We are all familiar with the cliche to “do one thing every day that scares you.”

We all have fears; some are acquired and others are innate. Fear can have such a crippling effect, and when it is not dealt with fear can prevent one from living a productive life both spiritually and physically. God loves faith; satan loves fear.

William Branham says, “There are only two faculties that govern a human, and one of them is—is faith, which brings results; and the other is fear, which has no value in it at all. Faith is of God. Fear is of the devil. Fear makes you weary; fear makes you wonder.” (55-1009 – The Way To Have Fellowship)

This simply means that if we are to attain results in every sphere of our lives; we need to cultivate faith and negate fear.

How many things we could have done or achieved if we could have not been prevented by the fear of criticism? We all have an experience of how allodoxaphobia (fear of criticism) has crippled our dreams and our potential. This reminds me of Theodore Roosevelt’s time-less words on criticism:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Every time you are faced with criticism in pursuing any noble goal, my advice will be the Nike pay-off-line: JUST DO IT!

Do you know your fears? Are you dealing with your fears? I am acrophobic (fear of heights) since my youth days.

How did I overcome my fear of heights? The Telkom Tower is the 4th tallest building in Pretoria. I had a friend who was working there, and weekly I would go with him to his workplace and we would go to the last floor of the Tower. It was initially such a terrifying experience but in the process of time, the pleasant experience of the panoramic view of the whole of Pretoria outweighed my fear of heights. Today, I prefer the window seat whenever I fly to enjoy the view. What does this mean? There are pleasant experiences on the other side of your fears, but you will never enjoy these experiences unless you start dealing with your fears one day at a time.

Reasons why you should do things that scare you daily:

➜ You were born for a purpose.

William Branham says, “And God did not make you and I, just to see if He could do it. He made us for a purpose. Therefore, there is a purpose of us all being here. You’re not here just to be another human being. You are here because that God made you for some purpose. You’re not here just to eat the food that God growed. You’re not here just to live in the house that—that man made, or to wear the clothing that someone fashioned. You are here for a specific purpose. No matter how little you are, how big you are, how important you are, or how unimportant you are, you are here to serve a purpose.” (58-0406S – I Know My Redeemer Liveth)

➜ Avoid the pain of ‘What If’ scenarios.

In economics, there is a concept called an ‘opportunity cost’, which refers to the value of what you have to give up to choose something else. In the case of our subject, what is the value you are going to lose in submitting to fears instead of embracing faith and confronting your fears?

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step” goes a Chinese saying. Therefore, you need to start confronting your daily fears and, with God on your side, before you know it you will have demolished big fears in your life, and this will lead you to live your God-ordained purpose.

Just Do It!