Have you ever noticed that God tells us not to be afraid right before He asks us to do something threatening? Each time God is ready to do a mighty work in our lives, He tells us not to be afraid. It seems that you must be willing to let go of your fears if you are going to let in God’s love.

It began with Abraham, it was told to Moses and to the Israelites. "Do notbe afraid" were the first words out of the angels’ mouths at the annunciationand birth of Jesus. They are the words God whispers to all His followers whoare committed to knowing Him. When was the last time you heard Him say thosewords to you? Did you surrender your fears to Him and find release in His love,or were you held back by fear?

Fear is instinctive. I boarded the plane totally exhausted and eager to falloff to sleep under the drone of the massive engines. I don’t really havea fear of flying and can easily sleep and rest on a plane. I carefully calculatedmy every move towards slumber getting my blanket in place and pillow adjusted.When we were well on our way, not quite asleep, the plane lost altitude everso slightly, and I startled in fear. It was nothing to be afraid of. Yet, myfirst response was fear.

God knows how much we are wired for fear to be our first response. That’swhy He forewarns us not to be afraid. God tells us there is one thing we canhave absolutely one hundred percent for sure. We can give our fears to Him. Heis our rock and will transform our fear into peace—especially in the midstof storms.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you are not a good personif you have fear. As I said, it is instinctive to feel fear in certain situations.Before I went out to walk in an unknown neighborhood, I had just read Isaiah44:8 which says, Do not tremble, do not be afraid, did I not proclaim thisand foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?No, there is no other Rock; I know not one. I became concerned about a cardriven by a man that passed me four times. It is only natural to feel fear whenyou think someone may want to harm you. My response to my fear was to think ofwhat I could do if this man meant to harm me. I sped up my walk to reach my destinationfaster. I had been interceding for others on my walk, but instinctively I changedthe prayer for protection for myself. God was my rock, and if that man meantharm, he was prohibited from hurting me by God, my rock.

God knows there is plenty of opportunity while living in this world to feel afraid.He offers the encouragement of standing firm on His presence and promises whenwe are afraid. I think of those martyrs who suffered horrendous torture but oftendid not show fear because they were standing on the rock, and I think about howmany hours I have wasted being afraid when God is my rock, and I want to heedHis advice just not to be afraid!