Fear not.

The Power of Fear.

The only thing needed to slow down a dream is a seed of doubt. Given enough time and cultivation, that seed becomes rooted in our spirit. With the opportunity, the root will turn into a full-grown plant overtaking our heart and soul. The dream is slowed to grinding halt.

Fear has won.

I’m only a few weeks into andybondurant.com, and I’m reminded of this truth again through a website stats page. One click and I magically see how many of you have been to the site, clicked on links and scrolled through pages. I know where you’ve come from and where you go next.

The blessing is I’m able to analyze what is or isn’t working. I can attempt to answer questions like:

• Do I spend more time on Facebook or Twitter?
• Do I attempt to use Google more or less?
• Do people respond more to topic A or topic B?

The curse is a day’s, week’s or month’s stats can plant a seed of doubt. Doubts like:

• Is anybody reading this?
• Am I as good as I think I am?
• Am I wasting my time?

Thankfully, there is social media.

Trust me, I write this with a complete sense of irony. At the same time, I love and hate social media. I hate social media because it can suck hours of my life away in an instant. I love social media because it has the power to open my eyes to people, the world and God.

This week, I had my eyes opened to something God wanted me to see.

On Instagram, I follow the worship pastor, Chris Kuti, at Life Church in the Oklahoma City area. This week, Chris posted an image of Life Church’s lead pastor, Craig Groschel, preaching with the following quote:

Becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you.

Becoming obsessed with what God thinks about you is the quickest way to forget what people think about you.

Image courtesy of Chris Kuti on Instagram

Powerful…right?

The title of the sermon series Craig Groschel is preaching through is “Fear Not!” I assume it refers to the nativity visitations of the angel to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds to foretell or announce the coming of King Jesus.

In fact, here are the opening line of each of those encounters –

Zechariah:

But the angel said to him, “Fear not!”  -Luke 1:13

Mary:

And the anger said to her, “Fear not!”  -Luke 1:30

Joseph:

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying…”Fear not!”  -Matthew 1:20

Shepherds:

And the angel said to them, “Fear not!”  -Luke 2:10

I need this word in my life…FEAR NOT!

It’s a lesson I learned in 2012 when my Word of the Year was RISK.

It doesn’t matter what people think about me. It doesn’t matter how many people do or don’t read my blog. It just doesn’t matter.

What does matter is what God thinks. What does matter is what God has called me to. That is what matters.

God says, “Fear not!”

Let me encourage you today. Fear not.

No matter what stage you’ve allowed doubt to grow to (seed, root or plant).

Fear not.