Fear - An Emotional Root of Illness
by Messianic Pastor Charles and Rose Martin

Fear is one of the most destructive emotions we can experience.  Fear can kill!  How often do we use the expression “Scared to death?”  God is obviously aware of the destructive impact of fear for He tells us not to fear.  Unlike anger where the instruction is to not let the sun go down on your anger, fear is to be denied access at ALL times.

The definition of fear according to Webster’s dictionary is:  “A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, whether the threat is real or imagined.  The feeling or condition of being afraid.”

There is another definition of fear a little further down that says:  “Reverential awe, especially toward God.”  This is the type of fear the Bible talks about when it speaks about fearing the Lord.

Reverential fear of the Lord according to the Bible is a good thing.  It is respecting Him.  But the distressing fear as defined in Webster’s dictionary is not a good thing, and it needs to be healed, so let’s take a look at it!

Where does this painful form of fear come from?  Many times it is traced way back to our childhood.  God’s original purpose was that a baby would be anticipated, planned for and considered a great blessing by their parents.  Unfortunately, that is not often the case.

Babies may be considered an accident, an inconvenience, and expense, or a burden.  Instead of feeling precious, loved and wanted, many babies are abandoned.  The abandonment may not be physical.  In fact, the most damaging abandonment is that which is done emotionally…simply not being there to care for and protect a child.  Abandonment could also be through alcoholism, workaholism, or lack of attention.

When God established family, He placed parents in a special position of authority over children.  When they abandon their position, it leaves that child open to whatever comes along, which is usually not God’s best!  That neglect leaves a child feeling vulnerable, helpless, unprotected, defenseless, motherless and fatherless.  Those feelings then form the basis of their belief system.  Every incident in their life is then filtered through it. 

The spiritual root of fear then is ABANDONMENT.  Fear is rooted in the belief that anyone that is important to me will abandon me.  That root goes deep.  A child who was uncared for, neglected, or deserted as a child, ends up believing it must be their fault.  Why else would their parents desert and discard them?

Emotionally abandoned sons or daughters often will try the rest of their lives to win the love of the unresponsive parent or God Himself.  One way they do this is to TRY TO WIN THEIR PARENT’S LOVE through great accomplishments.  The need for acceptance drives many of their choices from the way the dress to the way they act - all in an effort to earn the desperately longed for approval.

They will also try to win God’s love.   They wonder if God even notices them.  So they try to earn God’s love.  They try to excel in being righteous by keeping the law perfectly.  They become like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and thrive on good works.  They want to feel like they have done enough in order to be good enough for God.  That is then were pride comes in.  And that is another issue. 

People with abandonment issues do whatever they believe somebody else wants of them in order to be accepted.  When others reject them (as so many do) it confirms the underlying believe – “I’m no good and of no value.”  They cry out in their hearts for someone to love them just as they are. 

With the root of abandonment, you feel that important people will leave you.  And you will view things they do in that light.  For example, if you have a date set with them, and for some legitimate reason something comes up and they can’t make it, you automatically think that your friendship isn’t important enough to them, or that they don’t care.  You start agonizing over this.  You play it over and over in your mind.  Your muscles tense up and you build up an emotional wall to protect yourself from further hurt and abandonment by this person.  And what’s worse, is that the person that has hurt you so much doesn’t even seem upset about it at all!  They just go on with your life, while yours is in ruin because of this incident.

You can think, “I am not afraid of anything.  Not afraid of heights, speaking in groups, getting lost.”  But the thing you are missing is the assurance that you are wanted and that you are safe.

Your view of God and His love for you is based on acceptance from your parents.  If they don’t accept you, why would God accept you?

One of the biggest impact fear has is in our relationship with God.  Fear represents the break in relationship with GOD.  As with all bondages, it takes a major revelation and healing from God to bring a life-changing breakthrough.

Fear affects our bodies.  Fear targets the HEART.  There is a reason that God instructed His people not to fear.  It kills!  The number one killer in the USA is heart disease.  Fear is a painful emotion of alarm and anxiety.

America is plagued by fear.  We are afraid of rejection, failure, crime, abandonment, mother, father, boss, relationships, planes, trains, tall buildings, not enough money, sickness, phobias, germs, nuclear attacks, terrorists.

The heart is not the only organ or system, but it is the key organ.  It also affects the blood that flows through the heart.  Proverbs 17:22 “a broken spirit dries the bones.”

As we learned before a broken spirit is a broken heart!  A broken heart dries the bones.  The marrow!  The life!  The life that the enemy is targeting.  In the bone marrow you have the red blood cells, and you also have white blood cells.  The white blood cells are the immune system.

Prolonged fear begins to affect the immune system.  The immune system gets out of balance.  Your body starts fighting off everything.  That’s what an allergy is.  An allergy is a reaction of your immune system to something it has encountered before.  It mistakenly identifies the substance as harmful and wages a battle to eliminate it. 

It’s good that your body can fight off things when it comes to germs, bacteria, viruses.  But when it begins to fight off things that should be food for you, like milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, soy, and wheat. ...

the food you need to live, it becomes a problem.  You body is fighting off what it needs to stay alive. 

Then the body starts attacking itself.  Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS are caused by that.

Abandonment goes to the heart of who a person is.  This is not just physically.  This is also the emotional or spiritual heart.  As fear penetrates the body, it will always impact the sense of identity.  As resentments and hurts remain unresolved, the person can become unsure of whom they are and the value they have to others. 

When their relationship with God is damaged, they don’t see themselves as God sees them.  They reject themselves and a spirit of death comes to agree with them.  Numerous diseases are the result of this spiritual dynamic. 

Fear and abandonment are powerful emotions that begin the destruction process.

Satan’s got his big foot in the door with this one.

How do we combat fear?

Click to continue reading...