Because fear is probably the greatest hindrance to entering into the experience of being "more than a conqueror", we must continue our examination of how it arises and what it does to the personality.
Some of our fears come from early shocks. The mind, always wishing to forget the unpleasant, drops the incident that caused the shock down into the unconscious mind and closes the door on it. Sometimes, if the emotional content surrounding the unpleasant event is strong, it continues to work in the unconscious, causing nervousness and general upset. The late Dr.Leslie Weatherlead, a famous Methodist minister who pastored the City Temple, London, told the story of an officer during Word War I who would stand on top of a trench rather than get down into it. Some thought it was bravery, but the truth was he was paralysed by fear -- fear of being in an enclosed space. Later, during therapy, it was discovered that when he was a child he was attacked in a narrow alley by a fierce dog -- an event that left him with a fear of enclosed spaces.
It has to be said that many of us carry all kinds of repressed fears in our unconscious, but these fears rarely hinder us from functioning in life, except, perhaps, on rare occasions. What is to be done with these fears? If they do not have any disabling impact on us -- nothing. The fears that have to be looked at are those which lay a paralysing hand upon our activities and hinder effective personal functioning. When fear stops us being our best for God then that fear ought to be confronted and brought into His presence. As Christians we are to be compelled not by fear, but by love.

This page was created on 16 May 1998 Updated on 16 May 1998

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