Living Beyond Fear

I recall hearing a speech by reporter Jerry Mitchell, author of Race Against Time (a memoir about his pursuit of civil-rights cold cases). Jerry’s stories in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Mississippi helped put four Klansmen and an accused serial killer behind bars. His stories also helped lead to investigations, exonerations and the overhaul of state agencies. To date, there have been 24 convictions as a result of his reporting.

As a MacArthur fellow and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Mitchell's work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, and the Mississippi Burning case. His work unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, and accumulated evidence strong enough to take on the Ku Klux Klan.

In Mitchell's understanding of the racism that fueled these murders, he traced it to fear. Before people hate, they fear, and anything people fear they dehumanize. In his talk, Jerry spoke about what he had learned about fear in his own life - the fear of telling so many stories that led to uncovering the culprits in these civil-rights cold cases. He concluded by saying, “Living fearlessly is not about living without fear; it's about living beyond fear.”

Am I allowed to be afraid?

If I am beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God, could I still walk through spaces with a tingling of nerves in the brain that stirs up the emotion of fear? Medical professionals and scientists will say that fear is natural. But in its simplest form, fear is technically a survival instinct. Just like animals and birds have the ability to detect anxiety and threats and take actions to overcome fear, humans have a similar response. When you are afraid of something, the body responds by increasing the blood flow. Once the blood flow is increased, our muscles work faster allowing us to think and flee. The adrenal glands pump adrenaline into our blood causing different reactions in our body. Our reflexes become enhanced to prepare for protection and our pupils become dilated to see things better for the sake of survival.

A distressing emotion, fear is generally aroused by a danger, an evil, or a pain that is approaching us, whether the threat is actual or perceived. The threat can be real, or it can be imaginary. Fear, to say the least, is an emotional state. A state that frightens. Fear doesn’t care whether we should be afraid in the first place or not. It can make us feel frightened even if the situation isn’t entirely frightening to begin with.

We must come to a place where our fear does not frighten us. This does not mean we don’t experience fear. It means that, even in a season of attack, we have prayerfully learned how to acknowledge that when we are experiencing consistent fear, we are not experiencing the excellence of God. Faith gives us the authority to speak against perpetual fear, doubt, uncertainty, timidity and anxiety. God enables us to reclaim our minds and thoughts. Because God’s Word is true all by itself and his promises are sure, we realize that we can live beyond every ounce of fear tormenting our mind. We can seriously pursue God to regain our peace, our memory, our rest, our concentration, our abilities, and our hope.

Answer these questions and reflect on your answers:

What have you hated because you were afraid of it?

Think of a time you decided to live beyond fear. What did it take for you to arrive at that mindset?

Affirm and declare these statements:

I reclaim every moment that has been stolen by fear.

I stand in the presence of God without fear.

I choose to live beyond fear.

Pray in petition to God to pursue His will and way.