Is Fear Holding You Back?

By Rick Warren

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).

What keeps you from developing your full potential? Fear. What keeps you from becoming all God wants you to be? Fear. What keeps you from building a legacy that will last into eternity? Fear.

There are three kinds of fear that will keep you from developing your talents and accomplishing your purpose.

1. Self-doubt. It keeps people locked in a prison and unable to develop their potential. This is actually the fear of failure. But failure doesn’t have to be fatal! In fact, the fear of failure is far worse than failure itself. Failure actually can be a good thing. Failure is how you learn what doesn’t work. And it’s how you grow.

Don’t let self-doubt keep you down. I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than attempt to do nothing and succeed.

2. Self-consciousness. If you worry about what other people think, nothing will ever get done in your life. You just have to do what God tells you to do. That’s all you’re accountable for. You’re not called to be the best in the world. You’re called to be the best that God made you to be.

3. Self-pity. There were two disciples who had spectacular failures. Peter and Judas both denied Jesus in clutch time, but each responded to his failure differently. Judas went out and had a pity party and then hung himself. Peter, on the other hand, wept bitterly, grieved about it, repented, asked God to forgive him, picked himself up, and went back to serving God. And just a few weeks later, Peter spoke to the crowds in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and 3,000 people became believers—and the church was born. Of all the people God could have used to start the church, he used the guy with the biggest failure. That means there’s room for you in the family of God!

Instead of living in fear, believe what God says about you in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).

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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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