Fear (continued)

My goal with this blog is to help people be strong physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. Since God made us we can't compartmentalize our lives and leave Him out in the areas we pick and choose. I hope this has helped you. Please tell your friends about me, and let's leave lots of comments, even if you don't agree. I want to keep the dialog going and make this a place where we really examine what we believe and why. Our mind-set is important to our physical and spiritual development. God can, and should be a part of everything we do.

I felt the need to expound on the blog on fear. I wanted to flesh it out more thoroughly and especially add the scripture references I promised.

There are many references to fear in the Bible. In the original language fear has to do with submitting, bowing down to, or revering. In Joshua 1:9 God told Joshua to be strong and of good courage, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He told him this because Joshua was going to have to take the Isrealites into battle with the King of Ai. God didn't want them to come under this evil king's rule. God wanted to be their Father. He didn't want them to be abused. Let's compare the fear of man and the fear of God.

It's hard for me to grasp the meaning of the "fear" of God, because fear sounds like shaking and cowering, however, reverence is the way the Bible describes it. Rather than scared and timid, reverence has to do with a willing, loving, submission to God. The fear of man has to do with making someone scared. I see fear as something, or someone, having power over us. When someone abuses another either physically, emotionally, or in some other way, they've taken that persons power away from them, or at least attempted to. However, God deserves our reverence and people don't. God doesn't force us to worship Him, He woos us to Himself. For some reason He left us with a free-will. I think He doesn't want robotic worship, but willing, loving devotion. No one else should be able to control us, except God, since He made us to begin with. We aren't to be afraid of man, but we are to fear God in the sense that we allow Him to rule our lives. He won't abuse us like people might. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power (miraculous), and of love, and of a sound mind (self-control)." I added Strong's concordance original language translation in the parenthesis.

In all this we know that God won't hurt us. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says that He knows the thought or plans He has for us, plans for peace and not for evil, plans for a hope and a future. In other words He will NOT harm us. Just remember that when we are hurt, because in this world we will be, God is not the one who planned or orchestrated it. John 16:33 tells us "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The bottom line is that everyone was designed to worship God. We will find something, or someone, to worship (fear, reverence) because we were made to worship. The problem is that after Adam and Eve's sin we put other things and people in God's place. So we need to fear God, rather than man.

Psa 111:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever."

Building a website

In January I did a scary thing. I stepped into the unknown and built a website. All I knew was that I needed to build my businesses smarter, not harder. I had been using the old-school selling methods for so long and it was not working well enough for my liking. My businesses were only generating enough income to cover the cost of doing them, and that was not consistent either.

Here's what lead up to it. I was looking for business building info online and stumbled upon Ann Sieg's Renegade Network Marketer. I read the Marketing Manifesto and 7 Lies of the Network Marketer- http://cathyulrich.7greatlies.com and began to follow her advice. I've had to revamp my whole thought process towards business. these valuable resources helped me see that the best, most fun way to work from home is the Attraction Marketing Model. I then purchased SBI or Site Build It! to help guide me through the process of builing a site since I'm so new at this. No hard-sell, chase 'em down, cram your wares down their throat allowed. In fact the product isn't really what I'm selling at all. I'm in the business of helping people and offering information. Yes, I do have products to offer, but only if they've come to me for that product first. Here's an example of how it works, when your good friends use a product or service they tell you about it or you ask them what they are using etc. just in the course of normal conversation. Then you go out and try it. So I have to sell myself first and let people know I am trust worthy Before they will listen to me. I have to earn people's trust, not to scam them, but to genuinely help them with their needs. Pitching isn't even needed at all. This is all new to me, and it takes a concerted effort to write my emails, twitter messages, and other content with out the old pitch it mind-set. However, this is so much better! I no longer chase my friends and family. The leads are beginning to come to me willingly, and I'm relaxing in my relationships. All I can say is Aaaaah. So much better, and I'm sure my friends and family are breathing a sigh of relief as well. I've been in Network Marketing for 16 years with several different companies and products so my friends and I both are amused whenever I tell them I've started a new business. Now I can generate several income streams at once on auto-pilot. I never have to worry about the economy because I'm positioning myself to make a good living with whatever product or service I choose.

I hope you will find the peace I've found. Check out the tools I used and see if they would help you achieve your dreams. I know Ann Sieg and SBI have opened up a whole new world and way of thinking for me. Whether your dreams are for more time with your family, enjoying hobbies, giving more to your community and charities, or financial freedom, the attraction marketing model can help you get there. It's worth considering.

Here are the links again:

Site Build It!:
http://videotour.sitesell.com/Cathy30.html18.html

7 Lies of the Network Marketer:
http://cathyulrich.7greatlies.com

Fear

Fear. We all know what it feels like, unless we're in denial we've all had instances of fear. It paralyzes us to be productive and comes in so many forms. Fear of: failure, snakes or other critters, not being loved, darkness, heights, you name it we can succumb to fear of all sorts and we are suddenly be immobilized or we avoid or run from the problem. Fear is a type of stress which causes all kinds of ailments and other problems especially with relationships. We need to get a handle on our fears, not sweep them under the carpet and deny them, but examine why we're afraid and conquer them by going into situations (within reason) that we're afraid of and confronting those fears, taking charge of our emotions.

Lately, with the new administration we've been told repeatedly that we are in "crisis" as a nation and even the entire planet is in danger-ie. global warming, and the new swine flu supposed immenent epidemic, and the one that everyone has been biting their nails over, The economic "Crisis", just to name a few. It seems that this administration wants us to be off-balance. Why? I think it's because they want us to believe they can come in and save the day at any moment. Take the Air Force One's secret low flight over NY harbor near the Statue of Liberty just this week. This stupid move rightly scared many people out of buildings etc, thinking it was another attack on our nation. If there were just one incident, or even just a couple like this I might dismiss it, but this is too much evidence for me to ignore. We need to be careful that we aren't letting fear rule our actions. Having said that there are some reasonable fears, or at least precautions that we can take in certain situations. Avoiding touching hot stoves, using fire safety, using the buddy system when out at night or at any time of day when stangers are around us. This isn't really letting fear control us, but taking some control back so we can at least try to be safe. These safety precautions can actually set us at ease when we know we are doing what we can to avoid being a victim. It's vital to teach our children to take safety measures in all kinds of situations as well, but we need to help them process their fears while we're at it.

Some things are out of our control, but we can control lots of areas of our lives and when we do we make fear less of a menace. Former President Kennedy was so right when he said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." The best selling book of all time, the Bible, says "Fear not" msny, many times. Jesus Himself said "Fear not for I am with you." This reassurance helps me stay calm and assuage my fears as new developements crop up.

You may ask why I'm talking about fear on a fitness blog, but fear effects our health drastically, heart palpitations, ansomnia, high blood pressure, even cancer have been linked to stress, the list is endless.

There are many different ways to combat stress and fear. I've already mentioned safety precautions, but a greatest and only real way to relieve stress is to pray. Along with that we can do stretching exercises, or yoga, although I would caution you not to include the spiritual part of it, since it's not safe to open your mind to just anything. You have to be vigilant to "have the mind of Christ" and not open yourself up to the evil side of the spirit-realm. I have more to say about this in future blogs. The best way to guard our hearts against fear is to renew our minds and only put things in that bring courage. As the Word says, What ever is good, whatever is right...think on these things. Reading the Bible, watching or listening to inspirational speakers, or viewing movies that have positive messages and biblical themes helps as well. I also believe laughter heals too. We need to know that although prophesies of great danger and dispare are coming to pass before our eyes, these things remind us that only God knows the end from the beginning. He is our comforter and friend through every hardship we face. This goes for the nation as well. He will not leave us or forsake us IF we set our heart on Him, so "Fear not, for I am with you until the end of the age."

P.S Since this was a brain-dump of sorts, I'll give the references I sited at a later time, hopefully tomorrow.

Cathy