Quote of the day:

" Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

Dale Carnegie

Ego-death — the fear of humiliation, shame, or any other mechanism of profound self-disapproval that threatens the loss of integrity of the self; the fear of the shattering or disintegration of one's constructed sense of lovability, capability, and worthiness ((Albrecht, 2007)).

This is not a definitive definition, but we can gain some understanding of the nature of the psychological nature of ego death.

To illustrate, imagine being ridiculed in public and everyone in the crowd knows you… the fear that grips an individual the moment they realise they are about to face public failure, ridicule and humiliation.

Although the fear is imaginary, the reality of the ‘event’ makes the manifestation of the fear real. FREEZE is normally the response that come with it.

Has the bible given examples of this?

In John 16, Jesus tells his followers that He is about to be experience ultimate death (ego+bodily) by humiliation in public than hang naked on a tree to die after which they will be hunted like criminals (ego-death)… BUT vs 33 he gives them the keys to the new life… He has overcome the world…

Ego-death, though a psychological experience, can have everlasting consequences. Chose the death that guarantees everlasting life, choose Jesus to guide you through life…

For every FEAR we share, God has given us a HIS IMMUTABLE Name we can use to overcome negative consequences. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.(Rom 10:13)

1. Fear of Extinction -  YHWH El Olam
2. Fear of Mutilation  -  YHWH – Rapha
3. Fear of Loss of Autonomy -   YHWH Haggo’el – God the redeemer!!
4. Fear of Separation – YHWH El-Shaddai
5. Fear of Ego-Death – The Life Giving Spirit

I hope this series has been helpful to you and prepared you to take on 2021 by the horns…

For me, this series has been a blessing and especially when I was down with COVID-19… both me and my wife fell ill at the same time… but when fear came calling, I responded by faith that I will live to tell of the goodness of God in the land of the living.

How has 2020 challenged you?

Have the challenges left you better or bitter?

How will you make 2021 different?

iii) Fear of Loss of Autonomy — the fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, restricted, enveloped, overwhelmed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or otherwise controlled by circumstances beyond our control.

  In physical form, it's commonly known as claustrophobia, but it also extends to our social interactions and relationships. Taking into consideration what is happening today all around the world, many people are feeling this kind of fear because of the corona-virus.

The fear is intensified by the fact that the virus causes breathing restrictions… suffocation triggers a lot of anxiety… like drowning

There is hope…

In a story found in John 5:4-9 talks about a man that was invalid/paralysed for 38 years… This is a classic case of Loss of Autonomy!!!

After so many years, the man’s reality was he will never get out of his paralysis… it kind of fells like that for most of us in 2020… But THERE IS HOPE!

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:8-9)

YHWH/ Jehovah Haggo’el – God the redeemer!!

FEAR has the power to captivate and arrest your dream literally!! BUT… today we are finding a way to demystify it!!

 When we misinterpret the environment as life threatening, a part in the brain called amygdala releases the chemicals responsible for fear essentially glutamate, the brain is flooded with emotions that hijack our physiology for the sake of self-preservation.

-       False

-       Evidence

-       Appearing

-       Real

 Have you realized that both Fear & Faith demand that you believe in the unseen reality?

There is no courage without the reality of perceived danger.

If you are a parent and took your child to school or a childminder’s home, you have experienced this fear in reality.

iv) The fear of Separation — the fear of abandonment, rejection, and loss of connectedness; of becoming a non-person — not wanted, respected, or valued by anyone else.

The "silent treatment," when imposed by a group, can have a devastating effect on its target.

This fear is amplified especially when betrayal happens to be the main cause.

Considering the Law of Vibration and Attraction, thoughts have a frequencies and can be measured and experienced… if I am/you are always engaging with thoughts of separation, recounting the negative experiences in your previous relations, don’t you think others will pick up these vibs/vibrations/frequencies and respond in your expected outcomes…

Hmmm… when we come back, we’ll highlight behaviours that result from the fear of separation…

Signs of the fears manifest as:

• Attach quickly—even to unavailable partners or relationships. Fail to fully commit and have had very few long-term relationships
• Move on quickly just to ensure that you don't get too attached. Aim to please
• Engage in unwanted sex (this is common in women). Stay in relationships no matter how unhealthy they are.
• Struggle with being hard to please and nitpicky.
• Have difficulty experiencing emotional intimacy
• Feel insecure and unworthy of love.
• Find it hard to trust people.
• Experience intense feelings of separation anxiety.
• Have feelings of general anxiety and depression.
• Tend to overthink things and work hard to figure out hidden meanings.
• Are hypersensitive to criticism.

The All Sufficient God – El-Shaddai

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you” Deut 31:6.

Quote of the day:

‘Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.’ Pope John XXIII

What is your top concern? What is your worst fear?

Is fear to be feared? Not at all… in fact fear is basically a feedback system that serves as a warning, it’s a call for recalibration.

Fear is an indication that something has, is, or will go wrong. Fear sometimes if the indicator you need to know that you are moving towards the right direction, but you need reassurance that you’ll be ok.

According to Dr. Karl Albrecht, the fears we experience fall within 5 categories:

1. Fear of Extinction  
2. Fear of Mutilation 
3. Fear of Loss of Autonomy 
4. Fear of Separation
5. Fear of Ego-Death

Stay tuned and get ready to unpack and demystify FEAR…