Mount Carmel, Elijahs faith, focus, and unflinching gaze was
upon God, who brought the victory. However, after the victory,
the simple faith and trust of the prophet in Jehovah dwindled and
fell far short to contend with the mere threat of a callous woman
and her evil intentions.
Here, lies the root cause of fear.
You become afraid, fearful, worried and anxious whenever you
demonstrate a negative response to whatever challenge,
difficulty or problem comes across your way.
However, in reality, most of the things you fear, many things you
fret about, and almost all those things that makes you become
afraid are mere illusions which may never come to pass nor ever
get to smear you or need not make you fretful.
You become overwhelmed with fear anytime you fail to look
beyond the current challenge to look, hoping on Hope, to grasp
the sight of your Promised Land from the top of Mount Pisgah,
and rise above the threats of the devil, the enemy, or a recurring
problem.
Fear, worry, and anxiety are opposite to faith, and when negative
thoughts dominate us we are controlled by them. Elijah, who had
earlier overwhelmed 400 priests of Baal, was not able to look
beyond the threats of Jezebel, and chose to run away in fear.
Fear is the little dark room where negatives are developed,
however, the end-result of negatives produced outside the dark
room are beautiful pictures.

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You must come out of your dark rooms in faith to exchange your
negativities into beautiful pictures through the unfailing power
and name of Jesus Christ.
Many people in the world desire the promises and assurances of
God while living contrary to His will. Such mixed lifestyle makes it
difficult to receive the help of God when in trouble.
You must be totally on the Lords side to be fully favored and
delivered by Him.
Peter remained afloat on the waters and above his fears so long
as he fixed his focused gaze on Jesus, but he began to sink when
he took away his eyes of faith from the Savior.
Keep the gaze on Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our
faith.
David rejected the taunt to depend on the amours of fearful Saul
but chose to cast his faith and focus on God, and that was how he
defeated Goliath.
Daniel did not notice the loud and noisy roaring of hungry lions
in the den, but grasp in faith on the possibilities of a God who
can never fail.
Daniel had the last laugh and put the king of Babylon and his
subjects to shame.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the
king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter.

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If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O
king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy
gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
(Dan 3:16 18)
True devotion to God and constancy to His divine will calms the
spirit, sooths the soul, and emboldens the body to contend and
defend the truth in the face of fiery superstition and burning
threat of the devil.
If God be for us, we need not fear what man can do unto us,
because God actually takes care of all our fears and every one of
our antagonists.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faithful servants of God found
Him able, as always, to control and overrule all the powers of
fear and evil marshaled against them by Satan and
Nebuchadnezzar.
Actually fear is not a negative thing but positive tonic to excel as
it can heighten your senses and awareness of the things that you
need at the moment if you can make that fear into faith.
Interestingly, 40% of fear is apparently about things that never
happen.
30% of our fears are in the past, so shouldn't even really be
considered.

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12% of our fears are actually other peoples business, which
should not really bother us in the first instance if not for endemic
meddlesomeness.
10% of our fears is about sickness, and could be well-explained,
but can also be well rationalized for bold moves.
In the end, only 8% of all your fears are likely to happen, and
could also be taken care of through positive moves, faithful
stance and godliness.
Why then should you fear?
If fear is allowed to dominate our thinking it will control the way
we act and so becomes a real problem.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. (Joh 14:27)
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world. (Joh 16:33).
As you read through this little book, may the Lord make you not only
teachers of His truth but also staunch defenders of the Truth of Christ,
with meekness, humility and the power of the Holy Ghost, Amen!

Michael Bimbo Ojelabi

Lagos. June 15, 2017.

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Preface

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Scourge of Fear
3. The Cause of Fear
4. The Science of Fear
5. Solution to Fear
6. Greed and Fear
7. Power of The Fearless
8. Cast Thy Fears To The Wind
9. Confidence in Times of Fear
10. Remedy To The Troubled
11. Foundation for spiritual Stability
12. Freedom From Worry And Anxiety

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 1. Introduction
Fear is as old as man himself.

Of all the diseases known to man in biblical days, leprosy was most dreaded
because of its incurable and contagious character, and more so because of its
horrible effect upon its victims, it filled the bravest of men with fear.

Fear is a painful response to physical and emotional danger, a response to acute

stress, anger, angst, anxiety, fright, horror, joy, panic, and sadness.

Human manifestation of negative emotions such as grief, sadness, sorrow, worry,

anxiety, fear, anger, hatred, malice will break down mans system and bring him
into depression, hopelessness, bleakness, and into futility.

Nevertheless, faith in God is a mightier conqueror in the face of all kinds of fear.
Faith in God is as sure to the believer as the day, it is mightier than death.

All things are possible to him who believes in Christ, even upon Him, the only One
who casts out all our fears.

There are so many situations and circumstances that we face or confronted with
in life which makes us become fearfully cowered. Some of our fears are real,
concrete, objective, and are thus Constructive fears.

Others are subjective, unreal, imaginary, and made-up, built up through our
motions or emotions, or calculated by way of our momentary feelings and
submissions, and are thus Imagined fears.

Constructive fear is definite and carries the possibility of getting solved or settled
by obvious solutions and applicable direct approaches and attitude.

Whatever the situation, you should never let fear stop or hinder you from getting
to your divinely set goals.

Because you think you might not know enough and could make mistakes, people
sometimes become so paralyzed with the fear of making a wrong decision that

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they panic and lose sight of starting what they need to accomplish. Being
hindered by fear, they end up doing nothing.

Feelings of inadequacy create the fear that leads to failure. Self-confidence could
only boost your ego, lift up the id, and massage your self-dependability. When we
suffer feelings of inadequacy or failure, where can we put our confidence?

It is most important to our spiritual welfare that we hold in our minds always a
right conception of God. If we think of Him as cold and exacting we shall find it
impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with servile fear.

If, again, we hold Him to be kind and understanding our whole inner life will
mirror that idea and we will cast all our fears, cares, and worries upon Him with
absolute faith and confidence in His faithfulness.

Jonah recounted how the fear of death had gripped him as he was tossed into
the raging sea. But God graciously delivered him.

In North Africa, we were reformed as 39 Squadron and given Beau-fighters. I

was now back with the first aircraft I ever worked on and soon I was able to
fulfill my ambition and fly often...

We had moved forward into North Africa and I was flying one day , at about
5,000 feet, the pilot called over the intercom for me to look at the starboard
engine. I saw it was on fire and I became afraid.

I would sooner be a live coward than a dead hero, and it looked a long way to
fall. The aircraft fell out of the sky and down we went into the side of a hill. The
wing came off and it burst into flames.

I just felt that this was the end because as I tried to get out I found I was trapped
by my legs. The pilot was able to free himself and began to chop me free. I felt
that every breath was to be my last.

My hair was burning, my flying coat was in flames and I cried to God to save me
from this living hell, because I knew that was where I was going. I was quite
godless in my way of life and outlook.

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But this was different. There was no-one else to call. Anyway we managed to
pull ourselves out and the last I remember was stumbling on the port wing
about to jump when there was a loud bang that was all I remembered. (Len
North: Why me Lord?)

In His narrative, Len North eventually landed in the hands of the enemy, but was
handed over unto his battalion after successful medical treatment.

The grace of God did not just save him from impending death, but also delivered
him from the hands of his enemies.

The sorrows of death compassed me,

and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

The sorrows of hell compassed me about:

the snares of death prevented me.

In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God:

he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him,
even into his ears. (Psa 18:4 6).
No matter how lowly we may be as depraved sinful men and women, the Lord is
ever faithful and willing to deliver us out of every fear if we could call upon Him in
faith at every time of time of distress.

The expansive universe with its amazing various forms of vegetation, varieties of
animals and wildlife, and expansive seas, oceans, rivers, streams, and ponds
clearly declare the awesome power of God and command all living things to
render unto Him worship and honor.

How sad the religions of the world focus on giving forced and coerced reverence
and worship to fearful gods, mindless deities, and devilish demons to explain
creation and human existence.

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Fear upon fear will always end up in fear. This is the reason the world is in fears
most of the time. It is impossible to get peace in the world in any life or culture
without the power and name of Jesus Christ, no matter how we try.

Think of the East West divide, the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the intractable
Middle East Crisis, the insoluble polarization across the world, the black and white
dichotomy, etcetera, and etcetera.

As religions across the world have been established by man with required rituals
and rites to appease their gods, so are every other institutions of man entrapped
with ungodly practices and sinful adulations to create fear in men and coerce or
entrap them into fearful compliance.

But in Christ God has done the unimaginable in order to reveal His true nature to
mankind. The Son of God became one of us to communicate and demonstrate
God's gracious and righteous nature and His great love for us.

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high; (Heb 1:3).
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the radiance of the Father's glory, and the exact
representation of His being. As you become a Christian through Gods grace of
salvation you become adopted into Gods family as a son or daughter.

You receive the inward assurance of your adoption by God as a dearly loved child
with peace and no fear to reverently but fearlessly and freely call God, "Abba,
Father meaning Daddy."

Imagined fear is not attached to any particular object as it is unreal, made up, and
not concrete. Some menace seems to haunt the person thus afflicted. He
becomes overanxious in every situation in which he finds himself.

This is an unnatural fear for which there may be several causes. One cause may be
some physical ailment that needs attention. But more often these fears develop

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because of some destructive emotion that has taken hold upon the mind, such as
resentment, hate, or jealousy.

In addition, such lurking fears may come because of some repressed sense of
guilt, resulting from un-confessed wrongdoing.

The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to the earth to judge all mankind will be
terrible to those that know not God, especially to those who rebel against the
immutable Word of God, those who grieve the Holy Spirit of God, those persecute
the saints of God, and those who afflict the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The thought of such an eternal doom should make terrible men afraid, and keep
all wicked men and women in constant fear, even though their consciences be
deadened.

On the other hand, when positive emotions of joy, gladness and happiness are
vent, the man is built up and strengthened with positive emotions and joyful
attitude which renews life and build up morale.

There is power in joyfulness. It is a mental diet that helps our emotions and
strengthens the mind. A negative, depressive attitude destroys while a joyful
attitude renews life.

There is power in joyfulness. Joy strengthens our minds. A strong mind builds a
strong body; a peaceful mind builds a calm body. Joy assists our faith, hope and
love.

A man becomes afraid as he tends to react to a specific intimidating stimulus

occurring around or within him in the present.

On the other hand, he might be responding in anticipation to an expectation of a

future threat perceived as a risk to his body or life. However, God gives assurance
to all His children on earth not to be afraid.

And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make
you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go
through your land.

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 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
(Lev 26:6,7).

No one likes to be criticized, to be judged or misconstrued, and thus most of us

become so afraid of negativities to the point of trying to undertake some positive
moves because of the fear of making mistakes and being laughed at.

The only thing fear does in our lives is to stop our progress, therefore fear should
not be condoned in any form at all.

Fear of the unknown or irrational fear is caused by negative thinking or worrying,

which arises from anxiety accompanied with a subjective sense of apprehension
or dread.

In working for the victims of evil habits, instead of pointing them to the despair
and ruin toward which they are hastening, turn their eyes away to Jesus. Fix them
upon the glories of the heavenly.

This will do more for the saving of body and soul than will all the terrors of the
grave when kept before the helpless and apparently hopeless.

The first question ever asked a man was posed by Satan unto Eve with a design to
make man disobey God, to make man sin against God, and to make man fall from
his high place of power, dominion, and authority into sorrow and despair.

Satans question to the woman was designed to cause her to question Gods
character, to doubt His mercy, His faithfulness, and His goodness.

Life is often defined by the questions we are asked, the questions we ask
ourselves and the kind of answers we give or receive.

In coming to Eve, Satans main objective was not to favor or bless the woman but
to befall the man in his deception and beguiling of the woman. Since he reasoned
he could not hit the man directly, he attempted to attack the woman and defeat
the man.

Satan asked his question to manipulate Eve to doubt Gods goodness. Sadly, Eve
made a wrong choice. She chose to agree with Satan in disobedient to God.
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Her choice in disobedience to God transferred unto Adam, her husband, and
plunged all of humanity into sin and suffering, and great fear fell upon man and
the universe.

Adam, where art thou? seem to be the very first question of the Merciful and
loving God to man, the crowning glory of His work of creation.

Adam, where art thou? was the first and foremost questioning of the Almighty
God to His well-endowed handwork called man.

Adam, where art thou? is the question of the Creator to man who was endowed
with dominion and authority, created not so that he would not sin, but made so
that he was able not to sin.

Man was innocent, but he was free.

Man was warned against transgression, but he had the power of choice, and he
chooses to disregard the all-important warning.

Being tempted by Satan, man fell.

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
where art thou? (Gen 3:9).
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Gen 3:10).
Those who by sin go astray from God, should seriously consider where they are;
they are afar off from all good, in the midst of their enemies, in bondage to Satan,
and in the high road to utter ruin.

Adam, now being a lost sheep and in league with Satan, having estranged himself
from the love of God through choice and sin, became afraid when he heard the
voice of God.

The Lord visited Adam and Eve in the Garden, and called out, Adam, where art
thou?

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As they heard Gods majestic approach, Adam and Eve, rather than run to meet
God out of gladsome hearts and delightful souls, as it was their custom in the past
while in their innocence and holiness, sought to hide themselves from His
inspection.

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself. (Gen 3:10).

Since his fall into sin through disobedience, the great lot of man has been a
ceaseless cry of distress, temptation, persecution, trials and affliction without
end, unless he transfer his allegiance from Satan unto a merciful and loving God.

Man continues to live in fear and misery while in sin until he can positively answer
the question, where is the hand of a loving God in my life?

The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden was such a great tragedy that it has
brought death into the world, separating man from God and from his loved ones.

Rather than walk with God, man chose independence, and thus man lost God, and
God lost man, His prodigal son, and never by searching either in human
confidence or sheer fearfulness can man find God again.

It takes faith, absolute faith in Christ!

Since the Fall of Man, man is still living in fear, hiding from God and afraid of
fellow man.

Even, when God drove man out of the Garden, He gave him hope.

God gave man the promise that there would yet be a Man, by whom man would
be saved from fear, through whom man will be delivered from hiding from his
Maker and by whose grace man, will be restored unto his God.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,

and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
(Gen 3:15).

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In the light of this promised hope, Eve joyfully name his first born son, Cain,
saying, I have gotten a man from the LORD, thinking Cain to be the promised
deliverer. How very wrong she was.

Man, having lost God, lost his own brother.

Mans fear of God, after disobeying Him, can be equated with his fear of
imminent death, a kind of unholy fear that makes him envious and jealous for
what he fails to appreciate, which he has lost, and now the gain of others.

This explains why disobedient and sinning folks envy obedient and righteous
believers, disobedient and wicked Cain, envying obedient and righteous Abel!

Fear led to envy, envy led to hate, hate led to murder, and after the murdering
and maiming of his brother, Cain became a fear unto himself and everyone all
around him.

And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance
fallen?

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. (Gen 4:6,7).

To Eve, Cain was the epitome of possession, the promised seed, while Abel
signifies vanity. Alas, she was woefully disappointed in Cain, in whom she was so
taken up to the disregard of virtuous Abel.

Her fear for man and mankind continued unabated, particularly after the murder
of Abel by his own blood brother, Cain.

It might have been thought that two brothers in the world, having the whole wide
world between just two of them, might have been content to share it, especially
as both were in the same condemnation. But it will not be!

Sin, which separates man from God, also create a great wedge between man and
man.

Man becomes mans great enemy.

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It used to be man, beware of dogs! But, dogs are now mans best friend,
therefore, man, be very wary of man.

When the frigate Medusa was wrecked in mid-ocean in 1816, two men who
made it out of the carnage and the wreck were found, kept afloat on a raft, being
driven about for weeks in the midst of the sea.

Upon their discovery by a rescue boat, it was found out that each of the men was
at one end of the raft, keeping watch against each other in distrust and fear for
each other.

That is the way sin works. Sin creates fear and hate in man.

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after
the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jud
1:11).

Human beings who are dead in their natural fallen state will for ever live in fear if
they continue to live in sinfulness, hypocrisy and iniquity, without seeking
salvation in the only way provided by God, Jesus Christ.

Believers who by grace learn to love God are not as Cain, because they have
come into the Lords marvelous grace which enables them to love their fellow
brothers and be bold and brave against all fears.

Cain thought he would have peace if he kills Abel, but the consequence was
disastrous for him throughout his life, he lived in fear.

Since his fall into sin through disobedience, the great lot of man has been a
ceaseless cry of distress, temptation, persecution, trials and affliction without
end, unless he transfer his allegiance from Satan unto a merciful and loving God.

Man continues to live in fear and misery while in sin until he can can positively
answer the question, where is the hand of a loving God in my life?

The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden was such a great tragedy that it has
brought death into the world, separating man from God and from his loved ones.

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Rather than walk with God, man chose independence, and thus man lost God, and
has God lost man, His prodigal son. And, never by searching either in human
confidence or sheer fearfulness can man find God again.

It takes faith, absolute faith in Christ!

Since the Fall of Man, man is still living in fear, hiding from God and afraid of
fellow man.

Man, having lost God, lost his brother. Fear of God after disobeying him led man
to envy what he has lost which is now the gain of others. Disobedient and sinning
folks envying obedient and righteous believers, disobedient and wicked Cain,
envying obedient and righteous Abel!

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2. The Scourge of Fear
Fear has torment, and fear is a thorn in your flesh.

The fury of fear is the bane of depression, anxiety, and hypertensive moods.

There probably never has been an age when men generally were as full of fear as
our present modern era. The more we come to depend on the accumulation of
material things for happiness, the more complicated life becomes.

As modern life gets complex, and becomes complicated in the face of

multifaceted issues that are natural and are man-made, man becomes confused
and entangled in very many insoluble issues of life, making him afraid and
unsettled.

Right from the creation of time, fear has always been a great enemy of man.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. (Gen 3:8).
Before their disobedience to God, and before mans eventual fall from Paradise,
Adam and Eve used to cherish their daily communion with God, and always feel
glad as the twosome in fellowship, holding hands together, welcome the presence
of God into their midst, and into their domain in the Garden of Eden.

However, when Adam and Eve realized the folly of eating the forbidden fruit,
when our first parents discovered the foolishness of their disobedience to God
and the misery into which they had fallen, fear and shame fell upon them, and
they hid.

Out of unnecessary fear rather than reverence for a God that love them, they hid
themselves from the presence of God, their merciful creator unto whom they
hitherto joyfully run to meet and worship at the opening of each blessed day.

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Therefore, disobedience to God and the beginning of sinfulness against God is the
root-cause of fear in man. Because he is afraid, the wicked flee when no man
pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Pro 28:1).

Sinfulness and iniquity turns men and women into cowards, into fearful and
fretful human beings.

Sinfulness unto God leads to the manifestation of negative emotions such as fear,
grief, sadness, sorrow, worry, anxiety, fretfulness, anger, hatred, malice, etcetera,
which breaks down mans system.

On the other hand, obedience to God elicits and builds up positive emotions of
boldness, buoyancy, blessedness, joyfulness, gladness and happiness.

Fear disturbs the peace and harmony of man. It is the enemy of his progress,
sucks or saps his vitality and energy, and drains the nervous system of its reserve
of energy. Fear makes man weak, fragile and feeble.

While man tries every now and then with his own effort and method to tear apart
from his worries and anxieties, the fear of it keep turning back to him, haunting
him, making him to become dreadfully afraid of past sins and future recompense.

Human effort to keep the dirty past safely in the forgotten memory, in turning off
and tearing away from unpleasant past and painful disasters in the distant past
has not always been very successful.

The past keep coming back again and again, and sharp painful fearful memory it
brings along is the bane of human anxiety, dejection, depression, worries and lack
of joy in daily living.

Most negative things that happen to us in life are the result of fear, and they
usually bring along with them sorrow, sadness, grief and the loss of joy,
depression, dejection, despair, and untold misery.

Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger, a response to acute

stress, anger, angst, anxiety, fright, horror, panic, and sadness.

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Human manifestation of negative emotions such as grief, sadness, sorrow, worry,
anxiety, fear, anger, hatred, malice will break down mans system and bring him
into depression, hopelessness, bleakness, and into futility.

It is never the best mood for any man.

The great scourge of mankind is not war, is not poverty, it is not lack or want, it is
none of those many manifestations of human limitations, but, rather It is fear.

Fear is a negative emotion which is tremendously devastating to the human

personality. To be fearful is to be anxious of unknown negative situation or to
become unsettled over an expectation which may never come to pass nor ever
become a reality.

To be afraid is to become overwhelmed with an unpleasant circumstance that is

very likely to happen, but which in the end may never occur.

Such fright and anticipation is further aggravated when the impact of such
occurrence remains incalculable.

Life is packed full of opportunities for anxiety, worry, and fear.

Merely seeing the words fear, worry, and anxiety in print could trigger ones pulse
on the extreme.

Worry and fear can immobilize you. It can encroach on your freedom. Fear, worry,
and anxiety can cause physical as well as psychological damage in people.

The devil, Satan, is the prince of evil, and he thrives on negativity, relishes in fear,
worry and anxiety.

On the contrary, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace.

There is nothing which Satan, the prince of evil, fears more than that we shall
become acquainted with his techniques, and apply the key in the name of Jesus
Christ to overpower him.

23
Jesus said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your
life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. (Luk 12:22, 23).

It is the deliberate purpose of Satan to conceal his evil method and devilish
manner of working so that men and women would not find out his evil intentions
while they are kept in constant fear and worry.

It is the onerous obligation of every man and woman to discover those evil plans
of Satan and overcome them to drive out all fears. It is impossible to do this
without the power and name of Jesus Christ, no matter how we try.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world. (Joh 16:33).
The fear of the how and when the world will end is about as old as civilization
itself, yet The Lord and Creator of mankind have not left us in any doubt about
how end-time events will be.

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for
all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:6,14).

Our world is filled with various kinds of disturbing noises and crises, discordant
noise, pressures, violence, worry, and fear.

It is these jarring noises, these distracting elements, and its disturbing influence
that incessantly hammer men and women against peace of mind, tending to
break down its resistance.

Violent boisterous and disorderly noise provokes violent emotional reactions and
destroys mental control.

24
As the mind is bombarded with needful as well as unnecessary information, with
useful as well as useless ideas and opinions, day after day, the mind is forced into
confusion, disorder, and dejection.

Nevertheless, there is always a way of escape for those who can put their trust in
Christ Jesus.

And to you who are troubled rest with us,

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of His power;

When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
(2Th 1: 7 10).

If your life is worth anything at all, then it is worth everything and deserves
everything possible to make that only one life worthwhile.

Nothing more strongly marks a man for eternal ruin, than a spirit of persecution
and enmity to the name and people of God.

Definitely, God will trouble all those that trouble His purpose and plan.

God will throw into utter darkness all those who attempt to obscure His
marvelous light, and those who misrepresent t His immutable truth.

Therefore, the wicked will definitely be afraid when he is troubled, not knowing
wherefrom cometh his calamity and troubles.

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also
which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen. (Rev 1:7)

25
 3. The Cause of Fear
Fear can be regarded as an emotional tool which exudes warning signals against
threats of challenge.

Fear becomes a panic when it evokes sudden and severe threat to the well-being
of the person who becomes afraid from such symptom.

On the other hand, fear can be translated as a phobia if it evokes sustained threat
to ones well-being.

Your attitude, action, reaction, and inaction towards the thing feared go a long
way to determine the outcome of the resultant effect of fear to you and in your
life.

Since fear elucidates alarming reactions and induces ones mental and physical
reaction to forestall the occurrence of undesirable consequence, fear, therefore,
can be regarded as a double-edged sword that requires adequate handling and
application.

Proper management of fear leads to constructive direction of what is feared

towards positive results, whereas inadequate handling of the feared threat could
yield catastrophic consequences.

Many people live with fears so deeply believed that they cannot possibly live in
healthy relationships with anyone, even those who love them and want to help
them.

On the other hand, undisciplined fearlessness can result in both reckless and
careless behavior.

Despite many Bible injunctions that men ought not to be afraid, not to fear nor
faint, many people live in fear, live with fear, and so deeply believed that they are
not safe anywhere in the world.

Fear operates off the premise of what could happen regardless of the likelihood
of it ever happening, and that explains why some people are so afraid of unseen

26
circumstances to the point that they cant possibly live in healthy relationships
with anyone, even those who love them and want to help them.

To many, people their fears and forgotten anxieties keep coming back to tear
their lives apart, to taunt and torment them, and leave them in greater
depression and worry state.

Life and living itself is a challenge. We all crave satisfaction, we all seek
actualization and acceptance, but getting satisfied, fulfilled, recognized and
accepted in the world is a very high task hill.

Despite the fact that we crave the world, the world does not like us nor want us,
principally because the prince of the world is the devil which hates and seek to
destroy all mankind.

As we face opposition from the devil and the world, from the flesh, from friends
and foes, even from those we considered dear to us, very many of us therefore
live in doubt and constant fear as we discover that there is really no one to trust.

Therefore, we become regularly suspicious, uncertain and constantly in fear of

things, situations, circumstances, people, thoughts, and general issues of life.

While it becomes natural to fear snakes and serpent, not just because of its toxic
venom and bite, but because of the ingrained idea as the agent of Satan which led
to the fall of man, man also fear reptiles in general, but how come most of us are
afraid of spiders?

Naturally children, adolescents, and some adults are scared at every sight of a
dog. However, once you learn the trick to bend down in attempt to pick a rock to
throw at the dog, dogs will learn to flee from you, and the fear is cast out.

Some people are afraid of mountains and hills, others are fearful of valleys and
lowlands.

Some people are afraid to fly while others are fearful of the flowing streams,
rivers and oceans.

27
Many people cringe and shiver when thunder strikes with its sharp and very
bright momentary lightening blinks, yet we all know it most certainly will not hurt
nor last but to foretell of great outpouring of rainfall.

The sight of worms and germs make us flinch and cower, yet we all know that
what we need to do is to get rid of them.

Satan uses fear against every one of us to deceive and to lure us into
disobedience against God. Fear causes us to do irrational, abnormal and insane
things, contrary to the plan and purpose of God for us, but this delights Satan.

Anxiety and worry are the effects of fear which lies buried in the subconscious
mind due to unbelief or lack of faith in God to roll away a challenge or problem or
remove an unpalatable circumstance.

The challenge continues to stare you in the face and you are afraid and worried
with continuous strain and tension on your mind, having negative effect in the
body.

Without something great and more powerful to hold onto, the fear will neither
subside nor go away, but if you can quickly call in a bigger power, the fear is dealt
with either temporarily or permanently.

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence;
he will come and save you. (Isa 35:4),
Naturally, humans tend to become fearful in any threatening situation or
circumstance which may endanger his very existence, his physical, financial, or
moral aspect of life.

In addition, we tend to be panicky or fretful in response to some kind of unnatural

or unusual fear which usually lack concrete or objective reality but are in response
to some neurotic tendencies in man.

28
While academics claim that most neurotic fears can be traced to childhood, thios
is not always the case when the right approach and attitude has been instilled in
children during their tender formative years.

Train
up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Pro 22:6).
The origin of fear lies in the lack of trust in God and faith in His ability to cast out
our fears and roll away all our worries.

Failure to trust God as little children sows the seeds of fear as man would fail
always whenever he try to help himself overcome his plights and problems.

When faith in God is not there, and the fear from childhood lies dormant but
buried in the subconscious mind, they would later sprout forth sometime in life
during some period of crisis or stress and the grown person may not have
anywhere to hide or go for help than other men on sinking sand.

Panicky fear is more contagious than typhoid or cholera. The atom bombs cause
terrible panicky fear. Despite terrible conditions and difficult situations you may
face in life, those who know their God will overcome and surmount all kinds of
fear.

When the heart of man fails him, he begins to be afraid and fearful of almost
everything around him. This is termed phobia, fear that evokes sustained threat
to ones well-being.

Phobias are manifested in mans fear of pains and ailments; fear of darkness or
light, fear of work and place of work, fear of spouse or close friend and partner,
fear of world instability and major events across the world, etcetera.

Against fear, help neither come from the East or West, not from the North nor
from the South, but rater from the Lord, to those who trust in Him and have faith
in His ability and power to save.

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

29
 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not:
behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a
recompence; he will come and save you. (Isa 35:3,4).

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see
the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for
the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them
again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall
hold your peace. (Exo 14:13,14).

30
 4. The Science of Fear
Generally all humans demonstrate some kind of fear when confronted with very
disturbing situation.

We also tend to be afraid when we experience intrusive and very disturbing

negative thoughts, or when we hear unexpectedly some kind of terribly loud and
surprising noises which infiltrate our peaceful or quiet moments.

Confronted with danger or a life-threatening situation, the brain triggers us into a

kind of quick and fast reaction.

The brain triggers nervous responses and stimulates the production of hormones
that affect the body whereby, though we are afraid, we take necessary caution to
evade the danger, to avoid the occurrence of the threat, or to confront the evil
headlong with an audacity of beating off the threat.

It evolved so that when we came across something threatening, regardless of

whether its real or not, it reacts. Your memory in the hippocampus then makes
an association to what you felt when you first encountered that event.

At the moment we are confronted with a threat to life, to our body or personality,
a kind of fear with such power that is beyond our ability to control and our
conscious mind to reverse emanate from the brain upon the mind.

At the same time, a brief but sharp moment of suspense develops to enable the
victim of fear decide whether to fight or take a flight in response to the threat,
and in commensurate measure to the uncomfortable brief but dangerous
circumstance.

Our body system has already been wired by the Creator to act fast in time of
danger. This explains why our brain activates the sympathetic nervous system
when we encounter danger, thereby releasing essential adrenaline fluid that
floods our veins in adequate measure to launch us into a fight-or-flight response.

31
The more quickly we can recognize a threat, the better our ability to avoid it in
the future. In this way, our fears are lessons we have drawn from our experiences
in the world.

The root cause of fear, how to handle or manage it, how to treat, prevent or cure
it has been the great challenge for man since the beginning of history, it has been
one of the central questions of modern science, psychology, philosophy and
religion.

In mans lifelong search for meaning, we sometimes come to a crossroad where

life itself seems to have no meaning, where we tend to surmise that our existence
has no purpose. Nevertheless, this is very far from the truth, because God, our
Maker has made all things well.

In His plan of creation, God made all things, all creatures, and every male and
female good, behold "it was very good!" (Gen 1:31).

God never intended for man to be sick or be fearful, but rather that all men
possess sound physical and spiritual health in body, soul, and in spirit throughout
his life.

The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand
of our enemies might serve him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
(Luk 1:73 75)

It is common knowledge that he who fail to plan also plan to fail, therefore as
rational and sensible humans, we anticipate and plan because of our fear of
failure. As a result we think that a healthy amount of fear is essential to survival.

Despite the rich promises of God, many people suffer from anxiety disorder at
some point in their lives. Irrational fear of a situation or an object is termed a

32
phobia, a term physiologists use to describe fear which has no proven reason of
ever coming to pass.

The Bible teaches us that Satan is the author of fear for "For God hath not given
us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind." (2 Tim. 1:7).

Up to 88% of all our fears and phobias never take place!

It is the devil playing mind games with us to keep us in his hold.

Nevertheless, we are irrationally afraid because the devil attacks or seizes the
mind of his victim to keep them constantly in fear, and most people are afraid for
lack of faith. Fear is a spirit which has torment the soul of man.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because
fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
(1Jn 4:18).

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle
of the temple,

And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
(Mat 4:5 -7).

Between irrational fear and specific phobias are the common worries in life and
some people will take extreme measures to avoid the things that trigger their
fears, however, can such people and their therapists really help themselves?

Anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder, can be even more difficult to manage by
medical or psychological approaches of treatment.

By relying on their fear and hesitation to keep them out of the most profoundly
unknown circumstances, people may develop fear as a response to perceived
danger or anticipated risk.
33
In consequence, risk taking becomes a way by which we collectively measure and
share anticipated fear, a fusion of rational doubt, irrational fear, and a set of un-
quantified biases.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, the hidden pathological character of

typical human behavior, argued that phobias were protective structures springing
from a patients repressed longing for his mother.

Freud maintained that psychoanalysis is in essence a cure of fear through love as

a result of how bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.

Since early ages, it is known to all knowledgeable people that psychological

immune system is endowed to all humans, and this helps us feel better when bad
things happen to us.

Unfortunately generality of the people do not seem to recognize that they have
these defenses, and that these defenses will be triggered by negative events such
as fear.

Freud spent his life, and his daughter Anna spent her life, worrying about these
defenses, but, through psychoanalysis, Freud reshaped how people all over the
world think about the workings of their own minds.

The ideas of Sigmund Freud are still debated today, and his techniques still gain
wide interpretations and applications, especially in the aspect of modern
psychoanalysis.

Sigmund Freud is considered one of the most influential people in the history of
psychology.

Hope and fear are enduring features of the human experience and it is unlikely
that people are going to abandon them anytime soon just because some
psychologist told them they should.

It is ignorance that leads us to seek ready-made solutions in life matters, without

confirmation, and it is the fear of the unknown that makes us accept them.

34
John B. Watson was a pioneering psychologist who played an important role in
developing behaviorism. In 1920, he presented a simpler theory that people
develop fears through negative experiences.

Watson researched on the conditioning process and demonstrated that a child

could be conditioned to fear, a previously neutral stimulus.

To prove this, Watson put a test on his hypothesis. An infant, dubbed Little Alice
was conditioned to fear a white rat by presenting the rat to the child and
simultaneously striking a steel bar.

However, it was not just the sight of white rats that upset and created fear for
Little Alice, but also the noise and other furry objects. Watson concluded that this
fear could be generalized to other similar objects.

In justifying Little Alices fear and sufferings, Watson concluded, They will be
worth all they cost if through them we can find a method which will help us
remove fear.

Though Watsons experiment underlined and established an important principle

that fear could be learned, nevertheless, the experiment falls far short of
contemporary ethical and scientific standards.

Making a leap forward from Sigmund Freuds psychoanalytic therapy, and making
improvement on Watsons discovery, behavioral theorists concluded that if a fear
or a phobia is the result of a learning experience, then it also means you can
somehow learn not to fear anymore.

Thus, in the second half of the twentieth century, cognitive behavioral therapy
incorporated Watsons insight into mental health care with a focus to help people
who are afraid or tormented with phobia reduce and manage his fear when he
encountered a trigger.

Rather than trying to help people with fear and anxiety by scouring up and
cleansing their fears, worries, anxieties, and repressed memories n their lives
through therapies, psychologists and human behavior therapists embark on
guiding patients towards positive life styles and positive ways of thinking.
35
Life, this so called life, itself is an integral part of the creative principle of God, by
which something fresh and new unfolds as the day unfolds afresh from time to
time.

Life expresses itself into form as we acquire knowledge and understanding

through the exposure and discovery of our environment, our immediate habitat,
and our close worldview.

We all live in a world of trials and temptation where perplexities, atrocities, and
iniquities seem to increase with the passage of time, and wherein trouble, wars,
oppressions, persecutions, and terrorism seem to be increasing as we advance in
years and knowledge.

The wicked recurring pressure of modern life has led most of us into
unconventional means of livelihood and ungodly methods of existing where
permissiveness thrives and ungodliness flourishes uncontrollably.

In our desire and aspirations to live life to the full, we struggle to travel on lifes
fast lane while living on broad streets. And, much more than these, modern men
and women try to do it their own way.

In doing what they think they just have to do in line with his morbid thoughts and
inordinate affection, modern man end up fearful for his end, fretful with his
complex and disjointed situation, and fully appalled with his lack of solution or
credible way out of the logjam which he has created for himself.

Sprawled before every man and woman are various ways, alternative routes, and
different means of escape from the realities of an uncertain existence,
nevertheless, and to the chagrin of so many modern men and women, there is
only one route of escape.

Since the fears in men were the consequences of sin encouraged and induced by
the tempting, trudging, and the devilish goading of Satan, mans engagement in
unconventional relationships and unorthodox lifestyle could not give him peace.

Unconventional relationships and unorthodox marriages lead to ill-prepared

parents, inadequate families and broken homes.
36
Unwanted babies were killed at will through abortion. Many babies were born
into incomplete homes, ill-organized families, and unfriendly environments.

To settle too common marital squabbles, regular family issues, and get out of the
mess, modern man try divorce, engage in multiple marriages, tries single
parenthood, but all to no avail. His fears and worries continue to soar unabated.

He takes to dope and liquor, to night clubbing, the cinema, and reveling and
experimenting with narcotics, but with bigger woes and much more disastrous
consequences. Anxiety and depression was mounting; anti-depressants were
getting expensive and elusive, yet no respite no clue, no other way out of my way
than to take The Masters path.

He planned each charted course along his pathways in his own style and
according to his own methods. He personally designed each step along his byway,
and carefully calculated each twist and turn. Nevertheless, through it all, in
moments of doubts and hesitation, modern man had to eat it up and spit it out.

Following the path of Sigmund Freud, human behavior therapists sought to

modify behaviors of people who had fallen victims of their fears by trying to teach
them positive ways of thinking and living.

Unfortunately cure is a word not often encountered in psychiatry.

Science cannot cure fear, medical treatment is a management approach, and,

psychiatry is just a trial.

37
 5. Solution to Fear
Be prayerful, Be Prepared! The greatest panacea and lasting solution to fear, and
to be triumphant out of any scary fearful situation is not in science, psychology,
philosophy or sheer religion, but rather in your understanding of the capabilities
of God.

Life is so much easier when you are well-prepared as a Christian, prayerful as a

believer, and purposefully focused in life to meet each challenge of life as they
come from time to time.

Just around the corner lies your next challenge, but also your next opportunity,
but you must be prepared to come out triumphant from the whole log-jam.

If you get to know God intimately and trust in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ,
then you would know that it is very well with you at all times, and there is nothing
really to be worried about. Jesus cast out all fears!

This is the theme you need to uphold as a guide for mastering all fears, to
overcome all the big matters of life and every other small issue in life.

If you get to understand what youre afraid of, and can in faith cast all burdens
upon Christ, then you might actually find out that there is nothing really to be
afraid of.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust;

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. (Psa 56:3,4)

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage;

be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with
thee whithersoever thou goest. (Jos 1:9)

38
 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he
may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you. (1Pe 5:6,7).
Understanding human fear is a complex phenomenon due to many aspects and
facets of life that causes fear in man.

A great lot of people are living in the bondage of fear.

Some people are afraid of possible declining in the general health of their body.

Some are fearful concerning their financial needs, and are worried about meeting
coming obligations.

Some other people are afraid of national or personal economic downturn which
may cause them to lose their job, become short of funds, or lose business.

Some others are afraid of possible break in relationship or loss of a dear one.

Some other people are afraid of growing old and the possibility of losing needed
memory.

The creak of the door in the midst of a lonely solemn night can make a lonely
person unsettled.

The unusual sound of footsteps down the hallway when no one was visiting or no
stranger allowed into the apartment is a serious cause for fear.

Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two, fear of mice, cockroach, spider, or
fear of the needle during injection or blood collection at the lab, or fear while
sitting in the dentists checkup seat.

Such fears are minor ones for most people, however, when fears become so
severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, it
has gone from ordinary fear to phobias that could lead to serious depression.

Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults.

39
Though you may realize that your fear is irrational, yet you may find it difficult to
control it, because the mere thought of the feared object or situation raises your
anxiety level.

In addition, the terror becomes high, overwhelming or automatic when you come
in contact or become exposed to the thing or object you fear.

The experience is so nerve-wracking that you may go to great lengths to avoid it

through some inconvenient measures, by adjusting your normal lifestyle, which
may lead to frustration if all fails, and possibly, depression.

You become depressed when you are afraid, worried and unduly emotional
because you think or believe that one or more of your most important needs
cannot be met or satisfied.

Since our needs and wants are mostly different from one person to another, what
makes each of us fearful, afraid, anxious, and depressed are not the same.
Riches, popularity, position, or power will not necessary make a person happy
unless all of these or some of them are his needs.

Erroneously, we generally assume that we all have the same worldview. On the
contrary, every person sees the world from his own angle as a result of nature,
nurture, culture, tribe, personal exposure, and environmental situation and
adaptation.

Each person values things in his own way and sees the world according to his
beliefs, nevertheless, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death. (Pro 14:12).

Making up our worldview is a matter of personal choice between good and evil,
between sinfulness and righteousness, and between staying on the Lords side
and going with the world.

The ways of carelessness, of worldliness, and of sensuality, may seem right and
justified to the people of the world who pleasurably walk in them but self-
deceivers can never stand with the power of God in the face of fear..

40
So many people today are comfortable in their false religion, warped ideas, and
devilish intentions. Their soul is calloused, thinking they are on the right while
they are wrong before the almighty God and according to His Words.

A paramount thing in life is to understand what you really need, to perfectly

determine those needs, and to work on the ways and means to satisfy those
needs by faith in God.

However, a very vital aspect is to focus those needs within the realm of the word
of God. This way you are on the right path to overcome fears and be happy in life,
even though you undergo affliction, depression, and judgment of the world.

If your needs were freedom and love then becoming a corporate slave to get
money will certainly make you depressed because again you will be sacrificing
your most important needs to get something that doesn't really matter to you.

To be truly fearless and happy, you need to determine what you really want out
of life, then convince yourself it is the very desire of your heart, and understand
that it is what you really need or need to do.

Research it in the eyes of the Word of God, be very sure it does not sin against
God and does not offend mankind,.

Worry through fear is what continues to rage on the mind and play out in the life
after a danger is past or before it arrives. Because you allow it to linger and
torment you, the fear or worry continues to thrive on your negative imagination.

Some other fears and worries are caused by realistic burdens such as dealing with
due debts, meeting essential and mounting obligations, going through personal or
national economic woes such as bankruptcy and depression, or death of a spouse,
child.

Life is full of many other issues that could make one fearful, worried and
depressed, such as loss of a loved one, issue of a prolonged sickness, afflictions,
tribulation, tragedies, and trials.

41
When you fear that your ability to handle some issues in life, work, or business is
at stake, the right thing to do is never to panic about how to sail beyond your
scope, but rather seek for more power and understanding:

1. Be calm, but be calculated, and be more determined to find the best way
out of the problem. Settle down in a very serious and not morbid mood,
look the problem over in a serious bid to take a positive stand in resolution.
2. Determine to find solution for the issue at stake without being cowed or
tormented by undue pressure, and take every rightful measure with
common good sense to solve the problem.
3. Determine if you are indeed a true child of God, that is, truly born-again
Christian. If not, seek to reconcile with God, and be sure you did.
4. At this juncture, offer your heartfelt prayer to God without being beclouded
by personal gain. Prayer springs from forth from ones faith in the God of
creation.
5. To declare our confidence, to reassure ourselves of the great loving care of
God, and to insist upon the fact of His solicitude on our behalf is to quiet
the nerves, restore the little gland to normalcy, and to find life developing
calm and poise.
6. Your ability to develop the habit of self-discipline will contribute more to
your success in every area of life than any other quality of character.
Discipline help keep you from worry, anxiety, and fear because it is the
ability to make yourself do what you should do, how you should do it, and
when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
Discipline is a hard taskmaster with great dividend in rest and peace out of
fear when you resolutely tell all your fears, Fear, be gone, I will give you
room no longer. You have taken altogether too much of my attention. The
key word is sacrifice.
Being the creatures that we are, other feelings of the same stripe will seek
entrance into our minds, making us to be afraid and worried, but with a
strict purpose to permit no thoughts of fear and apprerhension to l;inger
long on your mind, you will be going a long way to register triumph over
fear.

42
 It is the ability for you to sacrifice immediate pleasure or gratification in the
present so that you can enjoy greater rewards down the road.

You must have heard that fear breeds worry that goes on pricking you, giving you
worries, stress, anxiety, and depressed mood long after the danger is long past or
even before it arrives, thriving heavily on your warped imagination.

The payoff for practicing self-discipline is immediate. Whenever you discipline

yourself, and force yourself to do the right thing, whether you feel like it or not,
you will like and respect yourself more.

Your self-esteem increases. Your self-image improves. Your brain releases

endorphins which made you happy and proud. You actually get a payoff every
time you hold your own feet to the fire.

Rather than develop fear for your crisis and challenges, do the best you can to
solve the problem. If some blow must come because of your failure to solve your
problem, then take the blow in good grace.

You will most certainly find that it will not be half as hard as you anticipated.

And there may be a surprising turn of events that will remind you how foolish you
were to harbor fear and worry even for a few moments.

The one sure method of eradicating fear from the human mind is by
surrendering ones life to God. (Norman Vincent Peale).
Perfect obedience to the will of God as the day unfolds time by time brings peace
and comfort to the human heart and blessing to ones life. Great peace have
they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psa 119:165).

There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isa 57:21).

My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my

commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall
they add to thee. (Pro 3:1,2).

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 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Php 4:7).
While peace of mind, inner joy, lasting happiness, and genuine love are desired by
many, only very few people out f the entire world population know what it means
to possess desirable life, and have it in true and full value.

Unchecked fear in and worry in ones life is like a prolonged erosion of your
houses foundation, you never know the danger inside which you live until the
ground gives way and your home crumbles to the ground with you in it.

God never intended for man to be fearful, worried or depressed, but rather that
all men possess sound physical and spiritual health in body, soul, and in spirit.

A mad person would in a very brief moment in time realize that he was not his
normal self, and he wonders why. So is a depressed and fearful person, feeling
fearful and getting afraid, but unable to get out of it.

Someone may advise you to renounce it, to reject it, to refuse it, to deny it, or do
some positive affirmation or incantation to ward off the fear and threat, to
exercise, or run around the block.

However, not everybody can follow through all these rigorous measures, and if
you run around too much and too often in wrong places, you may end up on the
wrong side of the law, thus increasing your fears and burdens.

We all wonder and ponder what the real essence of life is, if fear and death are
inevitable.

Depression and a life of worry and anxiety is the result of a life in constant fear
despite the affection of loved ones, the abundance of wealth, the soundness of
physical body, and the promises of business and career.

Why labor to gain the goodies of life when unbaiting fear and worry keeps
robbing you of the joy of loved ones, wealth, riches, properties, positions, power,
and popularity?

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1. Gods Love:
God loves all people, both the righteous, the unrighteous and even evil
ones, but abhors the wickedness in bad people.
God loves because it is His nature to love. Though there are many problems
in the world today, God loves you and wants you to have abundant life. His
wonderful purpose and plan for your life is to make you gain that abundant
life through Him, and not according to the system of the world. Many
people today are full of fear, worry, anxiety, not enjoying the love of God
because they follow the pattern and dictates of the world, not the way of
love which God provides.
Are you one of such people?
2. Mans Problem:
Man got into problem by not living according to the purpose and plan of
God, but following the dictates and system of the world. This is sin, which
separates man from God, and from peace of mind, but creates fear, worry,
anxiety, and lack of the love of God.
With sin in his life, and without God, man cannot solve the problem of fear,
no matter how he tries.
Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his
ear heavy, that it cannot hear; But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that
he will not hear. (Isa 59:1,2).
3. Gods Solution
Vincent van Gogh was the prominent Dutch painter who is renowned for
his characteristic style of undulating lines and bold colors. He produced a
great number of masterpiece paintings and sketches in just 11 years
dedicated to art. In fact, it was during the last two years of his life that
Vincent produced all of his best-known pieces.
Considered one of the most eminent post-Impressionist painters, Vincent
van Gogh had a troubled life wrapped in tragic circumstances to the point
of self-mutilation of his ear, and ultimately to his committing suicide. He
failed woefully to find solution to his many fears.

45
John Keats, the English Romantic poet, had fears, very big fears about
death, and particularly his own death.
Though, he had great fears about life and living, John Keats excelled in
giving the world great works of poetry marked with rich imagery and
melodic beauty, before finally passing on in death at a very young age.
He claimed and stressed vehemently that man's quest for happiness and
fulfillment is thwarted by the sorrow and corruption inherent in human
nature, John Keats died without getting solution to his many fears.

Greta Garbo, the Swedish-born American film actress, was highly successful
as an international superstar during the late silent era and the "Golden
Age" of Hollywood.
Once voted by The Guinness Book of World Records as the most beautiful
woman who ever lived, Greta Garbo is widely regarded as a cinematic
legend, yet she was petrified by some in-born fears most of her life.
Due to inner fears and inhibited worries, Greta Garbo was prone to chronic
depression and spent many years attacking it through Eastern philosophy, a
solid health food regimen, and an almost absolute life of self-solitary.
Except at the very beginning of her career, Garbo granted no interviews,
signed no autographs, attended no premieres and answered no fan mail.
These did not solve her problem though, and she could not overcome her
self-indulgent in smoking and cocktails.
I wish I were supernaturally strong so I could put right everything that is
wrong. Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it.
If only those who dream about Hollywood knew how difficult it all is.
Your joys and sorrows. You can never tell them. You cheapen the inside of
yourself if you do.
Very many people, small and great, had tried and failed to find solution on
their own merits to their many fears in life.
What can we do to overcome all of mans fears and remove his many
worries and all of his anxieties?

46
 God knows that we would not be able to find a way out through our own
efforts, and therefore He provided all of us with His fool-proof solution - His
Plan of Salvation.
He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer for us; so that through the
suffering and sacrifice of His Son which culminated in His death on the
Cross at Calvary, all of mans sins are atoned, and we can pass from death
to life, and received rest for our wearied souls, peace to our worried lives,
and triumph over all our fears.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (Joh 14:6)
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he
loved us; even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Eph 2:4,5)

Sin separates from God. It also hinders us from enjoying the love of God.

Over the centuries, man has made many efforts in order to be at peace with God
and his fellow human beings. But all these efforts have not really helped man.

We all wonder and ponder what the real essence of life is, if peace of mind is so
intractable and death is inevitable.

Robin Williams was famous, rich, talented, and, moreover people used to love
him so much. So how can someone in that position get so depressed to the point
of committing suicide?

The very bottom line of a man personally taking his own life is due to many
causes, but most often due to self-rejection and hitting the point that you just
think you cannot cope with what seems to be an overwhelming life situation with
which one is confronted.

47
 If you dont have hope for the future, you may mistakenly think suicide is a
solution, and the only true hope for anyone, whoever he or she may be, is to
hope in Christ.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in
me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance. (Psa 42:5)

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted
within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the
health of my countenance, and my God. (Psa 42:11).
You may experience a sort of tunnel vision, where in the middle of a crisis you
believe suicide is the only way out.

Convicted hedge fund swindler Bernard Madoff, serving a 150-year prison

sentence, for fraudulently cheating and stealing from a very long list of innocent
and gullible investors, tried to commit suicide, because he failed to seek
repentance in the only way possible.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:

according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:
(Psa 51:2 -4).

In his own declarations, Madoff said,

I had more than enough money to support my lifestyle and my familys lifestyle. I
allowed myself to be talked into something, and thats my fault. I thought I could
extricate myself after a short period of time. But I just couldnt.

48
[The fraud] was a nightmare for me. It was only a nightmare for me. Its horrible.
When I say nightmare, imagine carrying this secret. Look, imagine going home
every night not being able to tell your wife, living with this ax over your head, not
telling your sons, my brother, seeing them every day in the business and not being
able to confide in them.

A United States pastor committed suicide in May 2015, six days after his name
was exposed by hackers of the Ashley Madison adultery website.

In the words of his wife,

"He talked about depression. He talked about having his name on there, and he
said he was just very, very sorry . . . it carried such a shame,"

"Nothing is worth the loss of a father and a husband and a friend. It just didn't
merit it. It didn't merit it at all."

Thoughts over an awkward situation, or an accident, robbery, fight, chaotic

circumstance, or a possible attack in which one took a direct hit, are common
symptoms which may make us to be afraid uncontrollably.

Committing suicide or inflicting oneself with terminal or temporary punishment

directly or indirectly are never the way out of our fears, worries and depressions.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and
serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD
searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou
forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. (1Ch 28:9).
Enduring steps to personal peace with God and man demands that we embrace
Gods purpose and plan for man through salvation wrought by the blood of Jesus
Christ, the only acceptable Lamb of God.

49
William A. Faggal gave the story of the prison experience of Sam Tannyhill, a
convicted armed robber and murderer, who was on the Death Row at the Ohio
State Penitentiary awaiting a date on the electric chair.

After Sam Tannyhill entered Death Row, he was given a bible. Call it luck, choice
or purposeful decision making; by and by Sam took time to read the Bible.

Sam got so fascinated with the Good Book (Bible) to the point of taking the
freewill option of enlisting on the Bible study program, Faith for Today by
correspondence. This was about a year before his appointed execution date.

William Faggal happened to be his follow-up pastor, and they exchanged series of
correspondence.

Sam read in his Bible about a marvelous Person called Jesus Christ. The further he
read the Good Book, the more he learnt about Jesus Christ. The more he learnt of
Him, the closer he wanted to get to Him and know Him more and more.

Gradually, Sam Tannyhill came to realize that Jesus Christ actually offers the most
desired and most elusive thing in his life forgiveness and cleansing from awful
guilt of those sins, their guilt as well as their remorse.

On one particular day, Sam was so weighed down by the burden and enormity of
all his crimes, burglaries, maiming and killings, and all that stuff. He was so
weighed down and disturbed that he decided to take a step and pray to this
wonderful Savior to bail him out.

Sam had never really prayed before, but now Sam prayed for God to dole out a
gun for him to shoot out his way into freedom. However, no gun appeared.

Few days passed and nothing happened. Yet he was still weighed down heavily by
these excruciating feelings of his guilt, and the enormity of his very many sins and
atrocities.

Sam knelt down in tears beside his prison bed and prayed a different kind of
prayer that day.

50
Under a sincere grief, contrite and sorrowful regret for his crimes and their
results, he named every one of his crimes and sins he could ever remember, and
prayed to God in Heaven to forgive each one of them, as well as all of those he
had forgotten or could not recount.

Dear Lord, forgive me for every other sin that exists, because I know Im guilty
of all of them. He prayed sincerely that evening, and slept afterwards like a
baby, gaining a completely changed life.

Sam Tannyhill continued with his sincere study of the Bible till the newness in his
life became known and seen by everybody on Death Row, staffers and prisoners
alike.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed

away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5: 17.)
What brought about the change in the life of Sam Tannyhill?

Sam came to feel dissatisfied with his life of sin and desired a purely cleansed life.
He realized that his past was terribly bad and evil, and he desired a better life.

(This is where many people who have fears, worries, anxieties and depressions in
their lives make the most mistakes. They would not seek God in the right way
while they would want to keep up their sinful lifestyle and worldliness. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon. (Isa 55:7)).

A very crucial step of response must be taken by the fearful and worried sinner to
come to Christ. Steps to Christ must be firm and determined to embrace the free
grace of salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

You surely have a definite part to play in order to benefit from the unending love
of god to rescue all sinful men and women weighed down by guilt, fear, worry,
anxiety, and depression.

51
You can not benefit unless you respond personally. Salvation is Gods free gift,
but, you must receive this gift before you can enjoy it.

People who are weighed down by fear, fretful souls who are heavily depressed
and despaired must renounce their satisfaction with the world, they must see the
need for Christ to enter their lives to cast out all fears and dampen all worries and
anxieties in their souls.

Where God gives grace, He also gives a thirst after it, and where God has given a
thirst after His grace, He has made provisions to quench the thirst of all penitent
souls who seek Him in truth and in faith.

This is the problem of man from Adam to the recently born infant.

Money, wealth, position, fame, and power can never cast out the fear in men and
cannot solve the many problems and woes in his life, body, and soul, for all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of The Lord.

Many people came to this realization, but created defense mechanisms or

alternative lifestyles instead of turning to God at this crucial moment in life for
enduring peace of mind and rest for the soul.

Once the dissatisfaction with our past life is established, the next step is to do
something positive about it. The only positive step is to confess the sins to a
Power mightier than ourselves.

Confess to God and seek forgiveness from on high.

Are you ready to respond?

Are you willing to receive Gods free gift right now so that your sins may be
forgiven, your fears cast away, and that your depressions and despairs totally
removed?

Will you decide to receive Christ now?

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WHAT YOU MUST DO:

1. Admit that you are a sinner now.

2. Be willing to repent now.

3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins.

4. Go to God in prayers, repent and invite Jesus into your life.

PRAYER OF THE PENITENT

Almighty God, I thank you because you love me.

When I was lost in sin, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to die for me. I believe that
the blood He shed was for my pardon.

Today I repent of all my sins and ask for forgiveness.

Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Save me now. I invite you into my heart today. Be
my Savior and my Lord.

Thank you for coming into my heart according to your promise. In Jesus Name I
pray. (Amen).

HAVE YOU TAKEN THESE 4 STEPS?

Then you must:

1. Read the Word of God every day Ps 119:9,11

2. Spend some time in prayer every day. Phil 4:6

3. Fellowship with other believers in the Church so that you can be cared for and
grow up spiritually. Hebrews 10:25.

4. Yield your life to God, Witness for Christ and bring others to Him Mark 1:17.

This was what Sam Tannyhill did that brought about the desired changes in his
life.

53
On his first pastoral visit to Sam in prison, few days prior to the time of his
execution, but after a lot of correspondences, the pastor found Sam, a young man
of 24 completely at peace with himself and the world around him.

He was absolutely looking forward with uncommon joy towards his death. Why?

Sam Tannyhill, a condemned armed robber and murderer, came across the Bible,
read it to his heart, and believed it to take the essential step of accepting Jesus
Christ into His life.

After having a personal encounter with The Lord, Sam faithfully determined to
successfully take the four essential steps listed above, and received victory over
all his fears, sins, and worries.

Without a dime to his name in the bank, or any work of fame or honor, Sam was
so successful a man after he obtained an assurance of salvation from The Lord,
that moment prior to his execution he prayed the prayer of faith, telling God of
his great conviction to be resurrected with The Lord at the time of the rapture.

He begged God to forgive the execution team of any sin, as they were doing their
duty, which would not be necessary if he had not committed crimes.

In closing, he bided the Pastor, who was around to comfort him, good bye and
affirmed his hope to see him again in the resurrection morning.

What a way to die!!!

Who commits the most murders, according to Hollywood? Serial killers?,

Gangsters?, Terrorists?, or High school science teachers turned drug kingpins?

It turns out the answer is businessmen.

In 2006, the Business and Media Institute published a study in which it concluded
that According to primetime TV, you are 21 times more likely to be kidnapped or
murdered at the hands of a businessman than the mob. Businessmen also
committed crimes five times more often than terrorists and four times more often
than gangs.

54
A different study by the Business and Media Institute found that by age 18, the
average TV viewer has seen businessmen attempt more than ten thousand
murders and countless lesser offenses, all in the name of greed.

55
 6. Greed and Fear
Fear is a powerful motivator. High fear messages are generally more effective
than low fear messages in changing peoples actions, intentions, and attitudes.

Financial markets are driven by two powerful emotions greed and fear. (old
Wall Street saying).

In the words of Albert Einstein, fear and greed are two of the three great forces in
the world, the third is stupidity. Fear and greed are so powerful emotions that,
when used and applied appropriately and adequately, drive people into actions
and audacious moves.

Greed and fear are two sister sins that account for the lot of crimes and atrocities
as well as the untimely death of many people in the world.

Greed is definitely one of the seven deadliest and a human failing that few
manage to escape-- and it has been the downfall of many.

While fear and greed have a romantic connotation that conjures images of Wall
Street wisdom, Gordon Gekko, and classic ads, there is a wide world of emotion
outside of these broad categories that you can use to persuade buyers.

It certainly helps to know the power of fear and greed, especially on an academic
level, to pepper them into appropriate campaigns. Especially if youre in an
industry where there is a level of natural internal fear in your customers (security
systems), learning how to evoke that in a respectful way on your site can help
propel conversions.

However, there are many, many use cases that arent so benevolent. In fact,
because fear and greed are traditionally irrational emotions that override rational
decision making, theyre often used in confidence scams or get rich schemes. Still
then, its important to know their power, if only to avoid those attempts yourself.

Greed, it is the self-serving desire for the pursuit of money, wealth, power, food,
or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is
considered a deadly sin.

56
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are
shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for
his gain, from his quarter. (Isa 56:11).

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to
covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
falsely. (Jer 6:13).

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and
was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. (Isa 57:17).

Greed is the battle-cry of the greedy, his uncontrollable desire to get more and
more power, more prosperity, more positions, and more popularity at the exense
of others. The sing-song of the greedy is that he who dies with the most stuff
wins the battle of life.

The fear of the greedy is his anxiety over who takes over all those which he had
greedily acquired when death comes.

And, in a greedy rage, the greedy names everything to his name, the house the
street, the business, the fleet of cars, and virtually everything, so that when he
dies his name will continue to ring in greed.

Greed continues to thrive because our society cherishes things more than God,
people or relationships. The price of greed has also destroyed friendships, caused
more damage to the relationships of families and friends, played upon millions to
cheat them out of their wealth and properties, Today the world is focused on
greed, wealth and power.

Greed is prevalent in the political realm, in many religious practices as well as

across the social spectrum. It does not have a heart or concern for the damage it
causes.

Greed is infectious and contaminates the world. It alienates the individual from
family, friends and God. It is a selfish act that benefits only the greedy individual
temporarily.

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Fear and greed are often found together in situations where people are being
influenced in negative ways. In fact Einstein said There are three great forces in
the world: stupidity, fear and greed.

Stupidity, at least in hindsight, leads people into situations where fear and greed
are the roots of their downfall.

Material things, which are usually the focus of the greedy person, will get
exhausted or perish sooner or later, a clear conscience and good reputation with
God and man is the only way to fight off fear and have peace of mind.

A clear conscience fears no accusation.

On the other hand, it certainly helps to know that one can use the power of fear
and greed to drive sales in persuasive efforts by propel conversions, and also
close sales.

Learning how to evoke that in a respectful way on your site can help, Especially if
youre in an industry where there is a level of natural internal fear in your
customers (security systems.

Because fear and greed are traditionally irrational emotions that override rational
decision making, theyre often used in confidence scams or get rich schemes.

Religious groups and advocates for people with disabilities have opposed aid-in-
dying legislation, saying it goes against the will of God and puts terminally ill
patients at risk for coerced death.

"I have seen so many miraculous turnarounds in people's lives when the doctors
have given up. The doctors have said, 'Do funeral arrangements,' and the
prognosis has changed within a matter of hours,"

Why do people who seem to have it all commit suicide?

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that
loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. (Ecc 5:10).

58
Happiness and depression don't just depend on what you have but they depend
on your perception, your beliefs about what you have and your unmet needs.

And since those needs differ from a person to another what makes someone
happy won't make another one happy.

Unmet needs change with time. As we grow older our needs change and so in
order to stay happy we need to be able to satisfy those new needs. In each phase
of our lives our unmet needs might change completely.

You will not have any needs related to having healthy and successful kids before
marriage, but after you get married you might become extremely concerned
about the success and health of your kids.

In other words, new needs always evolve as we grow and this is why a person
who was extremely happy can get depressed when his circumstances and
situation change.

Simply, if a new important need appeared and the person believed he can't satisfy
it then depression will happen because he was greedy to obtain it, seeking after
it.

Genuinely successful people in business have nothing in common with the likes of
Bernie Madoff.

The field of psychology has introduced psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and

various other methods to treat fear and anxiety.

Conquering fear and the things we are afraid of is an arduous task because fear
itself weakens and wearies the fearful, and the more we strive against it, with our
carnal power, the more we suffer from its scourge, while it comes stronger at us.

There is bound to be great amount of fear when we are in dire straits or in times
of desperate moments in life. But always remember that the LORD is the
strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

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When he placed his confidence solely upon God, little David was able to kill giant
Goliath and ten thousands of Philistine soldiers with his string and one piece of
stone.

When he allowed fear to overwhelm him till he lost his faith in God and became
afraid of the threatening of King Saul, David did the unthinkable and behaved
foolishly irrational.

The anointed man of God ran for cover amongst the idolaters. David fled to Gath,
the core enclave of the enemy of Israel.

And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to
Achish the king of Gath. (1Sa 21:10).
Confidence is having absolute assurance, while a lack of confidence means a lack
of power, leaving you exposed to danger, and making you feel insecure, helpless,
weak, and unsure of yourself, and fearful to make the next move.

Often times we feel that God is not aware of the many challenges we face in life,
and we tend to fear and cringe, but, on the contrary, God has always prepared His
children and His people adequately for coming crises.

Miracle on the Marne

Within the memory of millions of people and hundreds of war veterans is the
stirring story of a major event that was germaine to the deliverance of France
from the occupation invading German military forces.

Today, France and the French may oppose God and denounce His power or deny
His truth, but when the whole of France was caught up in fear during World War I,
god intervened and rescued the nation.

Militarily, what happened on French soil on September 3, 1914, was simply

incomprehensible to soldiers or civilians, or to anyone at all, because it was too
mystifying a divine intervention at the nick of time, nothing else than a miracle.

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During World War I, the German military forces were on the march to execute the
Schlieffen Plan for the invasion of France, marching through Belgium on their way
to capture Paris.

The famed German military had made strident progress within 33 days after
declaration of hostilities, and were already within the vicinity of Paris, navigating
their way into the French hinterland and capital from Belgium.

The famed Canadian Princess Pat regiment was assigned to hold back the
advancing enemy until the Parisians could dig in. But overwhelming German
forces crowded the regiment and they had to retreat.

German planes had already entered the French airspace without any credible
hindrance, air-raiding Paris, dropping propaganda leaflets, and commanding the
Parisians to surrender.

French people were totally afraid of death or capture, afraid to loose their lives,
their wealth, their properties and their land and nation to the ivading enemy
forces.

The French government had, out of fear and seeking last resort, been evacuated
from Paris to Bordeaux on September 2nd 1914, and it was predicted that the
German army under General Alexander von Kluck, would arrive at Paris on
September 5, if no check was made on their advance.

Just then a small but very vital incident happened that turned the tide of the
battle and saved the city from occupation.

The men in the Canadian Princess Pat Regiment, saw a man on a white horse
riding fearlessly forward through enemy fire.

General Gunn issued the order to follow the man on the white horse, and the
Princess Pat Regiment pressed valiantly forward behind him.

Almost immediately the entire invading German army began moving east.

The German army was on the run, and that the Canadian Princess Pat Regiment
was spearheading the pursuit.
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What happened to the man on the white horse?

No one knows.

When General Gunn was questioned about it, he replied, The account is a true
one. I saw him riding straight through the lines of the German fire, apparently
unhurt.

Nothing seemed to change his course. Nothing stopped him. I shouted to my

men to follow the man on the white horse. They did so and were victorious. I
dont know who he was, where he came from, or where he went, but only that
he was there when we needed him.

The Germans themselves declared that this battle was the turning point of the
war. It stopped the German advance and saved France from being conquered.

A German monarchist, a member of the Reichstag, and another member of the

imperial ruling family, each independently and at different times affirmed that the
purported invasion of France by Germany and the war had been lost at the
Marne.

He goes on to say, Whatever the contributing causes of the collapse of the

Kaisers armies at the Marne, the fact remains that not only were the French
and British civilians offering up heartfelt prayers that day, so were the officers in
command of their armies.

Someone has been praying, Lord Fisher, Admiral of the British Fleet declared to
Lord Robertson. There is no other way of accounting for this miracle. It was too
mystifying to be called anything other than a miracle.

As a result of this Divine intervention, the Allied Forces began to race the
Germans to the sea where they began digging a long line of trenches which
stretched from Switzerland to the English Channel.

Once, while speaking of this grand race, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch said,

How was I able to accomplish what I did?

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Because God willed it so!

I do not know how.

We are blind instruments of Providence.

A mysterious man observed on a white horse.

Airplanes that arent really there.
Impenetrable shields of protection in times of grave danger.

These strange and inexplicable events have brought dramatic changes to the lives
they have touched.

They are unexplainable unless one understands the sovereign position God holds
by His mighty hand throughout the pages of history.

"I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
The Lord does not promise to deliver us from some of our fears, but He has
assured us that He will deliver us from all of our fears.

The prayers of David to a prayer-answering God went a long way to silence his
fears and cast away all his worries.

Fear is as old as the human race.

It began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned and hid themselves
from the Lord. The Lord called out for Adam, and Adam replied, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Gen
3:10).

However, while fear is as old as the human race, audacious godly courage,
reverence for God, fear of God, fear for god and His commandments is also as old
as time.

Adam and Eve became fearful because of disobedience and sin.

Cain lived his life in fear and fearfulness most of his life because of sin and evil
tendencies.

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Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and a host of other patriarchs,
prophets, Apostles and Disciples of Christ lived in righteousness and boldness for
righteousness sake.

The Lord does not promise to deliver us from some of our fears, but He has
assured all believers that He will deliver us from all our fears.

The prayer of some unknown saints interceding for Paris touched Heaven to
receive a God-sent man on a white horse, who delivered Paris, and all of France
from the hands of Germany, the arch-enemy, and obtaoned triumph out of
certain defeat.

God is ever the same, yesterday, today, and forever!

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (Joh 10:28,29).
The same God who led the Israelites through the Red Sea, who rescued Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace, who caused the walls of Jericho to
fall down flat, and the sun to stand still in the sky after the prayer of Joshua, is the
same mighty God who rules over all things today, and who is active in our lives.

Never permit your fear to grow bigger than your faith in a God who is more than
able to help you through the fears, the worries, and the anxieties.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Take notice of God's goodness for your
own blessing, and take notice of it for the comfort of your souls as it cast away all
fears.

Take courage and move forward into the future with confidence in the power of
Gods mighty hand.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
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 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,
came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
(Psa 27: 1 -3)

The life of a Christian must always be in complete and diligent devotion to Jesus
Christ, and it is then, and only then, that the believer would not be afraid of
death, nor be bothered with the stings of the grave.

Davids Courage Based on Faith

What a contrast a humble shepherd lad encouraging an experienced and

successful warrior of Israel. King Saul, the only giant of Israel realized that he
should have been the one to accept goliaths challenge.

But a guilty conscience left him fearful and trembling. .

David, on the other hand, radiated that spirit of genuine optimism and courage
that is the badge of a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.

David was as courageous as Saul was cowardly and fearful.

The secret of Davids strength was not so much that he had killed a lion and a
bear as a shepherd lad, but that he had developed courage, fortitude, and a living
faith in his God. Now, at his fathers request, he had come to the battle front, and
under the direction of an angel of God he sought to fulfill a mission.

His spirit was stirred within him. He was fired with zeal to preserve the honor of
the living God.

His brothers jealousies and suspicion must have been aroused from the day that
Samuel visited their home and chose david from among them. Now, condemned
by his youthful courage and daring, and by their own cowardice, they responded
in anger to his offer.

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The dramatic story of Davids victory over Goliath is loved by children old and
young, however, it is more than a story of courage and daring.

It is the story of faith; faith that has not been diminished by doubt,
discouragement, and despair; faith that has not been eroded by the tunnel vision
of seeing things through mere human perspective; faith that relies on God to do
impossibilities.

This model for Christians living reminds us that the Goliath and giants in our lives
need not intimidate us into icy fear.

It teaches us what David understood so well that the battle belongs to the Lord
of hosts.

It is not by sword or spear, but by Gods power that we shall gain the victory. And
it is not for our credit or glory, but that all the earth may know that there is a
God in Israel. (I sam 17:46).

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 7. Power To The Fearless
It is my earnest prayer that youll be brave, bold, valiant, and courageous enough
to cast your lot with Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, for a glorious
future and a heavenly inheritance.

You can do valiantly through God; you can do great exploits in the power of His
might, and obtain the victory through the power in His name.

Being bold is having the courage to stand for what is right, what is true, and what
is godly at all time. Being brave is speaking out against whats wrong no matter
what others think or say.

When youre bold to know God is always on your side as a loving Father loves His
dear child, so theres never a reason to fear.

Your obedience to God and His Word is the cornerstone of a truly brave life and
the true factor why we are valiant and mighty men without fear or fret for the
enemy.

He who would valiant be gainst all disaster,

Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There is no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim,

The Confidence of King Hezekiah

Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the
siege in Jerusalem?

Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by
thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of
Assyria?

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Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and
commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and
burn incense upon it?

Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other
lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their
lands out of mine hand?

Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly
destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should
be able to deliver you out of mine hand?

Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner,
neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver
his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less
shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? (2Ch 32:10 15).

The believing confidence of King Hezekiah and the people of Israel in God
prevailed over the railings and ranting of enemy Sennacherib.

Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of
Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more
with us than with him:

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help
us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon
the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. (2Ch 32:7,8).
The army of Sennacherib was defeated by Gods intervention, and, the king of
Assyria was killed by his own children.

When you live mainly to yourself and to the world in this fleeting life, worry and
anxiety over death will regularly stare you in the face, while the sting of the grave
will be your tormentor long before you are lowered into the ground.

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Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son
is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Eze 18:4).

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. (Rom 6:23).

Greed and covetousness are the twin sisters leading many souls from the path of
righteousness into sinfulness and perdition, and we all need to be constantly
warned against them to prevent the fear of any backlash.

Since things of the world will not satisfy the desires of a soul, a prudent, worldly
man, who has no grateful regard to the providence of God, nor any rightful
thought of the uncertainty of human affairs, is in constant fear of his end and the
unknown.

Happiness and comfort do not depend on the wealth of this world. The more your
acquisition of material wealth and means, the more perplexity and dissatisfaction
you have with it.

The foolishness of the Rich Fool lies in his constant thought of making no other
use of his plenty than to indulge the flesh and gratify the sensual appetites,
without any thought of doing good to others.

Unfortunately for him and his likes, the day is coming when God will call them by
their own name, and they will call themselves so. The death of such persons is
miserable in itself, and terrible to them. Thy soul shall be required.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (Luk
12:15).

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Death has a sting, dagger, or goad, by which, like the driver of oxen, he is
continually irritating and urging on to kill and snuff life out of humans. Death is
quite busy at this, killing and maiming millions of souls every minute al acrss the
world.

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The thought of death, and the fact that it is inevitable, is a major cause for fear in
most people.

However, the power to kill is not really in the hands of Death, but rather in the
pronouncement of God. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou
return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return. (Gen 3:19).

The fact of a single life for each of us on earth, the truth about the frailty of our
bodies, and the folly of our souls without divine touch confirm how little we can
do with our short existence in this life, and how little we can bear without divine
support.

As a result of all these, most humans are afraid, as

they come under the spell and
unfortunate awareness that death will come sooner or later in life.

Most of us carry the fear of the unpalatable irritations that our existence on earth
will end somehow, somewhere, and sometime.

How sad it is that many people who are afraid of death blatantly refuse to lay
claim on the provision of peaceful life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ declares, These things I have spoken unto you, that
in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (Joh 16:33).
The demon called fear is ever on the prowl to torment and afflict people who
reject God and refuse to follow His truth. Very many people need to be delivered
from this demon.

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named
Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of
mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

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And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his
shoulders.

And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head
weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are
ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to
Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but
if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that
we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed, and greatly afraid. (1Sa 17:4 11).

The victory of the grave lies in the ability of Death to cast dead souls into Hades,
the sorrowful, painful, and burning empire of death.

Many people on the broadways of life are going in there headlong, in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2Th 1:8,9).

The rabbinic tradition erroneously claims that a soul hovers by the grave for three
days in hope of reunion with the body of someone who had just died, but at the
first sign of decomposition it departs.

Unto where does the soul depart? I hasten to ask.

Once breadth ceases from the body, the person dies, the spirit of life and living
stops from the person, the soul goes back to the Creator, and the body begins to
decompose.

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Our body, soul, and spirit belong to God, and He shall require it, and shall request
for a just and fair account of it at death. And as it is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment: (Heb 9:27).

Eternity literally means for all time, and the concept comes from the only Person
who knows what eternity looks like, God.

Despite the fact that eternal life is Gods alone to give, people continue to search
for a way to hang on for one more day of life on earth through health, mysticism,
material wealth, pleasure, and leisure, and even through religion.

Nobody wants to die. For what then shall it profit a man to gain the whole world
and lose his own soul in hell?

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days,

what it is; that I may know how frail I am. (Psa 39:4).
There is only one life to each of us on earth, our days on earth are numbered, and
there is nothing you can do to add to your days in this life.

Unfortunately, it is the folly of most men, to mind and pursue very zealously
material and mundane things of this life, perishable things of this time and body,
at the detriment of their soul and eternity.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:
then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Luk 12:19,20).

The truest and most vital duty of man is to escape the second judgment and be
well-prepared and adequately ready, by His grace, for the glorious life in heaven.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason
of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and
sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

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 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom. (Psa 90:10,12).
Despite the truth that the power of life and death is in Gods hand, He has boldly
and plainly promised the brass ring of eternity for all who follow Him, to all who
do His will, and unto as many as keep His truth, His precepts, and His Word, many
prefer the way of the world to the path of righteousness.

The fountain of youth may be a fiction; the possibility of living forever is never a
pseudo-plot but a reality unto everyone that diligently seek the Lord to the very
end.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to

God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. (Heb 11:6).

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 8. Cast Thy Fears to the Wind
The whole essence of life is to have a piece of mind and a place in the plan of God
for man and his universe.

While peace of mind, inner joy, lasting happiness, and genuine love are desired by
many, only very few people out of the entire world population know what it
means to possess a desirable life, to have a peaceful and purposeful existence,
and have it in true and full value.

Our world is full of all sorts of wickedness across the tribes, cultures, and every
facet of the society.

Idolatry, cruelty, selfishness, injustice, and ungodly attitude are very rampant
across the world, and these elements of wickedness have eroded the true
spiritual life of the people across the cultures, tribes, and nations.

Many things we do not understand happen to us in life which we find difficult to

understand and hard to unravel. Negative things that happen to us usually bring
along with them sorrow, sadness, grief and loss of joy, making us afraid of how to
live.

A person of negative disposition naturally is moody, depressed, worried and full

of fear and anxiety. As he is sorrowful of heart so is he capable of spreading
sorrow all around him.

Sorrow of heart depresses, and causes fear, worries, despair and disease. Why is
thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of
heart. Then I was very sore afraid, (Neh 2:2b).

If the heart is sorrowful, the countenance will be sad and it brings weakness to
the body. It is the inner man that gives the body strength or weakness, boldness
or fearfulness.

Sadness, depression, or fearfulness is the negative effect of the mind on the body.
It is an internal problem that is oozing out of sad and worried people.

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These are the internal condition of the body which depreciates, destroys and
makes a person to have disease on the external body.

Nevertheless, God is calling every man into His plan of redemption for a revival of
their spiritual life. It is when we heed to His call, pursue His purpose, and follow
His plan that we can get rid of the fears in our life and obtain peace into our soul.

Generally, the meaning of humanity is perceived from our fundamental

perspective and fear of death, but people who find a place in Gods plan always
find peace for their souls, they torment the turbulence which trouble and cast
fear into the lives of the ungodly.

Confidence is having absolute assurance in your divinely endowed ability and

aptitude. It is a graceful privilege to depend upon God through whom you are
able to do all things.

When you lack confidence you are devoid of essential fire power to put through,
to rip off fear and conquer defeat.

Young men and elderly people had existed through time and space who devoted
their lives to fulfill the plan and purpose of God, to demonstrate confidence not
solely upon their own self and abilities, but resting upon the power of Christ in
them.

Such great men had operated on a platform given to transform their eras, to turn
sinful souls into godliness, to rescue perishing souls and populate the kingdom of
God.

Martin Luther was a young adult in his early thirties when he began the sixteenth-
century Reformation.

John Calvin joined the Reformation at 24 and wrote the first edition of the
Institutes at 27.

George Whitefield began his open-air preaching to huge crowds in his early
twenties during the eighteenth century.

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Equal opportunities abound for all youthful folks and many who are young at
heart to glorify God in their lives and cast out all forms of fear.

We all have what the greatest of men have ever had. Whether wise or great, we
all take our food from a common plate, and therefore there should be no need to
fear to serve the Master. While the wise ones chose the right path, most chose to
follow their own ways.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the Civil War years in
Diamond, Missouri, around July 12, 1864. A frail, sickly child, Carver was thrown
into household chores and gardening as he was unable to work in the fields.

With a quest to learn and a yearning to be taught, George Washington Carver left
home at the age 12 to pursue an education in a location ten miles away. The little
boy walked to Neosha, Missouri, to attend the Lincoln School for Colored
Children.

Unfortunately, he had no money to pay for tuition and no place to live for
boarding.

But God moves in mysterious ways to perform His wonders in the lives of men.
God moves in a mysterious way to accomplish His great objects.
God takes the most modest path in accomplishing His most important and
greatest works.

God took away the fears of little George as He sent The Watkinses across his path
to take him into their house for boarding and to provide the little boy with small
daily chores to get money for tuition.

The Watkinses were amazed at how hard little George worked for his keep, and at
Christmas, Mariah Watkins presented George Carver with a worn leather Bible,
and the young lad was ever grateful.

Eager to learn, George began reading the Bible, a daily habit that gave him
spiritual length, social understanding, and excellent academic proficiency from
then till the very end of his life.

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 The search for knowledge would remain a driving force for the rest of George's
life. Hitching a wagon ride to Fort Scott, Kansas, George Washington-Carver got a
cooking job to earn money for school books.

Traveling from town to town in the Midwest, doing odd jobs, George finally
graduated from high school. He excelled in botany, biology, chemistry and art.

His audacity to try, and his daring ability to hope, made him apply to a
Presbyterian college in Highland, Kansas, and George was accepted. However,
because he was black African, George was instantly turned back from the gate of
the college.

"You didn't tell us you were a Negro. Highland College does not take Negroes,"
was the unfriendly racist gesture of the college dean.

George was undeterred by the hostile attitude of the college authorities. Though
devastated, George Washington Carver was never afraid to try harder.

Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;

Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by
it. (Martin Luther-King, Jr.).

George was undeterred by the hostile attitude of the college authorities. Though
devastated, George Washington Carver was never afraid to try harder. He
believed he had not tried enough, and must needs to try harder to realize his
desire.

And the man who has risen great deeds to do,

Began his life with no more than you.
You are the handicap you must face.
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go.
How much you will study the truth to know;
God has equipped you for life,

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But He lets you decide what you want to be.(Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
From Simpson College to the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts,
George Washington Carver studied horticulture, which was to be the mainstay of
his career and breakthrough in life.

Give to the winds thy fears

Hope and be undismayed;
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
He shall lift up thy head.

Through waves, and clouds, and storms,

He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.

Leave to His sovereign sway

To choose and to command,
So shalt thou wondering own His way,
How wise, how strong, His hand!

Far, far above thy thought

His counsel shall appear
When fully He the work hath wrought
That caused thy needless fear. (Paul Gerhardt).

Again, at Iowa State College, George was treated with utter indignity as he was
not allowed to dine at the cafeteria because he was black.

George settled for the kitchen but mastered his lessons and studied very hard till
he graduated with honors in Masters of Science.

After obtaining his master's degree, George was offered a job as a college
professor at Iowa State College.

This prestigious offer of employment was big enough to turn the head of an
African-American in those days, to think he had arrived on the world stage.

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However, George Washington-Carver had a different mind-set. He kept hearing
ringing in his hears the simple but noble words of Mariah Watkins' voice saying,
"Be like Libby. Give your learnin' back to your people."

When a letter came to him in 1896 from Booker T. Washington for George
Washington Carver to become the Director of the Agriculture Department at
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School in Tuskegee, Alabama, Professor Carver
knew immediately this was the task God had been preparing him for all along.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of

comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge
and controversy. (Martin Luther-King, Jr.)
Professor George Washington Carver realized that he was compelled to carry the
gospel of freedom for the African American people far beyond his own person
and comfort and send the light all across Alabama and beyond, starting at the
newly established Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School.

He was not afraid and undeterred to make a try to improve the lot of African
Americans by taking off from that new institution for colored people with a
humble beginning and lowly means.

"It's all about the try!", fear, worry, doubt, frustration, anger, insecurity, are
wrong attitudes that will never lead you to success, but utter failure.

You tend to become afraid and fearful when life turns hard, when situations get
tough, when the road is rough, and help seems scarce.

But the tough guy never get afraid of seeming trials and difficulties. The harder
they come the tougher he gets.

When things get tough, do not get afraid, do not get tired, but look inside with
faith in God Almighty and upon our Savior Jesus Christ.

Plunge yourself into the tough task with toughened faith, and toughened hope,
and you will soon find exceptional ability to TRY and to finish off the task.

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That try in faith, in truth, and in whatsoever is true and godly is what will power
you beyond all your fears, all your worries and all your self-doubt till you
accomplish great goals and purpose in life. Try, try, and try ever more till the end.

On his arrival at the school, Professor Carver discovered that the institute was far
short on funds, inadequate in facilities, very much at the setting out stage, but
very rich in African American students eager to learn and be taught.

As Dr. Carver thought over all these inadequacies and tough challenges, he never
for once considers going back to the lofty peaceful privileges he left behind at
Iowa College.

No, the great African American professor wanted to try out his faith and hope
amongst those who need him most the very indigent and poor African American
students who are very rich in eagerness, willingness and strong yearning to learn
and be taught.

Without any iota of fear, but strong in hope and strong faith in the enablement of
god through Christ, Dr. Carver could only envision the boundless opportunities
which had presented itself to him and his students at Tuskegee.

Satchel in hand and looking deeply in thoughts and vision at the dreary frame
buildings and barren, dusty grounds of the Tuskegee Institute, Professor Carver
could only see hope, success and breakthrough.

The massive landscape and dusty grounds had been drained of its nutrients by
centuries of ceaseless cotton planting without serious basic to replenish the soil.
However, the sharp mind and trained eyes of Dr. Carver led him to discover that
some other shrubs were growing here and there across the landscape.

Curiously, Dr. Carver and his students selected each weed or plant species within
the vicinity of the school grounds, took them into a make-shift laboratory to
determine their name, purpose and prospect.

Terribly in short of money to buy essential laboratory equipment to work on the

weeds, he remembered once again,

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Figure it out for yourself, my lad;

You've all that the greatest of men have had;

Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,

And a brain to use if you would be wise,

With this equipment they all began,

So start from the top, and say "I can.

Carver had never let the lack of money stand in his way. God had given him a
brain, and he intended to use it. Marching his students to the school dump, he
directed them to save everything useful: bottles, cooking pots, jar lids, wire, odd
bits of metal, rusty lamps, broken handles.

When the dump had been thoroughly searched, they scoured the back alleys of
Tuskegee for china dishes, rubber, curtain rods, and flat irons.

"All this may seem like junk to you," he told his skeptical students. "But it is only
waiting for us to apply our intelligence to it. Let's get to work!"

Under the supervision of an intelligent and positively determined professor, the

students at Tuskegee Institute went through life opportunities to set up cottage
industries within the school with basic facilities.

The lecturer and his students punched holes in pieces of tin to make strainers to
test soil samples, broken bottles were cut down and transformed into beakers,
discarded ink bottle with a cork and a piece of string made do nicely as a Bunsen
burner.

Gradually, but assuredly with focus, tact, determination and fortitude, Dr. Carver
and his students set up a makeshift laboratory, a major obstacle in the learning
process was removed, a major lesson was learnt by the students, and a vital
tradition in learning was solidly entrenched in the school.

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Rather than cry over lack of money, instead of becoming fretful for lack of
expensive or brand-new laboratory equipment in order to succeed at Tuskegee,
Dr. Carver and his students learnt to cast their fears to the winds, and improvised
with scavenges from thrash heaps.

This resourcefulness proved that Dr. Carver was well ahead of his time. These
scavenger hunts with his students were early example of recycling and the
conservation of natural resources.

A major end-result of this pioneering process at Tuskegee was the publication in

1916 by Dr. Carver of a research bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and 105
Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.

At the time, the boll weevil had destroyed Alabamas cotton crop and many
farmers had turned to peanuts as a cash crop.

Cotton oil mills were converted to produce peanut oil. Livestock could eat the
peanut plant and sharecroppers could feed their families on crops that werent
sold.

Its not overstating matters to say that Dr. Carver and the peanut helped save the
economy of the South.

With an insatiable curiosity and keen knowledge of chemistry and physics, Carver
continued his research with the peanut. By separating the fats, oils, gums, resins
and sugars, he went on to find many uses for the peanut. In fact, he developed
more than 300 new uses for the humble legume.

Food products ranged from peanut lemon punch, chili sauce, caramel, peanut
sausage, mayonnaise and coffee. Cosmetics included face powder, shampoo,
shaving cream and hand lotion. Insecticides, glue, charcoal, rubber, nitroglycerine,
plastics and axle grease are just a few of the many valuable peanut products
discovered by Dr. Carver.

On January 21, 1921, Carver addressed the United States House Ways and Means
Committee on behalf of the United Peanut Growers Association on the use of
peanuts to improve Southern economy.
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Initially given ten minutes to speak, the committee was so captivated, his time
was extended. Explaining the many products derived from the peanut, including
milk, mock beef and mock chicken, George Washington Carver stated:

"If you go to the first chapter of Genesis, we can interpret very clearly, I think,
what God intended when he said 'Behold, I have given you every herb that bears
seed. To you it shall be meat.'

This is what He means about it. It shall be meat. There is everything there to
strengthen and nourish and keep the body alive and healthy."

After nearly two hours, the chairman asked: "Dr. Carver, how did you learn all of
these things?"

Carver answered: "From an old book"

"What book?" asked the Chairman.

Carver replied, "The Bible."

The Chairman inquired, "Does the Bible tell about peanuts?"

"No, Sir" Dr. Carver replied, "It tells about the God who made the peanut. I asked
Him to show me what to do with the peanut and He did."

This was how Dr. George Washington-Carver took a place in Gods plan to testify
for Him and glorify His holy name, even among eminent statesmen and within the
hallowed chambers of the Capitol.

When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do,

When we rely upon education, we get what education can do;

When we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do.

But when we rely upon Gods power through prayer, we get what God
can do. (A. C. Dixon).

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 9. Confidence in Times of Fear
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in
chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very
strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
(Isa 31:1).

I will be confident that God knows my heart!

Self-confidence is the mark of man, goes the popular saying, but, how on earth
do you make a man bold when he is confronted for a very long time with threats,
with fear, phobia, anxiety or real trauma?

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking

heed thereto according to thy word. (Psa 119:9)
It is very difficult to be man enough when confronted with more complicated
anxiety disorders than specific phobias, or when a real life and death problem is
laid bare right before your very life and presence.

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and,
behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the
children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. (Exo 14:10).

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have
seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward:

But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it:
and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
(Exo 14:13 16)

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God has chosen to act mainly through, and in response to, the prayerful actions
and efforts of His people. However, the people of God must examine their hearts
before God for the assurance that they are truly children of the Heavenly Father..

As Christians, we are required not only to hold to immutable Bible doctrines,

rather than traditions, in theory, but to embody them in the way we live. Even so
faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. (Jas 2:17).

We need a confidence in Gods character so profound that we trust Him in the

dark as well as in the light, as deeply when we understand His ways and
requirements as when we do not.

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with
them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2Ti 2:22)

To exercise foresight and act positively in response to clear threat does not
necessarily betray ones lack of trust in providential oversight no r cast doubt on a
persons unwavering faith in God.

Implicit faith is unwavering, unquestioning faith, a state of mind that rests in God,
in His promises, His faithfulness and love, no matter how trying and apparently
unreasonable His commands or guiding circumstances may be.

More and more implicit faith in God leads to growth. We must grow in grace as
Christians to be ready when God calls us into His service, as He often do, to fulfill
His purpose, and to follow His plan.

Samuel and Josiah are two well-known Bible examples of young people called into
the service of God. These two young men were so successful in Gods service
because they displayed the lives of prayer, child-like faith, meekness or humility,
and total submission to the will of God.

The roadmap or pathway to overcome fear of any kind and any form begins and
ends with the tender heart of a child. I write unto you, young men, because ye
have overcome the wicked one.

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But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen,
yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh
should glory in his presence. (1Co 1: 27 29).

Rather than talents and potentialities, what qualifies a person for service in the
plan of God are these three,

a. A hungry hearts for the truth of God.

b. A honest faith in the efficacy of the power of God to save, redeem, and
regenerate from sin.
c. An unflinching faith in the power of God through the blood of Jesus
Christ, the name of Jesus, and His word.
d. A willingness to faithfully continue in total submission to His will, His way,
and His Truth unto Eternal Life.

O for a heart to praise my God,

a heart from sin set free;
a heart that's sprinkled with the blood
so freely shed for me:

A heart resigned, submissive, meek,

my great Redeemer's throne;
where only Christ is heard to speak,
where Jesus reigns alone:

A humble, lowly, contrite heart,

believing, true, and clean,
which neither life nor death can part
from him that dwells within: (Charles Wesley)

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 John Keats, the English Romantic poet, often harped on his personal assertion
that man's quest for happiness and fulfillment is thwarted by the sorrow and
corruption inherent in human nature.

John Keats was ignorant to discover the evil works of Satan in the lives of men, he
also refused to check his Bible for answers from God to the [plights of men.

His relatively short life was a quest for transcendent truth, a truth, according to
him, that could be expressed only in terms of an intense imaginative engagement
in sensual beauty rather than positive meditation on the word of God.

Thus, John Keats, unlike George Washington-Carver, felt insecure, unsafe, and
fearful, almost throughout his whole life.

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pild books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the nights starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting lovethen on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink (John Keats).
To John Keats, Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty, thats all.

And this explains why his fears were gargantuan, as he refused to abide by the
evergreen truth to Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole
duty of man.

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Despite his death at the age of 25, John Keats became one of the greatest English
poets and a key figure in the Romantic Movement, but his fears were very many.

Despite gaining continuous applause, and becoming the epitome of the young and
the beautiful, as well as the intelligent poets, John Keats was doomed, killed by the
demon he feared so much.

While he was alive John Keats failed to attain his earthly desire, and was unsure of
the hope of eternal life. What a life, and what a great miss.

Two little lines I heard one day,

Traveling along lifes busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, twill soon be past,
Only whats done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,

Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in that day my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,twill soon be past, (C.T. Studd).

Righteous people are truly blessed while living on earth, and even in death, because
blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God, theirs is the eternal life of
God.

Like Balaam, John Keats, desired a righteous heritage and eternal inheritance, but
he was afraid to embrace the life of purity, righteousness and sanctification through
Christ.

Sadly, Balaams wishes were not heartfelt prayers of a penitent, but empty wishes
of a renegade who has rejected restoration. They are mere vain wishes that desire
an end without any care or serious attempt for the means.

For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him:
lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

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Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (Num 23:9).

Many seek to quiet their consciences with the promise of future amendment of
their bad way of life while they reject Jesus Christ, and neglect the only way of
salvation, through the Cross, by which a sinner can be righteous before God.

Emily Dickenson is very well regarded as one of Americas greatest poets. However,
how much of the truth of God and His word is evangelized in her works or displayed
through her life-style.

Though famous for her unusual life of self-imposed social seclusion, Emily Dickinson
wrote poems of great power, questioning the nature of immortality and death.
Despite her many great works of art and poetry, she failed to find Christ, who only
has conquered death and the grave.

Death is inevitable, so goes the popular saying. But the fear of the end of life, the
fear of the end of general existence, and fear of end of time is in other words the
fear of death.

Death anxiety is multidimensional, and covers fears related to one's own death, fear
about the death of spouse, children, parents, siblings, and people close to us or
known by us.

The death of others, fear of the unknown after death, fear of obliteration or demise
from our familiar world, and fear of the dying process, which includes fear of either
a quick or slow death, fear of peaceful or painful death, are the common fears of
death.

Generally in life, fear sets in when one fails to look upon God but too much focus
and attention at ourselves and the threatening and railings of a towering enemy
over us. In consequence we become depressed and unable to see godly remedy.

Have you ever been there, in the gloom of despair and defeat when all your
expectations exploded in your face? It is mainly as a result of your focus far
removed from God.

The greatest means by which the enemy instills fear in man is to make him take his
focus from God and place it on himself or some other thing. Today the world is
focused on greed, wealth and power, position and popularity.

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Whatsoever a man sows is that he shall reap. Why not focus your life on positive
aspects of godliness that will reap love and yield into righteousness for eternal gain?

Material things, which are usually the focus of the greedy person, will never last in
this life as they all vanity. A good relationship with God and clear conscience with all
men is great panacea against all fears and worries, and gives peace of mind.

How do we attain these?

1. Never walk by sight: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:).
((2Co 4:18) 2Co 5:7). Always walk by faith in the sovereign control and providence
of the Lord.

2. Stay focused on the Lord: Stay focused on the Lord and seek to look beyond your
fears, worries and problems the through the eyes of faith. By faith we are to see the
very real, though invisible realities about Gods person and the faithfulness of His
promises and principles for life as revealed in Scripture

a. Be Confident against the fear: Be confident of the Person of God and His power,
His ability, and faithfulness. Put your focus on the God who is able to do and to
deliver all who trust in Him. Apostle Paul confidently declared:

And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there:

Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me.

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that
I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the
Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Act 20:22 24).

b. Be Cognizant of the fear: Be quite cognizant of the real fear or the very cause of
the fear. This is not to act or behave as if there was no problem, but focus on the
challenge with an eye of faith to be able to see beyond it with great hope in God for
courage and victory.

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And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he
was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. (Rom 4:19 21)

Believers must firmly and faithfully uphold the testimony and promises of God while
looking forward to the performance of His assurances.

C. Be Conversant with the Promises and Assurances of God in His Word:

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, God exercises His own
power according to His words, to fulfill His assurances, in His own way, and at His
own appointed time, and no human can direct or command the power of God.

However, you should be conversant with the total declared Word of God in other to
claim and appropriate those assurances. You should know precisely and
convincingly what the Lord says in order to lay claim to those assurances.

D. Be Convinced of Gods Promises: True faith is to trust and rest specifically in the
word of God and the work which Jesus Christ did for all humanity on the cross at
Calvary.

E. Be Constant in confirming Gods Promises to stand against fear:

You should learn to constantly confirm the promises of God in all situations,
enduring through faith, hope against hope without waver or doubt in unbelief.

Continue to do the things God has called us to do.

a. Be converted and start to live the unconquerable life in Christ, which is the
proven way to drive away all fears.
b. Continue to live the unconquerable life of in Christ as a true believer.
Study the word regularly, pray in truth, keep up in faith to grow and develop in
the Word of God, work and invest your time, talent, and treasure in the service
of God.
Do not run ahead of the Lord when seeking professional help and assistance in
decision making, taking risks, and venturing into any fearful terrain or hitting a
brick wall in fear.

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There always exists a godly remedy out any logjam in life.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:35 39).

We are not to devote our lives to the gathering and accumulation of wealth.

We are not blessed by God to hoard our wealth to ourselves.

We are blessed to be a blessing in the lives of others, and we are blessed to build
the kingdom of God.

If we honor God with what He has given us, He will bless with more so that we can
honor Him with more.

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 10. Remedy for the Troubled
It is human to make moves in order to protect ourselves from legitimate threats.
When we feel likely not to be able to make the right moves, we tend to fear for
that situation or circumstance. This is the so-called fight-or-flight response.

The human perspective on life gives credence to human natures fundamental

fear of death. Therefore, as rational human beings, we chose our values and
ideals along the path which allow us to escape the mental reminder of death.

Though aging is a general yet personal process of growth and development, our
passage in time and space should not be solely about death and dying, but rather
for life and for living, here and now.

Because all humans mature and die at one stage or another, therefore, man
cannot wipe out the reality of death from his conscience, consciously or sub-
consciously.

For most of humanity, living under the nagging fear of death enslaves them in
bondage most of their lives, however, death may remain a mystery to most
humans, it is still is an understandable reality we must pass through on our
journey to eternal life.

Emily Dickinson was famously known for her solitude, very serious depression,
and a life of absolute recluse.

The great poet would only engage her visitors through the door, pass gifts to local
children in her community by lowering a basket from a second-story window.

Worse still, she refused to leave her home so that she could attend her dead
fathers funeral at the local church. On the contrary, Dickenson chose rather to
listen to the program from the privacy of her bedroom.

At the peak of her famed life of isolation and fear, Emily Dickinson refused to
leave the family property for the last two decades of her life. What kind of life did
she have?

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In her very many poems, Emily Dickinson lay strong focus on death. From one
poem to another, her fear for death made her to compose lines upon lines about
death, but she failed to grasp the very truth and essence of the grace of
redemption through Christ Jesus.

Emily Dickinson was obsessed with it. But, why was she so obsessed?

In a letter to Abiah Root, Dickinson once asked, Does not Eternity appear
dreadful to you. I often get to thinking of it and it seems so dark to me that I
almost wish there was no Eternity.

To think that we must forever live and never cease to be. It seems as if Death
would be a relief to so endless a state of existence.

The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall
be satisfied from himself.

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh;
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not
inhabited.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots
by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green;
and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit. (Pro 14:14 8).

For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no
pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. (Heb 10:37 39).

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Immortality, being a state or condition free from both death and decay, one
wonders why humankind will ever dread this state, and become fearful of eternal
life.

Humankind fails to obtain immortality or eternal life because of sinfulness and

non-repentance from life of iniquity. This explains why most of us are afraid of
death when immortality is thought the end of man at death.

Death is certainly not the end of the soul of man. After death comes judgment.

The biggest fear of sinful men and women is standing to face the judgment throne
of God.

To the righteous, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
(Mat 10:28).

The human soul is that aspect of humanity with a spiritual impulse that runs
through every facet of our human experience with the capacity for knowing,
loving, as well as not loving or being hateful or wicked.

Your soul is a vital part of you that searches for meaning, seeking to find out and
discover what matters in your life, what matters and happens when you die, how
to show love, affection and empathy, and how to be of service to one another and
to the world.

You may liken the soul to a wild animal that needs to be kept calm, quiet, tender,
inviting, and trustworthy. Your soul needs to be cultivated in strict honesty and
godly truth.

Because we can only go through the world but once, and we cannot come back to
rectify any mistakes made on this singular journey after death, therefore every
move made should be with godly fear and careful consideration.

As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Pro 23:7), cowards and rebels against
God and His testimonies would always perish in the wilderness of doubt, fear, and
iniquity.

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The lives of people who are contentious, who do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, who are often in tribulation and anguish,
are always fearful, afraid and unsettled as they tend to do evil from time to time.

We all want a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, but all these comes at a
fair price.

In John Bunyans Pilgrim Progress, Christian and Faithful, who were consecrated
pilgrims on their way to eternal life in heaven, had a big price to pay in contending
for their faith against fear and threat.

The two enter Vanity and visit its famous fair.

They resist temptation and are mocked by the townspeople.

Eventually the citizens of Vanity imprison Christian and Faithful for mocking
their local religion.

Faithful defends himself at his trial and is executed, rising to heaven after death.
Christian is remanded to prison but later escapes and continues his journey.

No sinful, unlawful means may be used to escape the wrath of fear. Rather,
deliverance from fear comes from God as believers stand in faith claiming the
promises of God to overcome fears created by the devil and his agents.

The fear of man always attracts a snare, and the snare reaps perplexing evil
entrapment that disturbs inner peace.

Worldliness and sinful iniquity is an entangling snare by which men are drawn into
anxiety, perplexity and recurring worries, therefore, it must be striven and prayed
against.

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (Joh 5:29).

The kind of eternity one gets after death is a matter of choice made while living
here on earth.

All people who forgot God while in this life, who lived as sinners and worldly
compromisers, will end up in a section of eternity with utter doom, darkness,
pain, sorrow, and hell fire burning them without annihilation through eternity.

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 Another section of people who serve God faithfully, in truth and in faith, who
claimed their redemption through Christ while on earth, and continued therein till
death, will be safely kept at the feet of the Lord and in the bosom of Abraham.

The root of the matter is in each one of us to possess a living, quickening,

commanding principle of grace in the heart while still alive.

It is the root of the matter for each and every life to make a choice for Christ.

Making this choice, and making it right is necessary to obtaining the core essence
of your life and existence, as the root of the tree, to which the plant owes both its
fixedness and its fruitfulness.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be

happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no
man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

When you are in full control of your own life, rather than floating along or
following the crowd, and when you find yourself doing a great job with
determination and resolve, it naturally brings you intrinsic satisfaction and joy.

When you feel like you are in charge of your own life and that you are doing your
best, there is an exhilaration and happiness that you create inside of yourself.
Such a self-generated happiness makes sure that external circumstances that
always fluctuate have less of an impact on how you feel.

One of the ways that our lives show the worth of the gospel is when the gospel
makes us bold and courageous and unafraid.

Lead a life worthy of the gospel so that when I come I may find that you stand
firm, unafraid of any of your opponents." In other words,

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were not created to die.

It was disobedience and sinfulness that led them out of the Paradise of God, into
the judgment of God. The fault, therefore, of their predicament and fallen state was
in them, in their choice to disobey God, and mistake in following and believing
Satan.

Once led out of the presence of God, Adam, ejected from Paradise, lost the nature
of God, and was left solely with the nature of man. Behold, all souls are mine; as
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the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it
shall die. (Eze 18:4).

God wants us to take to heart the reality of death. We should deeply appreciate
each moment He provides us with. It should motivate us to take advantage of every
opportunity to prepare now for His Kingdom.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Ecc 9:10).

The life of Adam after the fall was a life of sorrow, humility, and continual
repentance. He was often bitterly reproached for his sin which resulted in so much
misery upon his posterity.

When he left the beautiful Eden, the thought that he must die thrilled him with
horror. He looked upon death as a dreadful calamity. He was first made acquainted
with the dreadful reality of death in the human family by his own son, Cain, slaying
his brother Abel.

Most bitterly did he reproach himself for his first great transgression, because of his
fear for his awaiting death and doom, who wants to die?

1. In the first instance, Adam was filled with the bitterest remorse for his own
transgression against God.
2. He was embittered, sorrowful, and full of regret for the loss of Paradise.
3. Adams heart was bowed down with grief to perceive the gruesome murder of
Abel, his dear son. Now deprived of Abel, and looking upon Cain as Abels
murderer, and knowing the curse and pronouncement of God upon murderous
Cain, Adam felt the big weight of the heinous crime of sinning against God.

Death anxiety is multidimensional; it covers "fears related to one's own death, the
death of others, fear of the unknown after death, fear of obliteration, and fear of
the dying process, which includes fear of a slow death and a painful death.

Fear of the unknown or irrational fear is caused by negative thinking (worry) which
arises from anxiety accompanied with a subjective sense of apprehension or dread.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

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And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. (Luk 16:22,23).

The truth of life connects all of us mankind.

Spiritual revelations and immutable word of God connects us, whether we believe
or doubt, that there are some fears lurking around in man, in far greater ways than
man himself can explain, that the general corruption which afterward finally
provoked God to destroy the Inhabitants of the earth by a flood.

John Keats was no doubt one of the greatest English poets but pretty morbidly
fascinated with the thought of his own demise.

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pild books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

Born in London in 1795, John Keats spent most of his youth and adulthood suffering
from tuberculosis. Sadly, it was tuberculosis which took the lives of his mother and
his brother, while his father had died in an accident when John was small.

Educated in a school at Enfield, England, John was apprenticed in 1811 to an

apothecary in Edmonton, England, from where John Keats began to compose and
write poems.

John Keats was a highly promising student when he transferred to Guy's Hospital in
1816 to fully concentrate on poetry, and his first volume of poetry was published in
1817.

In 1818, while in Hampstead nursing his brother, Tom, who had contracted
tuberculosis, John Keats met and fell deeply in love with a neighbor, the 18-year old
Fanny Brawne.

It proved to be the most creative period of John Keats life and writings.

Despite his great creativity, and very great rising post-humous fame for almost all
his works, John Keats's poetry is filled with a mysterious sense of beauty and joy,
which though uplift but way beyond reality.

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His imbalance health, the sickness and death of his brother Tom, and public
criticism and negative reception of his work significantly affected his outlook on life,
his general worldview, making him to explore many possibilities without the ability
give one credible answer to the enduring problems of life.

God's will for our lives has reason and purpose. John Keats was bogged down with
life experiences rather than true understanding of life and perfect perception of its
purpose.

"Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Mat 5:48).
The life and teaching of Christ exhort believers to be perfect, striving to be as both
Father and Son, in loving friends and foes without partiality.

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 11. Essentials of Spiritual Stability

Rather than trying to control the world around us, the pathway to spiritual maturity
in spite of lifes ever recurring and prevailing negativities lies in genuine faith in
Christ.

The secret of constant joy, victory and spiritual stability in every situation of life is to
be firmly positioned in Jesus Christ, the solid Rock of Ages that cannot be affected
by adversity or abundance, poverty or prosperity, sickness or health, privileged
position or low estate, and endearment or opposition.

The key lies in settling for a life of righteous relationship with God at the very
beginning of your Christian life. This is not a religious affair, and it is not a matter of
psychology or ritual process.

It takes the entire grace of God through salvation in Christ to become a Christian. At
Salvation, you are justified and made righteous by faith through the grace of the
atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

Justified children of God must continue to keep their faith alive in Christ, must
continue to hope in His promises and assurances, and should constantly
demonstrate unalloyed delight in His will and His way.

Spiritual stability is very essential when confronted in life with temptations, trials
and persecution which often make us to fear or fret.

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content.

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in
all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and
to suffer need.

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I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Php 4:4 - 12)

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