Dolapo, what is the matter?
I have noticed that whenever your uncle James is around, you are not always your usual cheerful, bold blunt self, Mrs Makinde asked her niece. She looked her full in the face but Dolapo would not say a word and this continued for a long time.
Semester break was over, she was walking to her hostel after lectures one afternoon and she overheard someone reciting Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?”, and she waited to hear the response. The voice screamed, “No one”. Dolapo knew something was wrong with her faith walk at that instance.
Everything is about attitude. How you allow whatever comes your way to get to you is attitude. Why would you get yourself caged in fear? Don’t you know that fear has torment? Whoever is in its territory, it becomes the individual’s master and makes you obedient to its whims.
That day, Dolapo lost her complete self. Uncle wasn’t here, yet she was afraid. She needed help. She hurried to find her friend, Kingsley – K, as we call him. “I need you to pray with me,” and she narrated her ordeal to him.
Are you like a Dolapo? Enslaved by fear of a man? You must take a turn today. Do you know that when you allow the fear of man to get a grip on you, you let God’s grip on you lose? You begin to walk in darkness because God is no longer your light.
Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but to trust the LORD means safety.[Prov.29.25 – NLT]
What Brings About The Fear Of Man?
- Fear of getting a No answer when you know it should be a yes
- Fear of not measuring up to the person’s standard
- When you respect the person above God
- When you don’t want to get into trouble, so you just do what the person wants
What Does The Bible Say About fear?
Fear has torment. That means if you are living in fear of man, you are in pain and you need healing.
What you don’t know about living in fear is what it does to the man:
1. When a man lives in fear of anyone or anything, he is a sinner because it’s against the word of God, such a person won’t live in the truth and won’t tell the truth.
2. He lives in disobedience to the will of God
3. You won’t be able to achieve great things, as fear limits you more than you can imagine.
5. It makes you a man-pleaser instead of a God-pleaser.
How can you break free from the fear of man?
- Realize that you are living in fear, and you need freedom. Confront your fear. Acts 5:29
- Talk to someone mature and saved about it and then talk to God
- Ask God to help you walk on the freedom pathway
- Read and meditate on his word. Psalm 27:1
- Seek the Holy Spirit to fill you with his presence.
How can you remain free after breaking free?
- By constant meditation on his word.
- By renewing your mind daily
- Casting down every evil imagination and bringing into authority and subjection anything contrary to God’s will.
- Preaching freedom to everyone around, especially those in bonds by it.
- Walking in God’s kind of love.
