How to Profit from Your Fears (2)

Welcome to part 2 of this article. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson that said: “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing.”

Experienced medical doctors have also confirmed from their day to day practical experience in the course of dealing with their patients that fear kills many more people than diseases. 

A doctor has also explained from his personal experience that patients who have strong belief and desire to live stand a greater chance to recover from their ailments than patients that are apprehensive of their recovery and survival.

This, again, buttresses the fact that fear and faith play critical role in our lives and destiny. The Bible says, “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9).

The reason we don’t make as much progress as we desire in life is that we don’t believe enough that we can make the progress we have been yearning for. We allow our fear to grow bigger than our faith. And whenever we allow our fear to grow bigger than our faith, we put ourselves at the mercy of fear.

I come to realize that the main thing that is holding us down from making greater impact in life is the fear we allow to grow bigger than our faith. Anytime our fear becomes bigger than our faith, we are not likely going to achieve much in life.

During my undergraduate days at Ibadan, I once visited a family at Old GRA Ibadan. I met them cutting down and uprooting some of the beautiful flowers that adorn their premises.

“Why are you cutting down and uprooting those beautiful flowers that are adorning the premises?”, I asked.

“They are growing bigger than expected”, they replied. “If you don’t cut them down now, they would become a threat in the near future”, they concluded.

The same thing applies to our fears. At a manageable level, we can profit from our fears. For instance, when our fears are smaller than our faith, we are very much in control. At a manageable level, it is possible to build your faith bigger than your fear.

But when your fears have grown far bigger than your faith, your life will be dominated by fear and it will become difficult to achieve great success in life.

You may really desire to achieve great success in life, but because you allow fear to rule your life, you will not have the courage to step out to do what is necessary to achieve the success you desire.

THE BEST WAY TO PROFIT FROM YOUR FEARS IS TO MINIMIZE THEM. You may not be able to uproot fear entirely forever from your mind. They come and go. Like the flowers, fears keep germinating and growing in our mind. If you allow them to grow bigger than your faith, they will become a threat to your life and destiny.

It is your responsibility to keep pruning them, cutting them down and uprooting them. When you minimize your fears, you stand a chance of building your faith bigger.

The major obstacle or threat that is holding us back from being the best that God wants us to be is not the enemies of progress but the fears we allow to grow wild in our mind.

To profit from your fears, you should minimize them by ignoring them and refusing to be ruled by them.

God speaks to us countless times in the Bible: “FEAR NOT”, “FEAR THOU NOT”, “FEAR THOU NOT NEITHER BE YE DISMAYED.”

The reason God tells us not to fear is that those things we fear rarely happen. They only happen because we refuse to hearken to God’s commandment.

Fear is a weapon satan uses to destroy our faith. Satan knows that if he keeps watching our faith grow bigger and bigger, we would become a bigger threat to him and his kingdom. In order to minimize our faith, he tries all the time to supplant fears in our mind.

Don’t allow any fears satan plants in your mind to grow. Minimize the fears, prune them, cut them down regularly.

You need to realize that when God keeps telling us: “Fear not”, it is unwise to keep entertaining fear.

How to Minimise Your Fears

“Fear in a way springs from ignorance”, says Ralph Waldo Emerson. To overcome ignorance, you have to be informed. You need to constantly load your mind with positive thoughts.

Let positive thoughts dominate your mind at all times. Even when it seems your world is collapsing like a pack of cards, refuse to lose hope in life.

If you lose hope in life, you are finished. People who lose hope in life never have a fighting chance of surviving, not even to talk of succeeding in life.

During the great flood that hit our country, Nigeria in September 2012, several people who lost their properties, farmland and crops committed suicide.

Seeing that that they had nothing to fall back upon, they took their lives. This in a way springs from ignorance. We are not undermining the disaster in any way. To do so is to behave like the ostrich which sees trouble and buries its head in the sand.  

It is true that in life, more often than not, disaster, problems and unpleasant situations will occur. It is true that in life you may not be able to stay out of trouble completely.

But it is how we react right in the midst of disaster or adversity that matters. You need to realize that you are not finished until you have concluded that it is finished. But as long as you hold unto the faith that beyond the disaster you will achieve greater success, God will make both the unpleasant and pleasant circumstances to work for your good.

The disaster may be worse. The economic situation may be unpleasant. You might have lost everything you laboured over the years to possess, but you need to realize that your present condition does not determine your destiny.

The fact that you have lost everything does not mean it is all over with you. Our Lord Jesus Christ has warned us seriously that life does not consist of the abundance of things we possess. 

If you equate life with material possession, any time you lose your material possession, you are as good as dead, because you will be seriously depressed. And you may never be able to develop the faith that will earn you triple of what you have lost. Material possession is not the important thing in life. The important thing in life is FAITH, because by faith, you can have hundred folds of what you have lost.

That is why you must not equate life with material possession. Sure, it is better to be rich, successful and prosperous. This is what this blog, CFVL (Centre for Victorious Living) is teaching. CFVL teaches time-tested principles for success, prosperity and victorious living.

It is good to be rich and have plenty, but there is no guarantee that your riches will last. Those victims of September 2012 flood who lost their properties never contemplated losing their possessions in one sweep.

Sometime, the disaster you never contemplated can happen. That is why you should not pin your happiness on material possession.

Riches have wings. Just when you think you have got everything you want, you might lose them. It is possible to lose everything you have labored to build over the years. To doubt this is to live in a fool’s paradise.

However, what is worthy of consideration is that even when you have lost everything, it is possible to recover all you have lost. It is possible to acquire double or more of what you have lost.

Unfortunately, this is what many people fail to consider when they are hit with misfortune. They allow fear to rule their lives. The fear of the unknown, fear of survival and fear of failure are responsible for people’s failure in life.

WHEN YOU ALLOW THE PRESENT UNPLEASANT SITUATION TO INJECT FEAR IN YOUR MIND, YOU MAY LIKELY LOSE HOPE IN LIFE.

If you really want to profit from your fear, you must minimize the fear. Don’t allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith. When your fears start growing wild and bigger than your faith, cut them down, trim them or uproot them as the case may be.

It does not matter whether you have lost everything. You can still start all over again. You can still make it. You can recover all you have lost and you can acquire even MORE than you have acquired previously. Remember, we live in the world of possibilities. As long as you are still alive, everything is possible.

If you have been visiting this blog and reading the articles herein, I am sure you will equally agree with me that everything you wish to accomplish in life is possible. Stories abound of men and women who, through faith, rose from oblivion to stardom. You too can achieve great success in life. 

No calamity, misfortune, adversity or disaster can destroy your destiny. You can come out of your predicament successful, prosperous and victorious. The only thing that can mar your fortune and destiny is fear.

When you keep dwelling on the present unpleasant situation, fear will set in. Fear can make you to start doubting your ability to live victoriously. Fear can paralyse you and make you lose hope in life. Fear can make you to see life as unbearable.

The important thing about fear is not the fact that it can destroy lives and destiny, but that if you manage or handle your fear effectively, you can actually make fortunes from them.

When it comes to success, prosperity and victory, you have nothing to fear. It is true that no one is immune against fear, but it is also true that we can minimize our fears and cause our faith to grow bigger than the fears.

God has given all of us the power to do so. Whenever you want to embark on a project that will impact positively on people’s lives and on your own life, and fear sets in, refuse to listen to your fears. Ignore your fears. Refuse to believe your fears.

Make it a daily practice to diffuse your fears. Your fears must not grow bigger than your faith. Diminish your fears by filling your mind with positive/faith thoughts. If your mind is filled with positive and faith thoughts, there will be little or no place for fears to grow.

Use positive affirmations to undermine your fears. The following affirmations, when recited constantly, will keep your fears in check. Recite these affirmations at least ten times ever morning and ten times every evening:

• EVERYTHING I LAY MY HANDS UPON TO DO SHALL PROSPER.

•   IF GOD BE FOR ME, WHO CAN BE AGAINST ME?

•   ALL THINGS - BOTH THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – ARE ORCHESTRATED BY GOD TO WORK FOR MY GOOD.

• THROUGH GOD I WILL DO VALIANTLY, FOR IT IS GOD THAT GIVES ME VICTORY OVER OBSTACLES AND OPPOSITIONS.

• I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENTGHENS ME.

When your mind is filled with the above affirmations, your fears will diminish and your faith will grow bigger. It is when your faith becomes bigger than your fears that you can courageously take the steps necessary to launch into great fortunes.

If you can manage or handle your fears by constantly minimizing them, you can make fortunes from them. YOUR FAITH HAS TO BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEARS BEFORE YOU CAN HAVE THE COURAGE TO STEP OUT AND FIGHT FOR VICTORY. THE DAY YOU START MINIMISING YOUR FEARS IS THE DAY YOU WILL START MOVING OUT OF THE REALM OF IMPOSSIBILITY INTO THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY.

This has been the pattern or the pathway that super successful people continue to traverse. If you can follow suit by minimizing your fears constantly and injecting doses of positive and fear-killer thoughts, you will find yourself stepping out of your fears to do the seemingly impossible.

Get unto this path to victorious living today and you will be victorious now and ever!

PS: Please watch out for part 3 of this article which shall be coming your way soon. Don’t miss it!