Punch Fear in the Face

So I read this awesome blog by Kris Vallotton yesterday titled

10 Simple Ways To Destroy Fear . I felt infused with courage. I knew I had to keep this article around so I could go back and read it again when I was feeling down, or confused or just needed a lift.  So I thought it’d be a good idea to share a link on my blog for anyone else that came along and needed to punch the spirit of fear in the face.

It’s so important to remember that fear is a spirit according to the Word of God. And the best way to get rid of spirits is with the Word of God. It’s Truth will set you free.

One of the 1st challenges Kris puts forth in his article is to ask what you’d do in your life if you were 10 times bolder. That right there, boggled my mind. I only dared to think of 1 to 2 times bolder…and let me say- those thoughts both scared and thrilled me at the same time. Holy Wow! 10 times? Deep breath…I’m shaking my head, but I’m smiling. Now I’m giggling thinking how I would freak everyone else out if I lived 10 times bolder. But you know… I think I’d have more fun. And God would high five me. So I’m going to try to imagine that for the next week. I’m going to do an exercise I think. Here’s what I’ll do:

1. Write down the major areas that come to mind.
2. Start easing into increasing (by numbers 1-10) boldness. Write down exactly what each increase looks like.

I might share this. I might not. I’ll probably need an increase of wisdom to go with these. And I just might not be ready to jump to that next level. But I’m ready to punch fear in the face, and live in a state of peace and rest.

Because as I was reminded about a week ago: you can not allow fear in and have peace and rest.

A little over a week ago I clicked on some slideshow about how these scientists did these sleep experiments on these prisoners in exchange for their release. The scientists wanted to study the effects of lack of sleep on a person. They gave the inmates some type of gas to help keep them awake. Long story short, none of them made it past 3 days. The pictures were scary and photoshopped to make it more eerie, and they added sound effects ect. But the reason I clicked on it to begin with is because I was curious what they found out about sleep depravation, and I like true stories. Unfortunately, I should have known better. The creepy quotes and horrible pictures stayed with me for well over a week. I found myself having a hard time sleeping, feeling like something was under the bed, feeling dark shadowy presences…basically feeling like a scared little kid, but trying not to act like one. That week the baby would wake up shrieking at approximately 3 a.m. every single night. It’s like she could sense my fear. Every single night I would roll out of bed thinking, I’m such an idiot, why did I watch that garbage? For all that time my eyes would burn during the day and I felt like I was part of the sleep deprivation experiment, and I felt such pity for those poor inmates. So wrong. I hate you devil.

I’m such a wuss when it comes to that stuff.

So as I read this article on The 10 Simple Ways To Destroy Fear last night, I just felt my peace returning to me…and not just peace, boldness. So I’m going to really try using my imagination for boldness this week. And I’m going to Punch Fear in the freakin face. Come on now, fear deserves it. No more burning eyes from lack of sleep. The only fear I want is the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. And may the fear of man also get a round house kick to the face.