As a visionary, I’ve had my fair share of fear as I attempt to fulfil God’s plan for my life. One of such was when we were to leave the goodies of Lagos to do ministry in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. At one point, I thought God was asking us to stop the move. At other times, I knew it was the devil trying to stop us from God’s best. I learnt to differentiate between stop and fear.

Friend, you would need to differentiate between stop and fear as you follow God’s leading for your life. A lot of people are stuck in life and destiny by mistaking fear for stop. God would stop you when you are going off His plans for your life, but the devil would also use fear to stop you from enjoying God’s best for you (Acts 16:6, 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, 2 Corinthians 7:5). The fact that you are afraid of something does not always mean that you should not do it.

While motivational science says, “Do It Afraid”, there is a provision in the word of God on how to know if you should do it or not. The first thing to note is that God does not normally lead His children through fear. Simply put, Fear is of the devil and it needs to be treated as such (2 Timothy 1:7). One of the ways to know that you are in the will of God is the perception of God’s love even in the midst of turbulence (Philippians 4:6-7, 1 John 4:18, Jude 1:21).

It is better to err in caution than to err in action, but it is best not to err at all. This is where sensitivity comes in. We have not been called to be careful but to be sensitive (Philippians 4:6-7, Ephesians 5:17-18). Carefulness has robbed a lot of people of their portion of greatness in God than the devil has (Amos 6:1, Hosea 13:13).

When fear grips your heart at the crossroad of decision, spend time to pray. Prayers would help you to handle fear. When you spend time praying, especially in the Holy Spirit, you build up your faith, and when faith rises, fear is put in its place (Jude 1:20). Sometimes, you would need to keep praying yourself into the faith required to birth your destiny (2 Timothy 1:6-7, Hebrews 11:23-27).

Fears have their obvious roots. Some are rooted in our past failures, our sense of inadequacies, and the uncertainty of the future, while some are sheer attacks from the pit of hell (Jeremiah 1:6-8, Ephesians 6:16). Whichever the case, let the word of God supply you the right perspective. Let the sense of God in your heart give you the lead (Acts 27:22-25). Afterwards, do it afraid and fulfil your destiny. Fear is simply False Evidence Appearing Real.

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria