Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’  Isa 26:3  You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4  Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength

I. Our Habits & Values create Expectations, influencing our Perceptions & Emotions, determining our Performance.

Experiences Values Expectations Filter Perceptions Emotions Performance Feedback

II. Emotions can be positive/helpful or negative/hurtful; denied, avoided, or used and mastered

Pr 29:11  A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back. Vent = cause wind/spirit/disposition to go out (causative);  

No one makes us feel; we choose to create feelings, acc to our rules; by what we focus on, meaning we attach, represent = re present

Steps (Robbins): 1. Identify emotion & signal; 2. Listen to message about what needs to change (perception/rules or procedure);

3. Get curious about what it’s offering you how can benefit; need to change way acting, feeling, communicating;

4.Reprogram by rehearsing how to use as tool of empowerment; 5. Take constant and repeated action to improve and change life

III. Factors in Change  from:  Destructive Emotions, Goleman & Dalai Lama

1. Survival
2. When learned
3. Emotional charge
4. Repetition/habit
5. Personality and Processing gap
6. Context (environment/experience/mood)

Six Main Mental Afflictions:

1. Attachment/Craving: greed, dullness, inflated self-esteem, concealment of one’s vices, miserliness, excitement
2. Anger: hostility, hatred, wrath, resentment, spite, envy, jealousy
3. Pridefulness: pretension, deception, shamelessness, inconsideration of others, unconscientiousness, distraction
4. Ignorance/Delusion: blind faith, spiritual sloth, forgetfulness, lack of introspective attentiveness
5. Afflictive doubt
6. Afflictive views cx reality

IV.  Fear

concern, apprehension, worry, anxiety, scared, frightened, terrified (don’t deny or surrender to)

Message: need to prepare self to deal with or avoid negative consequences (appropriate versus fixation)

Fear is a signal that we are not embracing the goodness, power, and wisdom of God; that we’re rebelling against Christ’s Lordship

A. Once we’ve take the appropriate actions to prepare...(especially 1Pt 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.)

...then we need to leave what we’ve placed in God’s hands, and do the things He’s given us to do.

B. “Oswald Chambers rightly said: ‘The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else. Whereas if you do not fear God, you will fear everything else.’ Fear is inevitable. You will fear. The question is, ‘Whom or what will you fear’?” Randy Sims, The Greatest Among You. p. 87

If we are rightly trusting in God, we can see and embrace the truth that He is in control, and the result is peace. (Psalm 23)

If we wrongly trust in ourselves, we eventually realize we are not in control, we’re inadequate for the task of being God, result is anxiety.

Anxiety (distracted/divided) keeps us from serving/obeying God, is an attempt to play God, by seeking to control the future.

False Predictions and Evaluations rob us of present joy and prevent us from building a firm foundation against future variables.

If we put too much of our hope and trust in a person, thing, or event, then we lose our ability to enjoy it, and the future.

C. See outline on “Barak, Faith in the Face of Fear” for a more complete study of the causes, consequences and cures for fear.