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THE FAX OF LIFE

A Weekly Service To The Business Community From SVCC

WHAT YOUR FEARS DO TO YOU
By Rick Warren


The single greatest barrier to your becoming all you're meant to be is inside you. It's not the circumstances around you... it's not the people with you ... it's the fear in you!
Your unconscious fears have four devastating effects on your life:

  1. FEAR PARALYZES YOUR POTENTIAL. It keeps your talents locked up...holds you back ...and causes you to miss opportunities. The great Swiss psychiatrist, Paul Tournier, once said this: "All of us have reservoirs of full potential, vast areas of great satisfaction, but the road that leads to those reservoirs is guarded by the dragon of fear." If you've ever been afraid to try anything, you know that fear creates a self-imposed prison.

  2. FEAR RUINS MY RELATIONSHIPS. It's the root of many of your "people problems". Fear prevents you from being honest with others. You fear rejection - so you wear a mask, pretend to be what you aren't, and deny what you really feel. Fear also keeps you from making commitments. You may be afraid of being hurt again. Fear prevents true intimacy because fearful people have a hard time giving and receiving love. Your fears affect everyone you relate to.

  3. FEAR HINDERS MY HAPPINESS. Alfred Hitchcock admitted, "I turn my fears into movies." (Which we then pay to see!) Like movies, we replay our fears over and over in our mind: What if....what if... what if....? You can't be happy and fearful at the same time. The Bible says "Worry robs you of happiness." (Pr. 12:25 GN) How often are you worn out by your worries?

  4. FEAR SABOTAGES MY SUCCESS. Have you ever said or thought, "I was afraid that would happen"? We often set ourselves up for failure - by focusing on what we fear will happen rather than what we want to happen. Fear creates what it fears. The Bible says, "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts." (Pr. 4:23 GN)

As a human being, you were born with only two natural fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. (You can see these in babies.) All your other fears were learned - from experience... parents... peers...and others. So the good news is this: whatever is learned can be unlearned! You don't have to hold onto your fears. There are several steps to unlearning your fears but here's how you get started: "I prayed to the Lord and he answered me; He freed me from all my fears." (Ps. 34:4 GN)

Until next week...
FOL#76

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