Have you dealt with fear successfully?

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goout said:
how others perceive me
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We are lucky if we can please some people, some of the time. If your aim is to try and please all the people all the time, then you are doomed to failure. I like this by mother Theresa…

Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway.
 
Hello.

I think one of the best things I’ve heard about fear is that sometimes it takes more courage to get out of bed in the morning and put one foot in front of the other. I’m a timid sort of person so this idea means a lot to me.
 
@goout

(gen 3)When Adam and Eve sinned they feared God,so fear originated from them because of sin. We all have some fear or the other ,we should have only one fear, that is, fear of God, for what he is and what he can do, that is only he can kill or destroy the body and soul(Matthew 10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. )

Second fear has to do with punishment, that’s because of sin ,as st John says in 1 John 4: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

!) Sin brings fear

Do not fear humans
Do not keep please people or fear people( Galatians 1:10)
Do not fear satan

The only fear needed is fear of God out of reverence and Love

Solution to over come fear is: We can over come everything by treasuring the Word of God in our hearts like Mother Mary did in Luke 2:19,51. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. Psalm 119:11 I treasure your word in my heart,so that I may not sin against you.1 John 4:4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you(Jesus = Word of God) is greater than the one (satan) who is in the world.In addition to the word of God and the holy Eucharist holy Mass and the sacraments especial the Confession, will strengthen the Holy Spirit in you,surrender and rely like Mother Mary did.

2 Timothy 1:7 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Revelation 3:19 I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. 20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. 21 To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Hebrews 12:11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
 
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Yes thank you.
Discipline opens doors, allows Christ to come in, allows us to follow him. Discipline brings steadfastness, courage. Confidence.
The small things matter. The real things matter. Not the mirages of worldly acceptance and image and comfort.

It’s amazing how one can be so blind for so long, to be unaware of how attached we are to fear, to our own well being. It’s good to walk into the light, even while that light is hurting the eyes a little.
 
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Francis said:
Second fear has to do with punishment ,as st John says in 1 John 4: God is love
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Fear of the Lord is mentioned 86 times in the Bible, here are a couple…

Psalm 111:10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

Deuteronomy 10:12 - And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
 
I think the speaker of this homily would be pleased for me to share this:
What happens in a daring commando raid if the doors are thrown wide open but the hostages refuse to leave their cells, afraid of all that open air, that wide-open space? It makes the whole concept of a “rescue” kind of merely theoretical, doesn’t it? What happens if the Lord, the light of the world, comes into our dark world, and we allow our fears to hold us fettered in the darkness, afraid to follow him out to light? Afraid to trust him enough to actually live the way he taught us to live? How will all flesh see the salvation of God if we ourselves still look like the “before” picture instead of the “after”?
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Be the person God intends you to be; and you will set the world on fire.
 
HeyGout. I think we have all dealt with fears. Honestly my guess is fear can take many forms, ad courage can too. One thing that helped me with some of the fears you describe was making sure my eyes were fixed on Jesus. When Jesus is your audience,the opinions of others aren’t as important. Personally I spent a ton of time concerned with the opinions of others because they were my teachers and had control of my future. In the end they were never satisfied no matter what I did. People are going to think whatever they want, and often there isn’t anything you can to change it. Jesus’ opinion matters, and He’s the just Judge, so try to please Him… in the end everything else just fades away. Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks through others so I try to listen when it’s constructive, but ultimately God is who matters. Hope this helps some. Best.
 
I think everyone has some level of fear in different areas of their life. I think we all fear rejection and loneliness. Whenever I am fearful in a spiritual, emotional, or physical sense, I instantly ask Jesus to dispel the darkness and I ask St. Michael to protect me.

I get nervous/paranoid at night when I hear noises so I pray the St. Michael prayer like 5 times throughout the night lol and I’m 20
 
goout said:
I’ve come to the conclusion that much of spiritual inertia and sloth is caused by fear.
By fear I am meaning a generally fearful personality with excessive self concern that does not allow me to move forward the way God is calling me to:
how others perceive me
fear of measuring up
fear of letting people down
fear of failure especially with social situations
unjustified expectations that things will turn out badly

I’ve come to the conclusion that fear had become a sort of idol in my life and is enslaving me, preventing me from doing God’s will. It’s something that, when it creeps in, I latch on to and embrace instead of rejecting it, almost is perverse sort of way.
Fear and timidity control my life.

I now see it and would like to understand it from those who have dealt with it.
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Trauma victims (physical or emotional) may avoid success because the resulting excitement has some of the same physical manifestations as stress, during the process or in the achievement.
 
Fear is all about the ego. When Jesus tells us to die to self he is referring to all the entanglements of the ego, like fear. But how ?

We must start be looking at our lives differently. Every day is an opportunity to put our lives on the line for Jesus. And remember Psalm 91 "You who dwell in the shelter of the most high and abide in the shade of the Almighty, say to the Lord, ‘My refuge! My stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’ Make that the prayer you carry in your heart constantly.

Maybe every time you exhale, “My refuge…me stronghold…my God in whose I trust.” And then let go, relax.
 
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Ya, this is odd.
Goodness can trigger a response of fear. Our neighbors brought us a nice gift last week, and it triggered fear in me! Thinking “how am I going to reciprocate, how am I going to thank them, have I been a good neighbor to deserve this”.
In fact this episode is what got me thinking seriously about this issue.
Always calculating, weighing, measuring, taking stock of position in God’s eyes and others. Rather than being open to grace.
 
goout said:
Ya, this is odd.
Goodness can trigger a response of fear. Our neighbors brought us a nice gift last week, and it triggered fear in me! Thinking “how am I going to reciprocate, how am I going to thank them, have I been a good neighbor to deserve this”.
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Goout, I can’t say how amazed I have been at your willingness to be open and vulnerable. If you don’t mind my observing, what you said right there is prayer, self-reflective prayer. While most people would be totally caught up in the fears and so forth, by identifying them you have already put them in a place that you can offer these to the Lord.

I hope you can appreciate what a huge step this is, as an example to the rest of us who mindlessly get torn this way and that.
goout said:
In fact this episode is what got me thinking seriously about this issue.
Always calculating, weighing, measuring, taking stock of position in God’s eyes and others. Rather than being open to grace.
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I think others have already done a great job addressing this, but again I’d like to add that what you are showing us is your prayer. In meditative prayer, one stays with the silence (God in the silence) and watches as these very things pop up: emotions, drives, wants, etc. We all have them. Are you thinking that you are unusual in having your compulsions?

Indeed, your humility is refreshing and inspirational. We all have desires for status (ego, etc.) and the desire itself comes from our good nature. It serves us, and it can enslave us, but the main thing is that through the prayer you exhibit we can “keep it in check” so to speak. When we identify the desire, we no longer are the desire, we come to observe the desire, and we can then transcend it.
 
I think trust in God versus fear is a lifelong virtue to acquire. I was much more fearful as a young person than I am now. The writings of St. Therese of Lisieux, and books like Practicing the Presence of God have been game-changers for me in terms of trusting God in complete abandonment and love. The diary of St. Faustina helps quite a bit too. Beside Mary, my go-to saints when I am fearful about anything, is St. Joseph.
 
Was reading Luke this morning. Jesus comes to Peter’s boat and sits down to teach. Then he interrupts Peter’s life to say the least.
I would like to hear that conversation. In any case Christ asks Peter and the others to drop their nets one more time and they are filled to overflowing.

In the context of this topic:
In response to this abundant goodness Peter says a strange thing: “depart from me, for I am sinful man.” Something about this encounter terrifies Peter to the point of maybe wishing he was not called. Jesus knows his fears and responds to him “do not be afraid, I will make you fishers of men”.

If only Peter had honored his fear Jesus might have left him, and Peter could go about his business and lived the life he is familiar with, without the uncertainties involved in moving out.
 
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Pope John Paul II (the Great) (the Saint) opened his papacy with a message on “Be Not Afraid”. He returned to theme frequently.

Recommended: Read the three volume series of books of the life of Pope John Paul II by papal biographer, George Weigel. The first book is: Witness to Hope.

Also recommended: Read the “pre-quel” book called “The Final Revolution” about the story of the role of the Catholic Church (and JPII) in the assertion of Polish culture over communism.
 
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