Now is the time to abandon a life of worry, anxiety and fear, and launch into a life of faith, boldness and power!
Transcription
Ashley:
Did you know God has made provision for you to live fearlessly? Whatever fears you have, God is showing you a way you can live without fear in your life. Praise God. So, stay tuned to find out how.
Speaker 2:
Why live a normal life when you could be living the abundant life. Welcome to the Abundant Life program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.
Ashley:
Hello, and welcome to Abundant Life. We’re so glad you’ve joined us today. We’ve got a great program for you today. We’re talking about fearlessless. Fearless… I’m not sure that’s a word. Fearlessness.
Carlie Terradez:
Something like that.
Ashley:
Living fearlessly is what we’re talking about today, and we’ve got a great show. We’re really excited about this because we’re showing you practical ways, usually from our own mistakes, of how you can live without fear in your life. Fear can cause torment, and fear can really distract you from your relationship with God. It can pull you away from faith. So, we want to understand what this fear is that’s coming against us and how we can overcome it, praise God, and live fearlessly. Amen.
Carlie Terradez:
Amen. I think everybody deals with an element of fear in their life to some degree, but some people are actually really debilitated by it. It is becoming such a part of their life that it stops them even leaving the house, stops them having a job or it interferes with their relationships. It’s caused them poverty. It’s caused them sickness. So, this is a really important topic though, although, I think I believe everybody deals with it to a certain degree. There are some people that really do truly need a deliverance from this. So, it’s an important topic and that has a really wide-reaching aim here, but we want to drill down in this session on how we’ve been delivered from the power of fear because Jesus paid for it on the cross.
Ashley:
Amen. Amen.
Carlie Terradez:
Amen? Jesus paid for things on the cross for us, promises on the cross for us, and oftentimes we spend a lot of time talking about healing and about prosperity, but I want to talk about fear today because the deliverance from fear was paid for by Jesus for you. You did not have to live a life of fear. You can be free from fear. The very definition of the word fear, to be fearless is to be bold, to be brave, to be intrepid. Amen? And when we really truly understand what it was that Jesus paid for for us so that we don’t have to carry it, we’ll stop tolerating living with fear in our life, and we’ll enter in and be able to walk in more security and more confidence in our life.
Ashley:
Amen.
Carlie Terradez:
I remember years ago and when we were at Bible college the first time… And I say that public speaking is one of the greatest fears that people have.
Ashley:
I think that people rate public speaking above death on the fear chart thing. Right? When you interview people about what you’re scared of… No, seriously. I believe they put a fear of public speaking above death.
Carlie Terradez:
Right.
Ashley:
That’s a bad-
Carlie Terradez:
And we talked last time about this, but physiological I can understand why people would be afraid of dying or afraid of pain or afraid of losing a loved one or something like that. But public speaking, I mean, I knew that it was illogical. I knew that it didn’t make any sense.
Ashley:
… Right.
Carlie Terradez:
But in our first time at Bible college, I mean, we’d just been there literally a couple of months, and we had to do this 10 minute talk on a verse out of Philippians and what it meant to us. I remember preparing for this, and I knew it was coming. From the first day of school they told us what our assignment was going to be, and everyone in the class had to do it. I knew that I was just absolutely terrified, and I figured to myself, “It would be better to sign up to get it done first than sit through 30 other people doing their teachings and all the time getting more and more nervous. At least, if I just got mine out the way then I could relax.
Ashley:
This is where me and you are opposites.
Carlie Terradez:
I face my fear.
Ashley:
Carlie says I procrastinate, and I just put it off, put it off, put it off. Carlie says I put the pro in procrastination.
Carlie Terradez:
Yes.
Ashley:
But in my case, I just put things off. If I’m feeling something or if I’m afraid of something, I’ll just keep putting it off and putting it off.
Carlie Terradez:
And hope it goes away.
Ashley:
You just hit your head on in trying to do it first, be the first one to do it so that you don’t… The other day we went on that paragliding thing, and then I had that happening.
Carlie Terradez:
I don’t know how that happened. We jumped off a mountain. Don’t know how that happened.
Ashley:
We was ministering somewhere, and they had this big mountain there. I think it was one of the kids said we should do that. The pastor overheard say that. So, he thought as a gift he would send us paragliding. So, we finished preaching at church, and we said, “Amen.” We finished visit with people and everything else. Next thing you know, he puts us in the car. He says, “Come on then.” Usually the pastor will take you out for lunch after you’ve ministered at their church.
Carlie Terradez:
We thought we were going for lunch.
Ashley:
But we drove up this mountain. Next thing you know, we’re signed in disclaimers, and they’re putting equipment on us. I’m thinking, “What’s going on?” Nest thing you know, Carlie’s running with a guy. She was strapped to this guy.
Carlie Terradez:
He’s the instructor.
Ashley:
She jumped off the cliff and paraglided. So, you was first then as was real.
Carlie Terradez:
We was there with our kids, and he’s like, “Oh, you’re up first.” I’m like, “What, me first? Let me go say goodbye to my family.’ Woman of faith and power here.
Ashley:
We made it down fine.
Carlie Terradez:
Let me say goodbye.
Ashley:
You made it down fine, but you like to do things just hit it head on like that.
Carlie Terradez:
I’m laughing so much. Look, my eye’s watering.
Ashley:
You going to get some [inaudible 00:04:52] on your makeup.
Carlie Terradez:
I know. I hope.
Ashley:
So, you was worried about the public speaking. You was thinking to yourself, “You know what?” So, you went for it.
Carlie Terradez:
Well, I didn’t quite go for it. It was just you know you’re going to have to do it, so you might as well just suck it up and get on with it. And you know, I did that, and I didn’t die. I was fine.
Ashley:
Obviously.
Carlie Terradez:
Because your body will lie to you. Right? It will be like, “You’re going to perish. You’re going to perish. You’re not going to make it. You’re going to pass out. Or you’re going to stand up there, and nothing’s going to come out.” I mean what’s the worst that’s going to happen is you’re going to get tongue tied and you’re going to embarrass yourself. That’s the worst that’s going to happen.
Ashley:
I have this fear about whenever I was public speaking that the fly’s undone. So, I used to check my flies 10 times before… Seriously.
Carlie Terradez:
That’s a little bit OCD.
Ashley:
It’s a bit OCD, and it’s a little bit TMI. It’s a little bit too much information.
Carlie Terradez:
That’s not appropriate for television.
Ashley:
I apologize.
Carlie Terradez:
This is a PG rated show, you know?
Ashley:
I know what’s going to happen. They’ll edit this bit out. They won’t even see this bit.
Carlie Terradez:
You think that. You think that. They don’t. Mm-mm (negative).
Ashley:
But that’s an irrational fear because I’ve checked my fly and my fly is good.
Carlie Terradez:
It’s good.
Ashley:
Yeah. No, but I’m saying, and then I’ll check it again and again and again. So, that was a little fear. Where was the fear? It wasn’t the fear about my fly.
Carlie Terradez:
It’s embarrassment.
Ashley:
It’s embarrassment. It was fear of shame.
Carlie Terradez:
Fear of men.
Ashley:
It was fear of men. Fear of embarrassment of people making fun of you and stuff. So, that was my public speaking thing. If I did something wrong.
Carlie Terradez:
Made a fool of yourself.
Ashley:
If I made a fool of myself, then the fear of man.
Carlie Terradez:
And I’m not sure how you got over this, but for me, it was very much a conversation between me and Jesus. God showed me as I was going through Bible college that he called me to teach and preach in front of people, and I argued with him over this. I did not want to do it. Now, you might have noticed that actually he’s the lively one. He’s got all the funny stories. He’s like Mr. big personality, and me, I’m by nature much more of an introvert. I’m quite happy to have a cabin in the backside of the woods and not see anyone. But Ashley, he just loves it. He just likes to be the clown. Right? That’s what he does.
Ashley:
Ah, hang on. Clown is a little strong. I think you’ll find that-
Carlie Terradez:
He has to be the life of the party.
Ashley:
… No. No. I like to express myself and stuff.
Carlie Terradez:
Yeah, but you’re probably more expressive than me.
Ashley:
Yeah.
Carlie Terradez:
Okay, there you go. [inaudible 00:06:55]. So, maybe we should get serious on marriage.
Ashley:
It sounds more elegant. It sounds more elegant. Yeah, too soon. It sounds more elegant than a clown.
Carlie Terradez:
Okay. All right.
Ashley:
You could say that I like to express myself in exuberant ways.
Carlie Terradez:
You’re exuberant. Okay. Okay. Well anyway, I think they get what you mean. So, I mean, I was quite happy to spend my time hiding behind my husband. You could be the minister. You could do it. I’m quite happy with that. I’ll make the coffee. I’ll be whatever. I’m quite happy with that.
Ashley:
That was an option? You was going to make me coffee?
Carlie Terradez:
I can make you coffee.
Ashley:
I didn’t know that was an option. You was happy to hide behind me.
Carlie Terradez:
Yes. Anyway. Don’t work with animals or children. I’m just saying. So, I argued with this with the Lord about this. I’m like, “Listen, Ashley’s your man. I mean, I’ll just be the support personnel. I’ll be the backup team. It’ll be fine.” And the Lord’s like, “Listen, you don’t want to do this because you’re afraid to do this. That is it. So, are you seriously…” I mean, God was pretty straight with me. He’s like, “Are you seriously not going to do what I’ve called you to do? Are you’re not going to fulfill the plans and the purposes that I have for your life simply because you’re afraid?” That really made me think. It hit me at a heart level, and really that’s been a life check for me. There’s many times when opportunities have come our way, and my flesh starts going, “Er”. It doesn’t like it.
Ashley:
How’s it go again? I want to see it one more time. That’s what your flesh does.
Carlie Terradez:
Er. I make the weirdest faces when I’m preaching.
Ashley:
That’s how your flesh goes.
Carlie Terradez:
Yes, like some people, they’ll have photographers come and photograph them while they’re preaching, and they have all these amazing, glamorous pictures, these action shots. And there’s me going?
Ashley:
Yeah.
Carlie Terradez:
I don’t know what it is. It’s my face or something. But anyway, I mean, I just said to God, “Okay.” And in that moment, as the Lord really brought it to me, I’m like, “I made a commitment between me and Him that I was not going to let fear stop me from doing what God had called me to do.” He told me, “Fear is an emotion that you can be free from. You can control this.” And I’m like, “Okay, but I’m afraid.” And he said to me, “So, do it afraid. Do it anyway.” I was really looking for something a little bit more spiritual than that from the Lord. He said, “Do it afraid if you have to. Fear is not going to kill you. You’re going to be just fine.”
So, in my heart, I said to it the next time I was going to have an opportunity… This was the Lord’s advice me. Next time you have an opportunity, just say yes. Before you have time to think about it, just say yes. And so the next time I had an opportunity to speak, I mean, I wasn’t as brave as to volunteer myself, but I just said yes. Then afterwards my flesh was freaking out doing its thing. It was having a fit. But then I’d already given my word, and I wasn’t going to back down on my word. You know what? What it taught me to do, the minute I agreed to literally face my fear, it made me trust God because I knew I can’t do this in the flesh.
Ashley:
So, it’s not just not fearing. We’re talking about now is when we stop fearing, what’s actually happened is we’re actually going out into faith because that thing we used to fear we need God’s help to overcome.
Carlie Terradez:
Exactly.
Ashley:
So, this is where faith and fear are opposites. There’s so many times we can look at this, examples that we can see our faith and fear are opposites because fear paralyzes us. We look to the verses in I John how fear leads to torment, and fear can actually paralyze us and stop us doing things, stop as acting. We won’t take that step of faith, or we won’t take that opportunity, or we won’t do that certain thing because we’re in fear. Whereas, faith will actually motivate us and actually activate us and actually make us take some steps and do something. But I like how you’re saying it here. You’re saying by you saying yes to an opportunity and doing it, what’s going to happen now is you’re going to have to throw yourself on the Lord and be in faith because you’re going to need His help to overcome it.
Carlie Terradez:
Right. I mean, this was an element… This was an exercise rather, of me trusting God and saying, “Is God bigger in this situation? Is he big enough to come through for me? Can I trust him enough to protect me from shame, to protect me from being embarrassed, to protect me from people’s opinion, even if I do mess up? Is he big enough to deal with my heart, to deal with the possible fallout or the circumstances?” And when we operate in fear rather than in faith, the consequences are God’s.
Ashley:
Right.
Carlie Terradez:
You know, he takes responsibility for the consequences, not for us. When we operate in fear, we’re responsible for the consequences.
Ashley:
Right.
Carlie Terradez:
I would much rather have God be responsible for the consequences of my actions when I’m operating in faith than me being responsible for them when I’m operating in fear.
Ashley:
That’s good.
Carlie Terradez:
And so there was a security there. But it didn’t just end there. It was a battle in my mind. I’m trying to prepare a message or whatever, or I’m about to go up on stage and speak, my flesh starts to rise up, I actually get physical symptoms in my body. My heart starts beating. I can feel the adrenaline start running around, that fight or flight.
Ashley:
Feed into it. Yeah.
Carlie Terradez:
Yeah, I could feel it. And now I’ve learned, you know what? I’m going to do this anyway. So, I talk to my flesh. I’m like, “Shut up, flesh. Listen to me. This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to do this anyway. I don’t care if you want to. You can go have your hissy fit somewhere else. I’m not going to listen to you anymore. I’m going to do what God’s called me to do, and I’m not going to let this emotion, this false evidence appearing real, rent space in my head.” So when those thoughts come to me, I know that if I dwell on them too long I’m going to have the physical symptoms of panic, really, is what it is. But now I start to speak into my body, and I’m like, “Listen, adrenalin. You need to calm yourself down. I don’t need fight or flight hormones going through my body at this moment.”
Ashley:
Nothing’s about to eat you.
Carlie Terradez:
I’m not going to die.
Ashley:
That’s right. Nothing’s about to eat you. You haven’t got to run or fight.
Carlie Terradez:
Exactly.
Ashley:
But that’s what the emotion is. Your body’s so clever that if you start meditating on fear and you start having that fear come in it triggers those things.
Carlie Terradez:
It triggers those physiological things.
Ashley:
And before you know it, you’ve got the adrenaline going and you’re ready to fight or flight.
Carlie Terradez:
Your heart’s beating too fast. You can feel it beating.
Ashley:
You know this it right here.
Carlie Terradez:
So, I’ll actually tell my heart, “Stop beating so fast.’ I’m like, “No. Calm down. Settle.” I mean, I’m, I’m not concentrating. No, we’re not going to do that anymore. And my body starts then to listen to me. I found the more that I practice that the less often I have to.
Ashley:
The less often you feel those emotions and fear.
Carlie Terradez:
The quicker it finishes that cycle.
Ashley:
Because back in the day, this was between about 11 years ago or so now, when you first did that talk… And I don’t embarrass you or anything, but you had your paper and it was like you couldn’t hold a paper up like this when you’re talking. You’d be like this.
Carlie Terradez:
It was terrible. It was terrible.
Ashley:
You had to put it on the podium. Now you can hold a piece of paper and preach.
Carlie Terradez:
Hold on to the podium.
Ashley:
Now you can hold this while you preach because you’re not having those feelings anymore. You’re not having that.
Carlie Terradez:
Right. And really where were going with this is the basis of fear is insecurity. The more secure we become in who we are in Christ, the bigger Jesus is on the inside of us, the less that fear will dominate in our lives.
Ashley:
The less the other things matter to us. We just disesteem those other things.
Carlie Terradez:
We disesteem them.
Ashley:
For me, one of my biggest fears was the shame of making a fool of myself and stuff like that. That was a real fear for me. So, that would hinder me sometimes in saying yes to things and doing things. I’d think, “What if I mess up, and what if I get made fun of,” and stuff like that. That was a deal for me. I’m opening up here.
Carlie Terradez:
I know. We’re being vulnerable here, aren’t we?
Ashley:
I feel vulnerable. So, I remember when we first went out and I met your friends. The way me and Carlie met… I won’t go into the whole story, but basically I never knew Carlie’s friends.
Carlie Terradez:
Oh, gosh. This is funny.
Ashley:
So, I never knew Carlie’s friends. We came from completely different-
Carlie Terradez:
It was like the church youth group he was meeting.
Ashley:
… Yeah, so I was meeting all of her friends, all her youth group, and they set it up. We was going bowling, and we all sat around-
Carlie Terradez:
10-pin bowling.
Ashley:
… 10-pin bowling. This is the first time I met these people. I met 25 people, 25 of her friends, and some of her close friends and people she knew that I’d never met before.
Carlie Terradez:
This was the time when really baggy jeans were in fashion.
Ashley:
Yeah, so part of my issue was I’ve got to make a good first impression.
Carlie Terradez:
To dress right, you know?
Ashley:
And I was in fear about making a bad first impression. Anyway, I walked in a little bit late, and they’re all there. They’ve programed the names in, and my name come up first, I guess because it was Ashley, you know, A. So, my name come up first, so I thought, “I’ve got to impress them.” I got the heaviest bowling ball. I didn’t know anything about bowling. I just got the heaviest one I could find. I got the heaviest bowling ball. I could hardly lift it, it was so heavy. And I thought, “I’ve got to make this good.”
Carlie Terradez:
You’re so bad.
Ashley:
I thought, “If I can make a strike on my first bowl, I’m telling you, I would turn around, and they would be like, ‘Wow.’ That’d be really impressed with this man of God that Carlie’s going to marry. This is going to be over soon.” So, I got the heaviest bowling ball, and I had the baggy jeans. This is 20-plus years ago back then baggy jeans were fashionable.
Carlie Terradez:
You’re making me cray.
Ashley:
I got the biggest bowling ball, and I give it my best shot. I mean, I really went for it. I give my best shot. I didn’t quite release it right, and I slipped on the baggy jeans.
Carlie Terradez:
He got his thumb stuck in the bowling ball.
Ashley:
Long and the short of it is I fell right over, I mean, full on, down the lane.
Carlie Terradez:
His body catapulted down towards the pins.
Ashley:
Half way down the lane.
Carlie Terradez:
But the bowling ball went backwards into the crowd.
Ashley:
I made it halfway down the lane. It was so impressive. And I remember laying there on my back thinking, “You know what? This is probably the worst first impression I could make in front of all these people.”
Carlie Terradez:
You’re going to take the long walk of shame all the way back.
Ashley:
But it wasn’t as bad as the fear of something bad happening. So, actually something bad happening wasn’t as bad as the fear. And you know, I got up.
Carlie Terradez:
He got the girl.
Ashley:
I got out and I got the… Aw. I got the girl. That’s so… I got the girl. But I don’t know any of your friends anymore.
Carlie Terradez:
Neither do I. That was a long time ago.
Ashley:
Actually, I know some of them. But anyway, my point being is this. I had a fear of a bad first impression and things like that, and even when the worst thing happened, it wasn’t that bad. So, we’re talking about, I don’t want to belittle things, but were talking about death. It’s not that bad. If you die, you’re going to be with Jesus.
Carlie Terradez:
When you face it.
Ashley:
Why allow these fears to come in and hinder us when really we can’t lose for winning anyway. If you’re born again, you can’t lose for winning. I mean, even if something bad happens. Even if you believe Him for your healing, God’s best is that you are healed and 100% whole. Even if you don’t see that you’re going to be healed when you go to heaven. I mean, if you have lack. God’s best for you and God’s will for you is to have increase and to prosper and have enough for your needs to be met and extra so you can give to every good work. But if you don’t see that, it’s going to be okay. You’re still going to make it. God’s not going to let you beg for bread.
Carlie Terradez:
That’s right. That’s right.
Ashley:
It’s going to be okay. So, we need to sometimes face these fears and say, “You know what? Even, if the worst does happen, it’s not even that bad.”
Carlie Terradez:
And making that decision to not give fear the authority in your life, that was a real turning point for me. Let’s look at the scripture.
Ashley:
Explain that. Giving fear authority in your life.
Carlie Terradez:
Yeah. So, I’m going to read this scripture here, but fear is part of a curse that we’ve been redeemed from. Okay? And when we let fear operate in our life, it can’t unless we give it the power to do so because it doesn’t actually have any rights. We’ve been redeemed from it. In chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, it lists the blessings and the cursings. Okay? Cursings, is that a word or just cursing?
Ashley:
Curses.
Carlie Terradez:
Curses. Thank you.
Ashley:
Curses.
Carlie Terradez:
The blessings and the curses. All right. Now, I’m looking at this is 28 verse 66.
Ashley:
66? It would be 66, wouldn’t it? Verse 66. It says that, “Your life show hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance in life.” That’s a terrible thing.
Carlie Terradez:
Having no assurance in life.
Ashley:
Having no assurance in life.
Carlie Terradez:
So, that’s talking about an insecurity, isn’t it?
Ashley:
Yeah, and then 67, I love… Well, I don’t love this, but I like how it’s written because it’s very… “In the morning you should say, ‘Oh, that it was evening!’ And in the evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it was morning.'” It doesn’t matter whatever your situation is, you always at a point where you’re not satisfied.
Carlie Terradez:
You’re not satisfied. You’re always trying to be somewhere else thinking that’s going to be better than where you are now.
Ashley:
You always want to be somewhere else. You’re not satisfied “because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.” That’s not a good thing. Deuteronomy 28 shows us from 1 to 14 all the blessings, and if you’re born again today, all those blessings are yours, praise God, in Christ Jesus.
Carlie Terradez:
That’s right.
Ashley:
The verses from 15 onwards in Deuteronomy 28 is all the things Jesus redeemed us from.
Carlie Terradez:
And Galatians 3:13, it says that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Ashley:
Amen.
Carlie Terradez:
You see, when we read chapter 28 of Deuteronomy now, only the blessings apply.
Ashley:
Come on.
Carlie Terradez:
Only the blessings. So we can see that fear was part of the curse in the world caused by the enemy. Remember the curses come from the enemy, from the devil, but Jesus, He’s paid the price for us. He’s redeemed us so that fear should not operate in us anymore. Then sometimes people say, “What about the fear of the Lord?” And they get things a little bit twisted. When we were talking about the fear of the Lord in that context, and there’s many scriptures that you can look up that talk about the fear of the Lord, that’s talking about a reverence. God is almighty. The kind of fear that we’re talking about here is the kind that causes torment, the kind that causes adrenaline to pump through your body and your heart to fail inside of you.
The kind that has anguish and pain in it, that’s not from God. That’s not the fear of the Lord. That’s the fear of the consequences that are produced by the enemy in our life. Were not called to tolerate that. We’re called to be free from it. Sometimes if we’re so used to fear operating in our flesh, operating in our mind, we’re so used to it, we don’t even recognize it’s there. It will hinder us from receiving other promises that God has for us, too. Now, while we’re being vulnerable, I remember one time I had woken up in the middle of the night. It was one o’clock in the morning, and our kids do have this horrible… You know toddlers at the time, all having sickness and diarrhea bug going around.
Gross, right? I mean, moms you’re going to be doing a lot of laundry. Right? And it was just bad. I remember waking up at one o’clock in the morning, and my stomach was doing that churning thing. I was getting the sweats, and I was starting to feel like the room’s spinning. I feel sick. I feel like my stomach’s hurting. So, go in and sit and get some throne time in.
Ashley:
This is TMI now.
Carlie Terradez:
And it’s not pretty. I mean, I did not look like a woman of faith and power in that moment. Let me just be honest. Okay. Trashcan in front of me. I mean, it was just ugly. I’m sitting there listening to my churning stomach. I’m like, “Wait a minute. I’m a woman of faith and power, right?”
Ashley:
Right.
Carlie Terradez:
“I’m going to speak to these things, these symptoms, and I’m going to get my faith on. This is all going to subside. All these symptoms are going to go.” So I’m binding and loosing, as you’d say. I’m speaking to my guts, and I’m telling it to calm down. I’m telling you nothing. Crickets. Nothing changed. In the end, I’m like, “Okay, I probably need to ask the Lord because all I’m doing is speaking, and my words are not having any effect.” Right? They’re not changing.
Ashley:
I don’t remember this.
Carlie Terradez:
You were sleeping, honey.
Ashley:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Carlie Terradez:
You were in deep meditation, laying before the Lord, supporting me from your prayer bed.
Ashley:
I was in intercessory prayer for you.
Carlie Terradez:
Yes. Thank you, honey.
Ashley:
Deep meditation.
Carlie Terradez:
And as I’m sitting there thinking, “What is going on? I’ll ask the Lord. Lord, what is it? I’m doing what I know to be doing. I know life and death are in the power of my tongue. And I’m and I’m facing my fear. I’m facing it. Right? I’m commanding, binding, and Loosing. And he goes, “It’s because you’re afraid.” And I thought, “Wow. What do you mean I’m afraid?” He goes, “You’re afraid because you have past history.” And I started thinking about that. I’m remembering all of the consequences of sickness and diarrhea that I’d been cleaning up that day from other people. And in my mind, my nursing brain is kicking in and saying, “Well, you know what? You’ve caught this bug from other people.” And I’m starting to see like this versus is saying here. “Because of the fear of your heart,” I was seeing it in my heart.
And because of the sights that you will see. I was started to recollect what I’ve been doing that day, clearing up the mess from other people. In my heart, I’d started to imagine myself also having those symptoms, and it was the actual fear of the consequences. My mind was already thinking, “I’m probably going to have to take the day off work tomorrow. I’m not going to be able to go in, and maybe I might need some help with the kids.” My mind, it was subtle. But my mind was already playing through. It already had a B plan.
Ashley:
Right.
Carlie Terradez:
It already had the consequences of that bug operating in my mind. I was already meditating on those things.
Ashley:
That’s why fear’s the opposite of faith, right? Because fear will make us see the future. I have a vision for the future, but it’s negative. Kill steal, and destroy, that negative future.
Carlie Terradez:
That’s what it will do.
Ashley:
Whereas, faith is the same thing, but it’s the opposite. It’s actually given us a positive future. It’s actually we see the positive side of things.
Carlie Terradez:
Right. You’ve mentioned this. We can’t operate in fear and faith at the same time, and so while the words that I was speaking in that moment were good, they were life-giving words, there really wasn’t any faith behind them. I think it’s II Corinthians 4:13, it says we believe and therefore we speak.
Ashley:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Carlie Terradez:
Is that right? Well, sometimes we find ourselves speaking things, but our motivation for speaking things out isn’t faith. It’s fear. And I see this in people in all different kinds of ministry situations. This is like the frenetic frantic, “In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus.” It’s the motivation. Fear will motivate you. Fear’s a motivator. It’s a motivator to receive healing, but it’s a horrible motivator because it involves torment.
And when we’re running around… You see fear has characteristics. And one of the characteristics of fear is just frantic activity without really having any results. But one of the characteristics of faith, which is the opposite of fear, is peace. There is peace when we’re in faith. And if we’re running around, calling the prayer chain, trying to get anyone we can to pray for us just cause we got a bad doctor’s report or whatever kind of report it is, there’s no peace in that.
Ashley:
That might be fear.
Carlie Terradez:
That might be fear. So, that’s one way that you can see whether you’ve got some unresolved fear going on. Maybe like me, you found yourself saying what seemed like all the right things, but there’s no results. It wasn’t until I realized that fear and the root of that fear that was in me, I’m like, “Lord, you’re right. Then I’m not going to be afraid.” I started to turn that around. And within minutes, the symptoms left. But I had to deal with the underlying root of fear in order for my faith to be able to work. And I see that a lot of times in ministry.
I want to read this scripture. Let’s look at it. This is John 16:33. This is the antidote. We’re talking here almost like the antidote for fear in a sense. In John 16 verse 33, and I’m going to read it in the Amplified. Okay? Ashley says that’s the women’s version.
Ashley:
No. Well, no. I think I started that with someone else. But the point being is, is more words.
Carlie Terradez:
Is more words.
Ashley:
There’s more words in it.
Carlie Terradez:
Anyway. It says, “I have told you these things…” This is Jesus speaking. “I’ve told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have trouble, tribulation, and trial and distress and frustration.” I mean, who’s had any of those, right? All of us, at some point.
Ashley:
That’s not a promise from the Lord that-
Carlie Terradez:
You don’t want that one.
Ashley:
… That’s not a promise from Jesus we want to stand on. It’s not like one of those ones we have on a fridge magnet on a marker.
Carlie Terradez:
A fridge magnet.
Ashley:
We will have trial and tribulation. Okay.
Carlie Terradez:
But He says here, “But be of good cheer, take courage, be confident, certain and undaunted.” See, this is the description of being fearless, isn’t it? Being brave and intrepid and bold. It says, “For I, Jesus, have overcome the world.” And I love what it says here. “I have deprived it of the power to harm you and I’ve conquered it for you.” Amen? When we are operating in faith rather than fear, we’re saying, “Jesus, I might feel afraid in my flesh. I might have the symptoms. It might be grounded in some sort of truth, but I’m going to choose today. I’m going to choose today to not dwell on that fear, but to put my trust and my confidence in You, because in my own strength I can’t do this. But I know that I’m not in my own strength. And I’m trusting in You. I’m trusting in Your confidence and Your boldness and Your strength. And Lord, I thank You that You have deprived the world of the power to harm me.”
Ashley:
Amen. Thank you.
Carlie Terradez:
We, in that moment, place our trust in Jesus rather than in the fear that we feel in our flesh.
Ashley:
God’s perfect love for us casts out fear.
Carlie Terradez:
Amen.
Ashley:
Isn’t that neat?
Carlie Terradez:
That’s powerful.
Ashley:
Praise God. We’re out of time. So, we’re going to be back real soon. Until next time I want you to know we’re praying for you. We’re believing, praise God, that you’re receiving these things by faith. Amen. And we’ll see you real soon. So, come on back. Remember don’t just live a normal life. Go out and live the abundant life today.