Battling Fear Part 1

Nick Minerva • May 16, 2021

Fear Is A Mind Killer

Fear itself starts in the part of our brain called the amygdala. This is the part of our brain that drives the “fight or flight” response and it controls our emotional reaction to something that stands out as a potential threat. It starts pumping adrenaline, it heightens your senses, it makes you overly alert, because you may be in a situation that is dangerous, so it prepares your body to survive. There are other parts of our brain that help us interpret the potential threat. (It’s the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.) These parts of our brain are involved in higher-level processing of context, which helps us know whether or not the possible threat is real and how to respond appropriately. 

This is why seeing a mountain lion at a zoo is fun, and why seeing a mountain lion on a hike in the Sierra Nevadas isn’t. The “thinking” part of your brain tells the “emotional” part of your brain how to interpret what stands out as a threat and the appropriate way to respond. And the reasoning that drives the context is the measure of control over the perceived threat. The reason you don’t get scared of the lion in the zoo is because the thinking part of your brain recognizes the situation is under control.

Now the problem with fear is it often completely takes over. Instead of the ‘thinking’ part of our brain driving our behavior, the ‘emotional’ part of our brain takes over. This often leads to bad decisions, indecisiveness, overanalyzing, paranoia, and buying into conspiracy theories. It paralyzes our ability to make the correct choices, wrecks relationships, and often leads us into disobedience. Abnormal levels of fear and anxiety can lead to significant distress and dysfunction and limit a person’s ability for success and joy of life. You can’t live in the joy of the Lord while you are living in fear. 1

Fear can be a mind killer.

What I hope to do in this series of posts is give us ammunition to combat our fears. Psalm 27 gives us the context we need to know how to rightly respond to things we view as threats. And I think we can all agree, there are a lot of things that are presented to us as threats. But one of the most repeated commands in Scripture,  in some form or another, is “fear not.” So let’s dive in. In the first three verses of Psalm 27 we see…

The Person of God Gives Us Courage

I love what David does here at the beginning of this Psalm. He reminds himself of who God is. 

GOD IS our light – our salvation – our stronghold!

Because of who God is we can be confident no matter what threat we face in our life. Whatever is causing you fear, God is BIGGER. God is more powerful. Because GOD IS we do not have to live in fear. The Hebrew name used for the LORD in verse 1 is Jehovah. It reminds us he is self-existing, all-eternal. This is the proper name for the all-supreme God. 

The very existence of God drives out fear. 

The reason we live in fear is not because our circumstances are scary, although they often are. When things in our life happen that are outside of our control, that we have no context for how to handle, it’s easy to let fear take over. But nothing ever happens outside of God’s control. Nothing ever happens outside of the context of all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 2 The reason we live in fear is because we are forgetting about God.

David said “ evildoers can be coming to destroy me, an army coming to wipe me out, an entire war breaking out against me, but I WILL NOT FEAR because God.”  

Jesus said in Matthew 10:16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. I’ll admit, that sounds scary. Wolves eat sheep. I recently ate a lamb and beef gyro. It was good. Wolves eat sheep. And they like it. Jesus tells us that he is sending us into persecution. But we don’t have to let that reality paralyze us with fear. Look at what Jesus said later in that same chapter. After telling us he was sending us into persecution, then describing that persecution, he says…

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 3

Because God is our good father, because he has secured our soul, because God is our salvation, we don’t have to live in fear. We need to remind our fear that if God wouldn’t even spare his own son for us, he is not going to leave us to this fear. He saved us from that bondage, so we don’t have to go back to living a slave to fear.

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  1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-brain-feel-fear-180966992/
  2. Romans 8:28
  3. Matthew 10:28-31

The post Battling Fear Part 1 appeared first on Thriving In Exile.

A Creed To Remind The Gathered Church Of Its New Life In Christ

By Nick Minerva • 14 Jul, 2023
When I was pastoring I wanted to read a blessing over the church that would remind all of us of our new life in Christ. So I wrote this new life creed and every week I would read it and remind us of what Christ had done for us. We gather together as believers professing our great need We acknowledge that we have fallen short We confess that we are rebels who have gone our own way Apart from Christ, we stand condemned, guilty, and unable to save ourselves But what we are incapable of doing, God did In his infinite love, God made a way of salvation for all who would believe Jesus willingly laid down his life and received the just punishment we deserve So that could walk in new life So yes, we confess our great need We humbly recognize that apart from Christ we are incapable of any good thing But we also proclaim that because of the finished work of the cross we will never be apart from Christ We are forever secure in the love of the Father We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit All because of the sacrifice of the Son, Jesus Christ. We are no longer in bondage to sin We are no longer facing righteous wrath We have been declared holy by our King And nothing on heaven or earth will change that reality This gathering is a testimony to our redeemed state We pursue holy living to be an authentic demonstration of the love we have for Christ We believe that we have been empowered by grace to meet our every need And we gladly anticipate the complete fulfillment of our adaption and the remaking of this world at the coming of our Lord To Christ be glory forever and ever Amen

A Praying Church: A Book Review

By Nick Minerva • 23 May, 2023
Prayer is one of those topics that always seems to convict me. I have never heard a sermon or read a book on prayer and not been challenged. Even as I am writing this review there is a bit of imposter syndrome because I know I should pray more. In A Praying Church , Paul Miller writes about how to become a people of hope in a discouraging world through prayer. And he does so in a way that was very authentic and accessible. While I was consistently challenged, I was also consistently encouraged. Throughout the book, he takes you on his journey of developing a personal prayer life plus countless stories of ministries that developed communal prayer as a vital component of their life together. One thing that struck home with me throughout these stories was the reality that prayer always grows out of desperation for God. There were several things that I found very helpful in this book. One of them was the connection between a life yielded to the Holy Spirit and a vibrant prayer life. The power to do anything of eternal importance comes from the Holy Spirit and the Spirit moves in response to prayer. Paul shows us a biblical pattern we see throughout the New Testament. Prayer-Spirit-Jesus-power. However, this is not a simple formula to get God to do what you want. Another thing I appreciated about this book is Paul tells us time and again that the Spirit often moves in ways we don’t expect and that almost always includes difficulties. The Spirit enables us to look more like Jesus and that means joining him in the fellowship of his suffering. So this is not a “how to turn God into your personal genie” scheme, like many books on prayer. God often answers in ways we don’t expect and in places we don’t anticipate. This book is also full of practical help. I’ve already mentioned the stories he tells, but Paul also offers several helpful charts, strategies, and ideas to help put into place what he writes about (and lives by.) At the end of each chapter, he has a section called “A Word To Pastors” with a few paragraphs of wisdom to help them become a person of prayer and then lead their congregation to become a church of prayer. This book also made me thankful that I am a part of a church that has sought to grow in corporate prayer over the last few years. This would be a great book for any ministry leader who is burdened with the prayer life of his or her church. But it’s also a great read for any believer seeking to develop their own prayer life. Crossway was kind to send me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can get a copy of it at the affiliate link below.

Non-Toxic Masculinity: A Book Review

By Nick Minerva • 28 Apr, 2023
Let me start this review by saying everyone should read this book. If you've grown up in Evangelicalism, you‘ve no doubt heard of purity culture. For the last several years we have seen the harm that has come as a result of this sub-group of Christianity. In Non-Toxic Masculinity, Zachary Wagner does an excellent job unpacking its teaching and the damage that has come as a result. He explains so well the angst I've been feeling with the movement and how often the Church falls short and winds up doing more damage. But unlike many critiques, this one also points a way forward. We know what toxic male sexuality looks like. We see it in the news and unfortunately, in the Church. But what does healthy male sexuality look like? What does it look like for me? What will it look like for my boys? In my heart, I know what I want it to look like, but so often I struggle to find the right words to express it. Non-Toxic Masculinity paints a healthy picture that is (re)humanizing and ultimately looks like Jesus, who, like all of us, had a sexual body. Zach is also very transparent in this book and God used his transparency to encourage, challenge, and convict me. As you read his story you will no doubt find yourself resonating with him on some level. Every man should read this book for themselves first and foremost. But if you have sons, nephews, grandsons, or young boys in your life, reading it is a must. Non-Toxic Masculinity is a breath of fresh air that will prove to be a tremendous resource for generations. Thank you Zach for writing it and sharing your story to serve us.
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