Well, this is payoff day–the day that we finish up with fear. Today is the closing ceremony, where we’ll talk about how to replace fear and maintain a life of freedom from fear.

Once you rid yourself of your fears by doing what we talked about yesterday, you MUST intentionally replace them with something. If you don’t, something will end up replacing it anyway. Nature abhors a vacuum, and an empty human spirit will be filled with something, one way or another. If you don’t take positive action, the fear might be replaced by some addiction or obsession, by lust or greed, or even by more fear. So, the key is to replace it with something good,not bad.

I’m sure you’ve heard that perfect faith drives out fear. It does, and faith in a higher power will certainly provide a foundation for a fear-free life. But mere faith, without more, can sometimes end up more like wishful thinking than spiritual strength. So, let’s make this “active faith.” What is the one thing that most people who possess faith, who believe that they are created, valuable beings have in common? A love for one another,and a desire to help one another. So, my project for replacing fear with active faith is a very simple one–love in action!

Love in action—in the Body for Life world–is also called the universal law of reciprocation. Simply put, you should regularly, at least once a week, do something good for someone who cannot pay you back, and do it without getting caught. Use your imagination–slip money into a jacket pocket, or leave it on someone’s door. Send a gift certificate for a restaurant anonymously. Pay for someone’s way at a function that they can’t afford to go to otherwise. Pray for opportunities to do things for people–they will come along. If you still have some forgiving or amends to make for your past fear-driven behavior, think about how you might right some of those wrongs anonymously. Just don’t get caught, unless a direct apology is in order, of course,

Until you’ve experienced it, you cannot imagine the intense joy that comes from doing something anonymously that truly benefits another. That joy produces something else over time. Hope. Because God truly rewards those who help others for the right reason. It helps you to expectantly look forward to seeing who and what God will bring into your life as your next project, and it helps you to see with confidence that every single need you have is being taken care of–and all without you having to worry about it! In due time, you will look back over all this and not only wonder what ever happen to that old fear-driven you, but also wonder what happened to all the problems that caused those fears!

Does this all sound too extravagant to you? It will take place in your life if you just take the steps of faith to do it.
Staying rid of fear by replacing it is really a life long project. It is very much like staying physically fit. Use it or lose it applies here! Exercise those faith muscles this weekend by attending your favorite house of worship and asking God to help you make sense of all this.

Above all else, don’t ever give up again. Don’t let fear win even one small battle. Face it; admit it; get rid of it, and don’t let it live rent free in your head ever again! Fight for your freedom from fear!

God Bless!