I have been praying about and meditating on freedom from Fear since yesterday. I am reminded of the verse that says "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom". And the verse that says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear".
When the spirit of the Lord came upon the disciples in Acts, they were completely freed from fear. They no longer had any desire to compromise with the world system or try to please people. The spirit of the Lord came upon them and they were able to speak the word of God with great boldness.
Acts 4:31 - After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Galatians 1:10 - Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
I believe to be really free means to be free from worrying about what other people think about us. Are we free enough to really be ourselves no matter who is around, or do we start acting like we hope they want us to be? A wise man I once knew defined humility and pride in the following way:
Pride - Trying to be known for something we are not
Humility - Willing to be know for who we really are
Think about Satan, the epitomy of pridefulness. He is trying to be something he is not - he wants to be God. He masquerades as an angel of Light. Whenever we give in to fear, we are really denying who we really are, and trying to be something that others want us to be. Pride and fear go hand in hand.
The opinions of others can be very fickle, and are usually based upon emotions or where the crowd is going. What a waste of time it is to try to please other people, we really need to be focused on pleasing God! I think way too many Christians are caught up in trying to please the world, or even trying to please members of their own family. Jesus said we need to be willing to leave even close relatives behind if they are preventing us from following him.
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