How To Get Over The Fear Of Man

Do you find yourself trying to please others at your own expense? Do you find yourself going against your morals or even telling white lies for fear of getting in trouble or to keep the peace? Maybe you have a hard time saying no to something even though you know your hands are full. If you said yes to any of this I have something that will help you get over the fear of man. You see sometimes because of culture and background you can have that ‘respect’ of someone that stems from fear. You might not even know that you do but let me ask you this.
Do you fidget around some people because you are tense? Maybe you tell white lies because you fear the consequences of your actions.
Or maybe you are unable to be yourself around some people Could it be that you have to filter your words and not speak your mind around some people because you don’t want to offend them? Or maybe you walk on eggshells around some people.
These are just examples of behaviors that you would exhibit when you are around people that you have an unhealthy fear of. What other examples would you give? Can you relate with these?
So maybe you know that you do have an unhealthy fear and want to change. How do you go about that? First off let’s see where this unhealthy root of fear stems from.

What is the fear of man?

Definition: 

Fear of man is defined as an epidemic of the soul that can be characterized by peer-pressure, worry, and codependency. It is the act of placing others before God in one’s life.

II. Biblical perspective

Fear of man is expressed biblically as a “snare” in Proverbs 29:25. In the book When People Are Big and God Is Small, Edward Welch best describes fear of man as, “Fear in the biblical sense…includes being afraid of someone, but it extends to holding someone in awe, being controlled or mastered by people, worshipping other people, putting your trust in people, or needing people.” This problem is severe and must be combatted with the truth of God’s Word. All throughout Scripture we are commanded to fear God and not man. Scripture is sufficient and superior than any other form of help and comfort. It is the only means by which biblical change comes about.

Root of unhealthy fear or the fear of man.

• Maybe you had a parent who would over react over small issues. This can cause the fear of man to develop.
• Or maybe someone who had authority over you had inappropriate interactions with you.
• It could be that you witnessed abuse physical, mental or emotional in your home which was supposed to be a safe haven.
• Or maybe it was in school, because you were bullied. This could also lead to a root of fear in your life.
• The other reason could be that you were severely punished over every single mistake you made and there was never grace extended to you.
• Were you expected to keep silent always and not express yourself? Or mabe you were never given any room to make mistakes.
• Could it be that you experienced church abuse where those in authority took advantage over you or simply tormented you emotionally.

These are just some of the examples that could lead to a root of fear developing in your life. Comment down below on some other ways that the root of fear can develop. As you can see this kind of fear is dangerous and needs to be removed from your life.

So what are some of the dangers of the fear of man?

• Leads you to have a broken relationship with the people around you because of lack of trust.
• You are unable to be yourself and therefore end up living in other people’s shadows
• You can never discover your purpose because you are not being authentic
• Distorts your relationship with God because you view Him on the lenses of those who were in authority over you. This will inhibit you from fully trusting God.
• Might get you in trouble because you will end up doing things just to fit and and therefore go against your beliefs.
• You will only find yourself associating with broken people because it feels familiar.
• Lowers your self-esteem and confidence.
• Silences your voice therefore you fail to give your opinions and views.
• You will talk yourself out of opportunities that were meant for you.
• Shame and disgrace overpower you because of the remembrance of the times you went against your morals.

What other dangers can you think of?

Now that you know this, how can you uproot the fear of man?

Acknowledge that you battle with it.

You know often times we imagine that ignoring something will make it go away. Unfortunately that’s not true. In fact ignoring something means that you have bottled it up and at some point it will burst. What do I mean by this? You will have outbursts that will not make sense because you failed to deal with issues as they came up. Have you ever found yourself overreacting over something that was small? Could it be its because you failed to deal with an issue?

The same case applies in this situation. If you fail to acknowledge that you have a fear of man you will find yourself over rationalizing a situation and this will affect your interaction with other people. Let me ask you this, could it be that the reason you find it difficult to relate with people is because you have trust issues that stem from the fear of man. Or maybe it’s because you think everyone will shout at you and treat you as those in authority over you did. Lack of acknowledging your struggle with fear of man will only lead you to cower down and live in fear at all times.

When Moses killed the Egyptian who was mistreating the Israelite, Pharaoh wanted to kill him and also the Israelites rejected him, so he ran away. He decided to live in the wilderness and he remained there until God called him. Moses was afraid of the people.

Elijah ran away to hide in a cave because he was afraid of Jezebel. Imagine after performing such an extraordinary miracle, Elijah ran away because he was afraid of what Jezebel would do. He forgot who he was and the power and authority he had because he had been threatened by Jezebel for doing the right thing.

Let me ask you this, have you had times where you failed to do what God required of you because of the fear of what people would say or their reactions? It is okay to admit that you struggle with this. After all, look at all these amazing men of God who fell into that trap. The amazing thing is that despite this shortcoming, God still used them mightily. God wants to use you the same way He used them and this will require you acknowledging your struggle. God knew Moses’ fear therefore as He was giving him his mandate, HE reassured Moses that the people who sought his life were dead.

Isn’t it cool to know that we serve a God who knows our struggles and will reassure us when we are scared? God sougy Elijah in that cave he was in and encouraged him to remain bold and regain his confidence and this happened once Elijah admitted to God that He was scared of Jezebel. Can you imagine the guts it must have taken Elijah to admit that he was afraid of Jezebel? This will apply to you too if you are willing to admit your struggle and acknowledge hat you have the fear of human beings.

Identify the root cause.

You need to identify where it all started. There is always a Genesis if everything. We even see it with the creation story. Where did the fear come from? It did not just come out of the blues. What trauma did you go through that led to this root being established in your life? Is it from your childhood? Maybe it was in your teenage years. Did it come from your home or school or church? What was the exact scenario that birthed this root of fear? Asking yourselves thses questions will help you discover where it all started and this will help you heal.

One way that wil help you identify the root is:

Prayer.

God tells us to ask Him and He will show us hidden things and mysteries too. If you are having a hard time identifying where the root came from how about you ask God. God is always ready to help, HE is waiting on you. You could make a simple prayer and tell God your struggles and then tell Him that you want Him to help you identify where the fear of man came from. He knows all things after all. Aslo He wants to see you healed and walking in freedom so He will gladly help you.

Do you know that God did not spare His Own Child? He sent Him down here to die for your sins and mine. Why then would He fail to show you what’s keeping you stuck in this cycle after paying such a costly price for yours and my freedom? Today I want you to know that God wants to see you experience the freedom THAT Jesus died for so take that initiative and ask Him. You could also ask the Holy Spirit. After all, He is your helper and He will not deny you the chance to be free.

Worship and meditation.

When we are in worship our focus is on God. And through this He is able to reveal the hidden things in our heart because we are attentive. God is always speaking but often times we miss Him because of the clutter in our minds that prevent us from hearing Him. Through worship however, God reveals to us all that is bothering us and gives us clarity to really focus on the things that are tormenting us.

Meditation on the other hand gives us the room to stay still and listen to ourselves which brings out all the issues that are bothering us. When you sit still, you will find the things that have stayed hidden inside you. Have ou ever noticed that it is when you are silent that all the shame, noise, guilt, mistakes etc flood your mind? That’s when you are able to analyze what you did right or wrong. The same case will happen when you stay still long enough, God will reveal the traumatic incident that birthed the root of fear and so you will know how to deal with it.

Therapy.

Sometimes you could try all these things and still not have them work. And if that’s the case, you could need external help. This is where counseling and therapy comes in. If you feel uncomfortable you could start by trying the online counseling services. Find a licensed therapist to help you unpack all the hidden traumas so that you can find the root of it all. One of the best online counseling services is better help, you could check it out.

Healing

Having identified the root cause now is time for the healing to start. One thing you need to realize is that this is something that has been ingrained in you for years so it’s going to take time. So you will need to practice patience through it all.

One of the ways you need to renew your mind is healing. For you to heal you need to forgive those that caused the trauma and recognize that they are human beings and so they will not be perfect. People who do such things are broken and that’s why it’s said that hrt people hurt people. It’s only people who have been hurt that will behave that way. So extend the same grace that was denied you. You don’t want to act like they did because what will be the difference between you and them? If you dot forgive you will become bitter and you will end up bleeding on those who did not hurt you. For you to have healthy relationships and friendships you will have to forgive and let go of all the grudges that have been holding you back.

Healing also means allowing yourself to be vulnerable and letting your guard down. Healing means that you are willing to try again, that you will not allow your past experiences to prevent you from living a fulfilled life. And this means tearing all the walls.

Renew your mind.

Renewing your mind is relearning the old patterns and creating new patterns.let go of how you used to do things, read books that will help you learn how to deal and interact with others.

Practical ways to help you renew your mind

• Find podcasts of people who overcame the same and find out how they did it.
• Read the Word of God,
• Journal.

Let’s expound on each.

Listen to Podcasts or watch YouTube videos

Have you ever noticed that your faith increases when you hear how others overcame your struggle? It makes it easy for you to see the possibility of freedom. It makes you realize that if one person can do it then you too can. So I want to encourage you to listen to other people’s testimonies and see if what they did will work for you too.

Hearing their stories will help you realize that you are not alone and this will also help you overcome it. You know one of the reasons that prevent people from experiencing freedom is through isolation and them thinking that they are the only ones facing the problem alone. This could not be further from the truth. What you are going through is not an isolated problem. There are others going through the same thing and others who’ve gone through it too and the fact that they overcame, means that you too will overcome. And this will help you change your thought Thus renewing your mondHow cool is that.

Read the Word of God.

The Bible is not just some story book. In it there are principles to help you combat any problem you are facing. There are scriptures that talk about your identity. God says that He has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind. This means that even when you don’t feel it, the fact is that you have it in you to heal.

Also renewing your mind comes from replacing the negative mindset with the positive one. And to eliminate the negative thought patterns which make you fear man, the Bible will help you do that. The more you read the Bible, the more the fear of man dissappears and in turn God fills you with the confidence and boldness that comes from knowing who you are in Christ.

Journal

Writing your emotions and thoughts down will help you become aware of where your at mentally and it will help you Release the thoughts you don’t want and show you ways to add the thoughts you want.

Know your identity.

You need to realize that you are worthy, your voice matters and it needs to be heard. Also you need to know that man is mere mortal here today and gone tomorrow and this means that there is nothing much they can do. This will help you realize that they are not invincible giving you the freedom to be your authentic self. Another way is to affirm yourself with positive decrees. You can say something like this.

I am worthy, I deserve to be heard and I matter.

Radiantly Resurging

Sometimes making these simple declarations do help. The mind can always be renewed through your repeated words. Saying it long enough even when it feels ridiculous can help alleviate the fear of man and get you to believe in yourself. Knowing who God says you are is another key that will help you know your identity and by knowing that you will have no fear of man because you will realize that you have the backing of God. To know your identity you need to look for scriptures in the Bible that talk about identity.

Set Healthy boundaries

Boundaries will help you overcome the fear of man because you will know your limits. Don’t allow people to belittle you or silence your voice. One way you can set the boundaries is by limiting the interaction between you and those who bring out that fear of man in you. Another thing is to speak up when you are uncomfortable and letting the other person know that the path they are treading is not good. If they are not receptive to your request them minimize the time you spend with them. It is important to cultivate a healthy and safe space that will help you thrive and help you become all you are meant to be.

Conclusion

It is important to establish healthy boundaries to help you overcome the fear of man. Also recognize that you can change and experience freedom from the fear of man. It is time for you to let go of the fear and embrace the boldness from God.