FACING FEAR AND FINDING FREEDOM

It is not easy to overcome the fear of failure, but once you build up the confidence to not let fear hold you back you'll achieve much more.
Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

If you don't remember anything else from this article, remember that fear is not from God but from Satan. Every time you feel fear in your life, it's a manifestation of the kingdom of darkness. I often say in my teachings that fear is the "master spirit." It's the spirit Satan uses to try to rule God's people and keep them from coming under the leadership of the true Master, Jesus Christ.
It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.
Multitudes of people never fulfill the call of God on their lives simply because every time they try to go forward, the devil uses fear to stop them. Is he using fear to stop you? Satan uses fear to keep people from enjoying life. Fear brings torment, according to 1 John 4:18, and you surely can't enjoy life and be tormented at the same time.
"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." Johnny Cash
Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.
I want to encourage you to take an inventory in the fear department. What are you afraid of? Are there any areas in your life that are being stifled because of fear? Satan is always going to bring fear against us at various times. It's one of his major weapons—not a cap gun, but a cannon. But God has not given us the spirit of fear.
All of us must learn how not to "fear the fear." The devil brings fear, but you can choose not to bow your knee to it. David said, "What time I am afraid, I will…trust…in You" (Psalm 56:3). I believe we can say that when God leads you to step out in an area to do something new, or leads you to make a bigger commitment, you may (or probably will) feel fear. However, if you're sure God told you to do it, put your trust in Him and go forward.
I have to apply this same principle to my life all the time. Years ago, I realized that I really needed to give back to the society but I did not know how to do it and where to start. I tried several and different ways of reaching out to the poor, children homes, churches etc but still felt something more was needed but I feared launching a program of my own. I had a choice. We had prayed for growth with my wife and friends so we could help more people. And everything did increase—missions invitations, motivational speaking engagements, incoming phone calls, mail, etc. It was God's timing, and He was moving.
We had to make a decision to either stand still in fear or move with God. If we had not been willing to take a step of faith, we would not touch as many lives as we do. Today I run an initiative called Makinika Afrika International which is a youth empowerment program currently with programs in Kenya like Nakuru youth program, Githurai, Moi University etc. We couldn't have kept up with the growth. I can tell you for sure that fear tried to stop me. I heard things like, "Mbugua, you're getting in over your head." "That's too much money to spend and risky engagements." "What if the increase doesn't continue?" What if you don’t get supporters?
We certainly don't want to move in the flesh or out of God's timing, but when God is moving, you can't be afraid to move with Him. In my situation, I had a choice to be led by my head or follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Some common fears are fear of lack, death, loneliness, people, authority, commitment, heights, germs, closed-in spaces, airplanes, dogs, cats, failure, rejection, being laughed at, and even fear of being attractive.
We went to the library with members of Makinika Afrika Intl initiative Moi University chapter and got a typed list of known phobias—it was four pages long. It even included phobaphobia, which is the fear of being afraid. It seems that the list is endless. It convinced me even more of how extensive Satan's work is in this area.
FACE FEAR AND MOVE FORWARD
Isaiah 41:10 says, Fear not, for I am with you. I believe God works gently with us to bring us out of bondage and into liberty. If you've been afraid of something and desire to be free, the time will eventually come when you'll have to face your fear and not run away from it. Just take Jesus' hand, acknowledge that He is with you, and do it. If you're afraid of people with authority, the time will come when you'll have to confront an authority figure and not cower in fear. God will have arranged the time. He'll be there, but you'll have to choose whether to go through or run away.
Resist your fear; fear will never lead to you a positive end. Go for your faith and what you believe.
There are no college courses to build up self-esteem and courage or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at an early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them. Overcoming fear is one of these elements.

If you're at one of these crossroads in your life, let me encourage you to go forward. Don't stand still in terror, but take His hand and go forward. Remember, fear torments and God wants to deliver you from all of your fears.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.
It's important to celebrate your failures as much as your successes. If you celebrate your failures really well, and if you get to the motto and say, 'Wow, I failed, I tried, I was wrong, I learned something,' then you realize you have no fear, and when your fear goes away, you can move the world.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
When I was pursuing my undergraduate at Moi University, I was part of the campus Karate team and we had to embrace courage as our culture. I'd rather be two strokes behind going into the last day than two strokes ahead fighting to win. Having said that, it's probably easier to win coming from behind. There is no fear in chasing. There is fear in being chased.

Curiosity makes you achieve the unexpected. Look at the very young kids skating in our Kenyans roads, the admired and took the risks. Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will. When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.
One of the greatest gifts we can give people is the hope that their death is nothing to fear - you know, not that it has no fear in it, but the promise of scripture is that God will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death.
As I conclude, I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers. It takes courage to be a good and effective father.
For more articles and inspiration writing, contact me on twitter via @Ambstevembugua ,[email protected], or www.makinikaafrika.org
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.