"We Have Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself"

At the beginning of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the American people with the above words. He wanted to calm frightened citizens concerning America’s entry into a war situation.

With the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01 on our country, and with the ongoing bombing and turmoil in the Middle East, many are fearful on a daily basis. Will there be chemical, biological or nuclear attacks within the United States?

Roosevelt wanted to calm the whole nation’s fears, but these words would be much more appropriately spoken by Paul, Peter, John, James, the other apostles, or from the pulpit of God’s Christian church services. Only to a converted Christian with Jesus dwelling within does this sentence have any real meaning.

FEAR CAN MANIFEST ITSELF ONLY BECAUSE OF A BELIEF IN SEPARATION. AS LONG AS YOU ARE SOMETHING APART FROM GOD, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE FEAR IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER.

Fear is subtle and hidden like a snake coiled in the grass, liable to strike at any time in our mind, at the most unguarded moment, when least expected. Its only power is given to it by our thought process, and it can be swollen in our mind from a snake into a dragon. All thoughts of evil are like toy balloons in that they are enlarged until finally the capacity is overloaded and they burst.

THE ANSWER TO ALL FEAR IS YOUR CHRISTIAN REBIRTH AND LIVING UNION WITH CHRIST. Union with God is not an impossible, mystical thing, as believed in former times. Things of the spirit are realities NOW, and the things of matter, though present, are transient. The moment you see yourself as separated and wander into the limitations of the thought world of separated independence, you are subject to the laws of fear: fear for your life, fear of disease, fear of debt, fear of people. And all of these fears are backed up by plenty of evidence and tangible proof.

The one who is filled with fear sees the “ten thousand fall at your right hand,” and is so convinced of the reality and power of evil that he fails to notice those who pass through unscathed. When Jesus had His agony in the garden, He knew how to do this very thing. He immediately “went to the Father” and recognized His oneness with Him. The belief in a separate power disintegrated, and the manifestation of evil vanished.

The enemy comes at you in one of many ways. Evil begins to become sure of itself because of your acceptance, but when the renewed awareness of this union of you with Christ takes place, the blinding, exposing light causes evil to flee.

This sudden appropriation of oneness is accompanied by the realization of how to eliminate the object of, or the belief in, fear. The Israelites had different “cities of refuge” into which they could run for every differing degree of fear. We have the same God. This “running” into God is not as symbolic as it appears. It is an actual fusing of you with Christ within you, and from that moment YOU are a majority, and you will know the powerlessness of the fear belief.

The Life of God through Christ is flowing through you and finding expression by the spiritually extended senses. And that is sufficient to illuminate any darkened condition. The Philistines built up a great monster in Goliath - even as you and I have done at times - and Israel’s army gave him so much power in their minds that the fear of total destruction came upon them. But there was a way of escape. David and his five pebbles brought the monster down. You, with your five senses extended into their spiritual capacity, are more than a perfect match for any giant of fear that can confront you.

The thing that you fear in your mind is sure to injure you, one way or another. It may never have an embodiment in material things; it may be a devastating, unseen fear which never comes to actual manifestation, but it is just as powerful and has “come to injure you” just as definitely as if it had a body and menaced your life.

Jesus comes to dwell in a Christian with the invitation to escape instantly the dire evil of human FEAR. You can and will learn to run into His arms and the fury of the human fear thought will calm as did the waves on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus commanded them.

“It is I, don’t be afraid!” You begin to see this “I” standing in the midst of the evil situation, and this very recognition dissolves the thought- image or mask which has been hiding it from your view.

Our purpose in this Christian life is to grow finally to the point which is so full of the acceptance of Christ that it can and does say, “Even if You slay me, yet I will say You are God” - and the last stand is taken. Even if You allow me to die - yet will I acknowledge this One and Only Power.

At first, in the Christian walk, this may seem a little confused, and you will find little there. You have “come out from among them.” You begin pushing out the “borders of your tent” farther and farther - daring to take more and more of the awareness of Christ in you, and accepting it as natural and real and true. This builds into a recognition of the presence of God, YOUR Father, YOUR Dad, here, there and everywhere. And if God, YOUR Father, YOUR Dad, is for you, “who can be against you?”

Separated from God in soul or spirit, you are naked and afraid, and you try to hide from Him (but can find no place where He is not). And this Christian recognition of Christ as here and now present within is enough to untie the knottiest human law that was ever conceived. All this by “a way you know not of,” and can never find out, because in every instance, it comes by way of a different manifestation. You will cease to speculate or wonder HOW this removal of the fear of evil can take place - that is no concern of yours. Suffice it to say that it will take place in one of those natural ways which are so mystifying to the human thought that it flees from the brightness of His coming.”

At long last you will arrive at: “I CAUSED MY OWN FEAR BECAUSE I
TEMPORARILY BELIEVED I WAS SOMETHING SEPARATE FROM GOD. I TEMPORARILY BELIEVED THAT I HAD A LIFE WHICH WAS DISCONNECTED, BUT WHICH COULD BE MOMENTARILY JOINED WITH HIM THROUGH AFFIRMATIONS OR PRAYERS.”

The complete identification of Christ as your life, living and thinking through you, and really, as you, is only temporarily obscured when you persist in looking at the waves and the snakes lapping and crawling at your feet, instead of seeing things and people through His eyes.

The truth is that the Christian is forever in union with Jesus Christ, in union with His Life within, and all that is necessary to remove human fear is to BRING THAT FACT BACK TO REMEMBRANCE.

There is a quick and sudden change of outlook when the Lord is recognized as being IN the terrifying situation that confronts you. If this be terrorism in your home town, He is there awaiting awareness. If this be an incurable disease, He is there awaiting awareness. True, He may apparently be covered over with an avalanche of human beliefs. But all this covering is nothing but so much mist to the brightness of His coming. And at this awareness “coming”, the mist is absorbed like water poured on hot desert sands.

“I am with you” ALL WAYS, as well as ALWAYS - you have this instant answer with you and really within you. It is constantly there, awaiting recognition. Nothing is too small, nothing too great to call out “Christ is with me because He is IN me!”

Finally, as you accept the awareness of the Power to remove fear, you will understand the Love divine that is a part of you - the Love of this Father God who is everything to you, His child. This is a Dad who is instantly available and ready to neutralize all your ills and FEARS. The deep love and sacred commitment in this divine Family lifts you above mortal FEAR.

This is the perfect “Love that casts out FEAR,” and is recognized as unconditional and automatic. It is this love, therefore, that you can bring to another in the throes of some terrible panic or fear. This love can cover him just as Christ covers you like the soft feathers of protecting wings.

The world today may seem harsh and dangerous. We see around us many evils of human design that can cause our minds to be fearful. BUT THAT FEAR IS NOT THE DESIGNED LIFESTYLE OF A CHILD OF GOD.

Yes, Roosevelt was right! What have you to fear after you know Jesus Christ?
He is with you now. He is IN you now. “I am with you always.”
And the laws of sin, sickness, death, evil and FEAR are no longer potent.