Do you have Fear in your life?

Is fear a major driving force in your world today?

Do you make decisions rooted in fear? Many of us do!

You are not alone and there is an answer.

Fear can be good and it can be very, very unhealthy. Fear can help us to grow spiritually and it can be like an anchor that holds us back. Please spend a few minutes meditating on the fear in your life. Because there is a solution.

There are two types of fear. God given healthy fear, gets us moving when a semi-truck is driving out of control and headed our way on a roadway. Then there are unnatural fears. Human fears, or fears put on us by society. These fears are listed in another posting in this forum. But they can include the fear of not being loved of a fear of rejection. Being in Bondage to unhealthy fears or being obsessive to a healthy fear, puts us in Bondage to them. They, our fears, become our masters. They can cripple us and become our rulers. They can become the controlling force in our lives.

Being in Bondage to fear can prevent us from being humble. It can keep us from being repentant and thus finding God.

Being in Bondage to fear can prevent us from discovering a personal relationship  with our Heavenly Father, that we all so sorely desire.

On a purely human level, being in bondage to fear can prevent a person from simply apologizing to someone when they have done something wrong. Fear can cause a person to hide from the simplest problems in life.

To understand the ministry of ThirdStep.org, one needs to understand what we mean when we talk about Bondage? Bondage to Fear, or bondage to whatever can keep a person from finding the one true God. You will find the term scattered all around the ministry website.

Well, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary,

Bondage is

1: the tenure or service of A SERF or A SLAVE
(one is in Bondage as long as they are a slave, a slave to some thing or someone other than God)

A further understanding of Bondage is that Bondage is the state of “being bound by a compulsion or emotion--- that is out of ones control.”

In other words, we are in slavery or bondage when a compulsion or emotion controls or severely influences our lives.

The definition of bondage continues:
2: Being in Bondage is, as in:
     a: CAPTIVITY 
a biblical example of people being in captivity would be when the Israelites when they were captives in Egypt, and then again when they were under the control of Babylon for those hundreds of years.
They were captives and slaves of a powerful enemy. On their own they could not break the bondage of their masters and rulers.
     b: servitude or subjugation to a controlling person or force
         i.e. people in bondage to drugs or alcohol, gambling, even resentments or
         are being bound to a compulsion that is out of their control.
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Bondage to anything of this world, other than Jesus Christ, is not from God and can keep us from finding salvation in the first place, or enjoying a saving grace relationship with Him in our daily lives once saved! Bondage is slavery to things, emotions and pleasures of the world. Yes, bondage applies to all of us.

Bondage or slavery to something like Fear, Guilt, Shame, Resentment, or False (world given) Pride can block a person from finding the Lord and keep us in Bondage to something sinister and life ruining like alcoholism, or mood altering drugs. In order for a person to become free of their addiction, one needs to be free of controlling bondages in their life. We know that only Jesus Christ is powerful enough to totally Break the Bondages that hold us back, in our life.
 
Let’s see what the Word of God says about Bondage to Fear. Let's discover God's truth out of the Holy Bible.

Romans 8:15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!
                
                 God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him.
                 Instead, we become his children and call him our Father.
                 Not just being knowledgeable of God and all His ways, but in
                 submission to Him and thus under his covering and protection.

In this verse we learn that The spirit of bondage is The spirit that binds
you; or the spirit of a slave, the spirit  that produces  fear. The slave is  
under constant fear and alarm.

Godly fear motivates us into action. Worldly Fear and obsessive Fear enslaves us.

But the spirit of our Heavenly Father is that of freedom and of confidence; It is the spirit of children, and not of slaves.

If a person is in Bondage to Fear, for example, they can be paralyzed in their thinking and stuck in a very terrifying place. They may be unable to change and for sure God cannot work through them. Until their bondage is broken, they will not be able to get free of an addiction or un-Godly habit or behavior.

God says- - Do Not Fear!  He tells that for a reason. Break the bondage of fear by doing the rest of the steps, and trust our newly found God. He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Freedom from the Bondage of addictions and the world is ThirdStep.org’s  mission. It should be the goal of all step recovery programs and religious organizations. Gods "heart" wants us free of all Bondage, serving Him above all! Only Jesus has been able to be perfect at it, however. Jesus Christ is our role model.

Please read, meditate on and pray the Salvation Prayer. Salvation Prayer

Check out the section on Fear in the Ministry Forums. Freedom from Fear in the Forums

God Bless!
The ministry of ThirdStep.org

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