SHIFTING CONTAINERS – Risk Capacity

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” – Geena Davis.

We now enter the stage where the proverbial pawpaw hits the fan.  We can talk much about capacity building but unless we conquer our fears it will remain a theory.  Once we have started the process of expanding our INTENTIONAL CAPACITY (see previous week), there needs to be an expansion of our RISK CAPACITY if we want to grow and mature as believers.

We are all born with natural physical and emotional needs and the inborn resources to help us fulfil them — known as human “givens”.  These needs must be met in order to facilitate good spiritual health.  According to the Human Givens Institute[1] there are ten main innate emotional needs, and most of them are based on fears, more than needs:

• Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully
• Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition
• Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choices
• Being emotionally connected to others
• Feeling part of a wider community
• Friendship, intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, “warts ‘n’ all”
• Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience
• Sense of status within social groupings
• Sense of competence and achievement
• Having meaning and purpose — which comes from being stretched in what we do and think

Like most issues in life, we must learn to control our fears and not let our fears control us.  We need to determine when it is a healthy fear and when it is an unhealthy fear. To be cautious is not a bad thing but to be ruled by fear is.  God gave us an “alert-system” for a good reason. When we control our anxieties, they can be put to good use.  Like the fear of jumping off a cliff or the fear of breaking the law.  But when our fears control us we run the risk of becoming paralysed and passive.  We need to actively expand our risk capacity so that we can confront those fears that stop us from following Christ wholeheartedly.  We need to discern between the good, the bad, and the ugly faces of fears that seek to rule our lives.

The Lord knows our emotional needs not only from a divine perspective but especially from an emotional perspective.  He walked on earth like we do.  He faced the cruelest moments and felt the deepest anguish and fears.

That’s why we find one command in Scripture given by God to man that appears more frequently than any other.

“DO NOT BE AFRAID” —  “FEAR NOT”

Depending on which translation of the Bible you use and what phrase you are searching for, the phrase “do not fear” or “do not be afraid” appears at least 130 times in the Bible (not 365 as many preachers love to proclaim).  The call to “be not afraid” appears more times than the call to be holy, or the command to be obedient.  This is the one character trait that God wants to instill in His followers more than anything else.  The reason is obvious:  Because God knows that fear paralyzes, because God knows that fear causes disobedience and because God knows that the one obstacle preventing capacity growth and holiness, is fear –not a lack of resources but FEAR, not a lack of knowledge but FEAR.

For believers, fear is a matter of life and death.  Fear was the first consequence of sin.  This was the first emotion displayed by Adam after his first encounter with disobedience.  Adam proclaims in Genesis 3 “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  This was probably also the greatest achievement of Satan throughout the ages:  Not getting Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit but creating fear in the hearts of the followers of God.  Subsequently, we find the most frequent command in Scripture by the Lord is not not to sin, BUT not to be afraid

I have traveled all over the world and have found that the one emotion that links most people together is FEAR.  I have met some of the most beautiful believers who literally transform when confronted with fear.  Loving people suddenly lose compassion in their fear of refugees; missional Christians fail to love Muslims; faithful followers becoming irrelevant when facing the fear of rejection.  The reality is that only those who conquer fear from the inside will become relevant on the outside.

There are three reasons for fear:

• Fear has to do with PRIORITIES
• Fear has to do with PERSPECTIVES
• Fear has to do with POSITIONING

Fear has to do with PRIORITIES

What you value most will most likely determine what you fear most. If possessions are your priority then losing them will be your greatest fear and the more you have, the more you have to lose, the higher the walls and the greater the anxiety.  The Lord understood this.  In Luke 12:4  He clearly instructed His followers to “be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do”.

Obedience is simply prioritising your fears.  If you fear disobedience more than death then you will be able to proclaim like Paul, (Philippians 3:7-8)  But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.   The ultimate challenge for any believer is to prioritise our fears.

Fear has to do with PERSPECTIVES

Our perspectives always determine our actions.  In the geo-political world there are seemingly more good reasons to be afraid today than in any time in history.  Every day the media bombards us with news and threats of wars, disasters, plagues, economic collapses, ISIS, terrorist plots, unrest, crime, corruption and injustice.  Even in the world of entertainment most movies are based on wars, horror, violence and many a genre will leave the viewer with a sense of fear or uncertainty at the least.  In short, we are living within a “generation of fear”.

But fears and phobias have everything to do with contextualised perspectives.  Once we look at events through “Kingdom glasses”, our fears will be aligned with a sovereign God and, just like with David, giants will become slingshot targets.  A fear should never be placed in an emotional perspective but rather placed next to an omnipresent, almighty God.  Fear only takes root when we have a wrong perspective.

Fear has to do with POSITIONING

Br Andrew once shared how he visited Corrie ten Boom just before she died.  From her bed she joyfully looked at him and said the following:  “Don’t look so sad Andrew.  You have to remember to look DOWN.”  Andrew smiled at the comment and said to Corrie “I suppose that was a slip of the tongue, you probably mean I need to look UP.”   “No,” replied Corrie, “you need to look down and position yourself from God’s perspective and not from man’s perspective.”

In Judges 7 we read the amazing account of how Gideon defeated the mighty Midianite army of 135,000 men with an army of 300 men.  Gideon had enough reason to be paralysed with fear.  During that night (verse 9) the LORD said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.  If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp and (15) when Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”

Once Gideon positioned himself to see the enemy from God’s perspective, he transformed from Coward Gideon to Courageous Gideon.

Fear only takes root when we are wrongly positioned.  Doug Firebaugh said “Usually a person has more faith in their fear than faith in their future.”

Fear is a manipulative emotion that limits capacity growth and can trick us into living a boring life of disobedience.  If the cure to physical paralysis is found in restoring messages between the brain and the muscles, the spiritual equivalent is simply restoring communication between the Head and the body.

Building our capacity to take healthy risks is found in the simplest of forms in Psalm 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears…”   He said it, I believe it and that settles it.  As easy, and as difficult, as that.

Amazingly, once we start building our risk capacity we will soon discover the need to build our charitable capacity.

[1] https://www.hgi.org.uk/human-givens/introduction/what-are-human-givens

You are most welcome to order the book CAPACITY from Mike at thirdwayinfo@gmail.com