Recently I’ve been thinking about how I open the door to fear and allow people and circumstances to affect my heart. It’s not that this is new behavior for me. I’ve been doing it since I was a child.
As a child I felt like if I did well in school then I was ‘good’, based upon the positive reaction I got from adults. And if I didn’t do well or didn’t know the answer to something then I felt I was ‘bad’ because not doing well or not knowing the right answer sometimes came with negative consequences. That opened the door to anxiety and fear when it came to performance oriented circumstances. (“What if I don’t know the answer?” “What if I do something wrong?” “What if so and so gets mad?”)
That door to fear that was opened as a child has stayed open into adulthood (either that or I keep opening it back up). It dawned on me that this must be why I’ve had work-related anxiety for the past 13 years (all those “What if” questions).
People, circumstances, and fear shouldn’t have authority over our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” If God is telling us to guard our hearts then that means we’re the guard in charge; we have authority over our own heart. If the door to your heart is open to fear and anxiety then I want to pray for you (and me!)
In Jesus’ name I break the power of fear and anxiety off of our hearts and I close the door to fear. I break the power of any negative words that were ever spoken over us, including negative words we’ve said about ourselves. LORD, please remind us daily to guard our hearts and not to open the door to fear. Search our hearts for anything that’s not of You and cleanse us of these things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Shagufta
Thank you Sister for the encouragement! You are right, we all need a heart check up, especially this month!
Love ya,
Kelly
Such a good reminder!!! Thank you for sharing:).
Thank you, Shagufta. This is exactly what I needed to read this morning. Performance-based love is not the way God loves us. This entire post describes me to a “t”. I received your prayer and pray for further deliverance from this mindset for you and I both. Bless you.