Oh humans. We are creatures of habit and safety. Even if that habit/safety/comfort is really making us miserable. Be honest, how many times have you stayed in a situation because it was safe and comfortable? I know I have! If I’m comfortable, it will literally take an act of God to push me out of that situation. Often, several HARD pushes. Changing lanes when you can’t see where you’re going can be terrifying. Leaving a place of comfort such as a job, relationship, living arrangement, etc., is scary. But here’s the good news: God is stronger than your fears!
I’ve known for some time that I needed to change directions in my life. Work has made me miserable for a long time. I don’t have the simple “Sunday Scaries”; the dread comes in about the day before my last day off before work. It amplifies until I’m actually there. Then, when I actually am there, it can be even worse than I imagined. Those HARD pushes I told you about? God is literally trying to yank me away, yet I fight my way back every time. Why? Because it’s safe and comfortable, no matter how awful.
How do I know it’s God and not just a crappy job? Because I asked Him to keep me uncomfortable if He wants me to leave and, more days than not, He delivers on that promise. I’m also seeing all the reasons He would want me to leave so much more clearly than I did. However, just as soon as I get the courage to leave, the doubts pour in. But what if I can’t do what He’s asking me to do? I’ll probably fail. What if I’m not good enough? Sound familiar? Don’t worry, this post will cover it all!
What Is He Asking You to Do?
Let’s be real: it can be really hard to discern what thoughts are God speaking to us and which ones are our own. My church has a saying, “If you’re 51% sure it’s from God and it’s spiritually sound, go for it.” But let’s break it down even further. Grab a piece of paper and answer these questions:
What unique talents do you have?
Is there something that you think you’d be good at that keeps popping into your head?
Is it something that would spread God’s Word? Serve people? Further His kingdom?
What has held you back before?
Forget the worries, logistics, and other obstacles (for now), what life would you choose?
So, now you may or may not have a clear vision of what God is asking of you. If the path is still murky, take some time to sit in God’s presence. Pray for guidance, then try to clear your mind so that you can listen for that guidance. See what thoughts come; make note of the ones you think are from Him. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t feel any nudges. Just keep trying. If you’re having trouble clearing your mind, try journaling. You can get a regular notebook and just start writing. Sift through it afterwards to see if anything draws your attention. If you prefer some direction, here are a few guided journals from Amazon.
Here are my picks for guided journals!
I LOVE Clever Fox products (and say it every time I link one haha). This 4-minute journal helps guide you into the habit of journaling without pressure to make it into something long-winded. Just give it four minutes!
Another journal from Clever Fox, but this one focuses on faith. In Clever Fox’s genius, it includes stickers to make your experience more fun.
This guided journal encourages you to listen to that inner voice that guides us all. That inner voice is usually the Holy Spirit, a gift from God to guide us and give us the help we all need.
We can hide our innermost thoughts from almost everyone, but not God. He knows every thought we ever have. Instead of worrying and feeling embarrassed by that fact, this journal lets you express those thoughts in a productive, cathartic way. God knows your thoughts anyway, so you might as well be openly honest with Him!
This is a bullet-style journal that combines devotionals with self-improvement tasks, such as habit trackers. As you begin to embark on the mission God has for you, this journal will help you on that journey.
Finally, this is the book I wrote. Meant to be part journal, part workbook, I wrote it to help get past the roadblocks we always set for ourselves when we go about accomplishing a goal.
I also put together a few pages with encouraging Bible verses and a small space to write reflections. My free gift to you!
Why NOT You?
My current hero in the ministry world is Joyce Meyer. Her story is inspiring, but it’s the wisdom that she gleaned from that history that makes her an incredible and relatable minister. A lot of us can relate to her. I was excited to find an article on her website about the very topic we’re talking about here. Since I would never be able to do her wisdom any sort of justice, please read her entire article. It’s a quick read, but full of good advice.
Mrs. Meyer starts by talking about how God has a purpose for all of us. Not one of us is here by accident. We may have known what that purpose was as soon as we could walk. But then Satan steps in and uses one of his favorite tricks to stop us: fear. Suddenly that thing we were so confident about doesn’t seem so certain. We get doubtful, insecure, anxious, and worried.
As soon as we start having thoughts like, “I can’t” or “I’m not…,” we need to start being careful. Those thoughts are not from God and, most likely, not even from us. They are lies from Satan about what we can and cannot do. He highlights any weakness, fault, or imperfection. The good news is we don’t have to listen to him.
That’s why it’s so important to get into God’s Word. Alone, Satan is right; we are weak. But we’re not alone. Ever. Mrs. Meyer says, “If we know God’s word, we can find out everything we are in Him.”
You - with God's help
The point that Mrs. Meyer makes is that we don’t have to have all the answers. We’ll never know what truly lies ahead. But God does know it all. He wants us to trust Him. Let’s say you feel compelled to open a soup kitchen in a very sketchy neighborhood. Human you is already thinking about the danger while Satan is planting doubt.
– “I could get shot.”
– “No one would come.”
– “I don’t have the money.”
– “What if I get robbed?”
– “I could fail. I’ll lose all that money. Then I’d be the homeless one looking for a soup kitchen.”
All very valid fears/worries in our limited human mind. But God is stronger than your fear. All your fears. Mrs. Meyer says to give what we can, trust, have faith, and let God come up with the rest. He won’t let you fail when you’re working on His plan for you. Will it always be easy? Nope. You’ll probably want to give up. A lot. But that nudge is there for a reason!
With God on our side, we can be unstoppable. So don’t let Satan, or anything that’s not from God, stop you when He is the one fighting for you.
Biblical Evidence That God is Stronger Than Your Fear
Mrs. Meyer also gives us examples from the Bible of God conquering things for us that seemed impossible. Picture yourself in these stories. The humans didn’t think they had it in them. But God knew, with His help, that they were perfect for the job.
Gideon
In the book of Judges, we have a man named Gideon. To set the scene, God had been angry at Israel and allowed the Midianites to attack, enslave, steal, and ruin Israel. Finally, after seven years, the starving people of Israel cried out to the Lord. He took mercy on them, as He always did, and sent an angel to speak to Gideon. The angel told Gideon he was going to save Israel. Gideon didn’t think it was possible. He told the angel his clan was the weakest and he was the least in his family. How could he do anything as amazing as saving Israel? God replied simply, “I’ll be with you.” I’m sure you know how it played out. God saved Israel by using an ordinary man to do an extraordinary thing.
Paul
Mrs. Meyer also mentions Paul. Originally a die-hard Pharisee determined to prove Christians wrong and imprison them for it, God saw what we, and Paul, did not. Christian-hater turned true die-hard disciple, Paul shows us that God can soften even the hardest of hearts. In Paul’s letters to Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), he thanks God for his weakness because it shows the power of Jesus.
Think of the 12 apostles. Not religious men, but exceedingly ordinary. They weren’t strong; they weren’t what society deemed appropriate for the job, but God could see the potential in each. The Bible, both the new and old testaments, are filled with the ordinary doing so much more than they thought was possible. They were scared. You probably are, too. But remember that God is stronger than your fear.
What Are You Going to Do?
Mrs. Meyer warns that if we continue to live in fear and insecurity, we may never allow ourselves to walk into the plan God has for us. He’s not expecting any more of us than we can reasonably do. But we need to trust Him. Mrs. Meyer says, “He wants us to focus on what we can do, then lean on His ability to do the rest.”
If there’s something on your mind that you can’t stop thinking about, and it aligns with Scripture, there’s a pretty good chance that God is nudging you, sometimes all out shoving you, to do it.
So, taking comfort in the fact that God is stronger than your fear, what are you going to do? What step of obedience can you take this week? Don’t think about the limitations or qualifications. If God put it on your heart, He will help you make it happen.
If you struggle with negative self-talk like I do every single day, I wrote a post about that specifically. Don’t let your self-doubt get in the way of God’s wonderful plan for you!
Never Forget That God is Stronger Than Your Fear!
While God never wanted us to live a life of fear and anxiety, the devil and society love to keep us in that place. Our doubts are going to tell us we need an iron-clad plan to make sure we can actually accomplish the things God wants us to do. God asks us to trust Him. Society tells us that ambition is stupid and that we should stay in our comfort zones. God tells us we all have a purpose. Society may think you’re crazy. They thought Noah was crazy. And Abraham, Moses, David, and countless others that, if society had their way, they would never have done the amazing things they did. The Bible proves to us that trusting God will lead to success. Trusting ourselves to figure it all out does not work as well. God is stronger than you fear! Don’t let your love slip by while you wait for that perfect moment to go for that thing. Act now!
~All my love!