What are you afraid of more than anything else? The Bible teaches us that we need to fear God, but any other fear in our life is extremely harmful. This week I've been talking about the pockets of fear which we all battle from time to time, like the money fear and the fear of being alone.

 

And there's another common pocket of fear—the fear of rejection. For some people being accepted and liked and having the approval of others is more important to them than anything else, so that can easily lead to this fear of rejection. When we are fearful of being rejected, we then allow that person or group who might reject us to have a lot of control over us. If I live in fear that you may reject me, then you have a great deal of leverage in my life. I will do and say things to try to please you, to avoid upsetting you, and to gain your approval. By living in fear of being rejected by you, I give you a great deal of power over me.

 

Are you battling this pocket of fear of being rejected by someone? Think of how it controls you. Has it caused you to do things you didn't want to do or should not have done? 

 

Usually the fear of rejection looks pretty anemic when we bring it into the light. Are you willing to do that? Just expose it—admit that you are fearful of being rejected and then ask yourself, "Why? Why is it so important for me to have the approval of this person? Why am I allowing them to have such power over me?" Probably the truthful answers to those questions will surprise you and you'll see how foolish it is to live with that pocket of fear.

 

Perhaps your pocket of fear is the fear of failure. When failing is fearful to you, it keeps you from doing a lot because the road to success is filled with failures. Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong until you get it right! So the fear of failure will rob you of many achievements. Or it will drive you to perfectionism and workaholism. Are you afraid of facing the reality that you can and will fail, just like everybody else? Is it difficult for you to believe that you're not as good as you think you are? Fear of failure may have a lot of pride wrapped up in it. 

 

It will be a great help if you'll bring this fear right out in the open and expose it. Ask yourself, "So, what will happen if I fail? If I try and it doesn't work out, will the world stop revolving?" The sooner you expose that fear to the light, the sooner you can find victory over it through God's Word and prayer.