{"id":27855,"date":"2023-08-23T22:23:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T05:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-worship-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-24T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:22:19","slug":"2023-fear","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2023-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things Fear Does to Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY RICK WARREN \/ 0823\/2023<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Holy Spirit, God\u2019s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2 Timothy 1:7 (TLB)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you want to connect with someone, you need to be willing to take the first step. This often requires courage. Why? Because it\u2019s fear that disconnects human beings.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we\u2019re full of fear and anxiety, it\u2019s difficult to get close to others. In fact, we back off. We\u2019re afraid of being rejected, manipulated, vulnerable, or hurt. All these fears can cause us to stay disconnected in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve gave us an example of what many of us do when we\u2019re afraid. After they sinned, God came looking for Adam. And Adam told God,\u00a0\u201cI was afraid . . . so I hid\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Genesis 3:10 NIV). People have been doing that ever since. We\u2019re afraid, so we hide. We hide our sins. We hide our true selves. We don\u2019t let people know what we\u2019re really like\u2014because if we do and they don\u2019t like us, we\u2019ll face rejection. And so we pretend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fear does three terrible things to relationships:<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear makes us defensive<\/strong>. When people point out our weaknesses, we retaliate and defend ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear keeps us distant<\/strong>. We don\u2019t let people get close to us. We withdraw. We hide our emotions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fear makes us demanding<\/strong>. The more insecure we are, the more we attempt to control things. We try to have the last word in a relationship. We seek to dominate.<\/span><\/p>\n

So where do you get the courage to take the first step to connect with someone and go to a deeper level of intimacy?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You get it from God\u2019s Spirit in your life. The Bible says,\u00a0\u201cFor the Holy Spirit, God\u2019s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(2 Timothy 1:7 TLB).<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you know when you\u2019re filled with God\u2019s Spirit? You\u2019re more courageous in your relationships. You love people. You enjoy being with them. You\u2019re not afraid of them\u2014because God\u2019s Spirit is in your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible says that\u00a0\u201cGod is love\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(1 John 4:8 ESV) and that\u00a0\u201clove casts out all fear\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(1 John 4:18 TLB). Is fear undermining your relationships?\u00a0<\/em>The more of God you have in your life, the less fear will have a hold on your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":27859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-27855","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/27855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/27855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27861,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/27855\/revisions\/27861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27855"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=27855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}