“And he answered: Fear not!” 2 Kings 6:16

MY PRAYER: Father, I want to encourage my readers—and myself—to stop living in fear. This year, God, we are graced with an extra day: February 29th. Every four years we get one whole, brand new, extra day to do something special with. This Leap Year I want to take…a leap of faith. I want to do something extraordinary. Something I wouldn’t normally do because fear ties me down. I’m not sure what I want to do yet, but I’m going to give it some thought, and I hope my readers will be inspired to do something, too. Jesus, help us to step out in faith and be courageous.

REMINDER FROM GOD: I did not give you a spirit of fear, but of love, power and self-control. My perfect love drives out all fear. Don’t fear, those who are with you outnumber those who are not. Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be dismayed. I AM with you. [My righteous ones] are as bold as a lion. Say with confidence, “The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid.” Be men and women of courage, and be strong. You never have to fear disaster, because you are MORE than a conqueror!

{2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18; 2 Kings 6:16; 1 Chronicles 28:20; Proverbs 28:1; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Zephaniah 3:15; Romans 8:36}

NOTE TO SELF: Too many people today live in constant fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of taking chances, fear of following their dreams because they have a fear of failure, or worse yet, a fear of success! If the Lord is our Helper, what do we truly have to fear?

The notion to, “Fear not,” is one of the most repeated commandments in the bible. Did you catch that? “Fear not,” is a commandment. Not an idea, or a desired outcome, or hope, but rather a command from God. John also indicated that because God’s perfect love casts out all fear, if we are still living in fear then we are not in God’s perfect love. Whoa! Raise your hand if you just realized you’re not living in God’s perfect love.

The word afraid is mentioned in the New Testament thirty-five times, while the word fear shows up eighty-three times. When we consider Paul’s letter to Timothy when he declares, “God has not given you a spirit of fear,” the Greek word used is, deilia, or deiliao, which refers to being cowardice or timid. In other words, God didn’t create you to be a scardy cat, He created you to be bold and powerful, but you need to use that power in love, while having self-control of that boldness so it doesn’t cross over into pride.

I am challenging every reader of today’s blog to consider your fear and how you can overcome it by faith, courage, and power (all the things God has given to us!). It can be as simple (or difficult) as deciding to finally make that trip to see your best friend who lives across the country but you’ve been too afraid to get on an airplane (my husband is dying right now just thinking about this). Or it can be as big as starting that novel you’ve always dreamed about writing.

Keri Wyatt Kent, author of, “Deeper into the Word: New Testament,” describes it like this: “Fear of God means having a right-sized view of ourselves and God…When we fear God, we don’t have to fear anything else.”

{Make a list of your fears. Choose one to conquer on February 29th for my Leap Year Fear Not Challenge. If you already know what you’re going to do, leave a comment below and declare to the world that you will no longer be afraid. If you’re still not sure what fear you’ll face, leave your comment on February 29th, 2012. Make sure to come back and find out what I’ll be tackling that day!}