#4 Identifying the Hang-ups

It can feel daring to do the next good thing. It is bold to step apart from the crowd to walk along a path of purpose. 

 So, how do they do it, those bold to live bravely in purpose and adventure?

As it turns out, boldness is not an absence of fear. Instead, it is the refusal to be limited by it. 

If we allow fear to be the driving decision maker in our life, we won't experience exciting, new things. Honestly, we won't even leave the house! 

 

“Do not fear”. God speaks it, Jesus teaches it, and Paul writes it. We do not have a spirit of fear. But rather, we, as believers in Jesus, have another Spirit:

the Spirit of

POWER
LOVE &
SOUND MIND

2 Timothy 1:7
 

You’re here. You’re reading this and not without reason. You are curious about something, looking for something. What is it? Inspiration, direction, motivation? Truth, knowledge? Understanding? Courage???

 

We want more truth and less deception, 

more focus and less chaos,

 more balance and less struggling to 

make it all fit and work together. 

We want a straight path to good places. 

 

 

In all of my creative endeavors, one thing I know for sure:

fear does not lead me to

 creative breakthrough. 

It effectively blocks it. 

We are designed for purposeful creativity, 

whether you know how to make art or not! 

So we gotta learn to take authority over these fears in our ears, the whispers in the back of our minds

because fear stops us in our tracks.

Fear will distract and delay purpose.

And, given permission, 

it will take us off the course in which the

 The Good Shepherd has us walking. It will plant us someplace stationary and “safe”.

The whisper of fear will be very convincing; 

because, after all, caution isn't necessarily a bad thing.   

 

What stops you from walking down a bold but narrow road towards an abundant life of freedom? What's your hang up? 

 

Is it the fear of what people will think and say? Been there.

Or the fear of failure and shame,

a fear of getting it wrong,

of looking foolish or naive?

Been there, too.

Honestly, hasn't everyone?

 

So how do those bold souls venture on knowing good and well these fears are actually pretty valid? Cuz I'm not telling you they aren't gonna talk about ya. Been there. And I am not telling you that you won't look and feel foolish when you try something new. Been there, too. 

 

I am telling you, it's worth the cost.

 

Boldness is not an absence of fear. 

Instead, it is the refusal to be limited by it.

 

I don't want to limit my life's purpose 

or exchange my long term legacy 

 for feelin' and lookin' cool today. 

 

Eternal significance

 or

 a momentary ego boost? 

 

When we trust our fears more than God's call, or our own understandings more than God's leadership,

we're doing more than hindering our own lives, we are agreeing with a whisper that traces far back in time; a voice we oughta be able to recognize by now. 

…except it is just so deceiving…

 

In the Garden of Eden it was a simple and sly suggestion

 that took Eve's eyes off of what God had set before her. It may seem like a small suggestion, but that distraction had epic consequences. 

 

Ask yourself,

“What's my hang up?” 

What's pulling me off course? 
What's convincing me that 

what God has set before me

 isn't safe or smart or good?

What/who am I agreeing with?

And what are the consequences?

 

May you have  the courage to answer your questions honestly with a sound mind.

Because the first step to getting out of a deceptive agreement 

is knowing when you have been deceived. 
 

 

Listen to the podcast episode, and be inspired to overcome your “hang ups”.