I never knew fear could be fun. Normally, I don’t like fear. I’m allergic to it. I’d just as soon run and hide from the source of it. But I recently learned that, if I’m going to be a lion chaser, I have to begin seeing my fear as a fun challenge, one that I avidly chase after. Why? Because the nature of my fears—those things God wants to do through me that are WAY out of my comfort zone—when faced and conquered, are going to become my greatest opportunities and my shining moments of life.
At some point in your life you have to make a choice between fear and boredom. Lion chasers choose fear. Mark Batterson
Think about it. If Benaiah hadn’t faced his fears by going into a pit with a lion, he wouldn’t have made history. He wouldn’t have had the fantastic opportunities that resulted. He would have led a rather boring, unmentionable life, because the alternative to fear is boredom.
In A Pit With A Lion has some great observations about facing our fears:
- Satan wants to scare the heaven out of you. He primarily accomplishes this with discouragement and fear.
- Your fears are mental lions. If you don’t learn to chase after them, they’ll hold you captive, neutralizing you from the amazing things God wants to do through you.
- Faith is the process of unlearning your irrational fears by chasing after them. Lion chasers purposely expose themselves to their fears, because they know that’s the only way to overcome them.
- One of the greatest things that could happen to you is for your fear to become a reality so that you will realize your fear was greater than the reality of what you were afraid of.
- Lion chasers never back down. Jesus never ran away from anyone or anything.
- When you courageously put yourself into defenseless positions, the stage is set for God to do miracles.
- The greatest moments for lion chasers doubles as their scariest moments. Moses, Gideon, Benaiah, David, Esther, Daniel and his three friends all learned something about God through a terrifying experience that they could have never learned otherwise.
- Too many of us pray as if God’s primary objective is to keep us from getting scared. But the goal of life is not to eliminate fear, but to obtain the courage to chase lions.
- There’s something about fear that makes you feel alive. The scariest experiences make the best stories.
What are the fears holding you captive? Failure? Looking foolish? Exposure? Rejection? Insecurity? Loss?
What are the lions you feel that God is asking you to face? Beginning a new career? Going on a mission trip? Giving your testimony in front of a group? Owning up to your sin with others? Letting go of control?
It’s time we thought about our fears from a new perspective. Perhaps all those things we’ve been running from are actually fantastic opportunities to really see who God is and what He can do through us.
You and I have a lot at stake. People who choose running away in fear over standing in faith always have regrets. People who choose faith over fear always live a great adventure.
As for me, I’m going to choose to run after my fears to find faith. What about you?