We all have these situations and times when fear overtakes us and we're just scared to death of something or someone. 

 

Why is it important for us to deal with these pockets of fear? Because any area of fear is an area where we are not trusting God, and without faith it is impossible to please God. So, when I have a pocket of fear, I know that God is very displeased since it shows I don't have faith in that area. 

 

You'll remember that Abraham, that great man of faith, had a pocket of fear when he was in Egypt with his beautiful wife. He feared the Egyptian men would kill him in order to have his wife, so he asked her to lie for him. That led to a very disgraceful episode in the life of Abraham. How could such a man of faith have such a pocket of fear?

 

Well, Abraham found himself in this predicament because he was not totally obedient. God never intended for him to go to Egypt; that was Abraham's idea to avoid a famine. Again, Abraham couldn't trust God to feed them in a famine, so he came up with his own plan and did it his way, by going to Egypt. One fear led to another, and that caused Abraham to sin. Disobedience will get us into these places of fear, and fear will cause us to disobey.

 

John wrote that, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear... The one who fears is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). So, that pocket of fear reveals an area where our love of the Lord is not perfect. Perfect love is synonymous with perfect trust. I can't say I love Jesus with all my heart, soul and mind if I have a pocket of fear. I may love Jesus a lot, but the pocket of fear reveals an area where my love for him is not strong enough, and therefore my faith is weak. 

 

Back to Jesus—loving him supremely, making him Lord in every area of our lives, focusing our thoughts on him, spending time in his presence, knowing his Word better and better will drive out those pockets of fear. When we dwell in any pocket of fear, we tend to spend less and less time with Jesus, less and less time in his word, and more and more time focused on ourselves. That just makes the fear worse, and destroys our faith even further.