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WELCOME TO OVERCOMING FEAR!!!

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Fear is the enemy of the life live in GOD!



The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’ said Franklin D. Roosevelt at the beginning of his first inaugural address in 1933.

Roosevelt – widely believed to be the greatest US President of the twentieth century – was addressing a nation gripped by fear during the depths of the Great Depression. It was a dark hour: factories had fallen silent, farms lay fallow.


Unemployment was sky high. Families were sliding into destitution and debt. Fear was rife, and the nation was on its knees. Into this, FDR spoke words of hope, vision and faith.

Today, we find ourselves in the throes of another global recession. The threat of terrorism stalks our big cities.

Scientists tell us to expect more natural disasters due to global warming. Our violent, sexualised culture no longer feels like a safe place to raise children.

And we carry our own secret fears too – fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of not mattering, fear of losing a loved one, and fear of our own death. Fear is the enemy of the life lived in God. It paralyses us, imprisons our spirit and limits our potential. It stops us from doing what we should do, and makes us do things we shouldn’t.


But thankfully God has given us everything we need to fight back. His Word is full of ‘fear not’, ‘do not be afraid’ and ‘take courage’. Through the lives of Bible heroes and in the words and person of Jesus, He speaks directly to our worst fears and replaces them with faith.

So allow Him to speak hope, vision and faith to you today, and whatever challenges of fear you may be facing, be assured that they can be overcome. The Overcoming Series is designed to help people like you find God’s help in dealing with the challenges that face us all.

Contained in these little booklets are big truths from God’s Word, guidance on how to pray, and practical suggestions for change. Turn over to begin reading a selection of articles and testimonies written by people who understand what you’re going through and long to help you overcome. Then, starting on page 16, there are 28 readings from Bob Gass, author of The Word For Today, to help you practice new thought patterns and habits day by day for a month.

As the Bible says, ‘He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’ (1 John 4:4). With the help of our great God, you can overcome any challenge you face.

Bless you.

[ebankole]

Where do I start?


Jesus takes our fear seriously. Of 125 commands of Christ, 21 are related to fear and courage



In his book Fearless (2009), Max Lucado writes, ‘Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease.


Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business.

Courage did that. Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidities did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors.’

So why do we put up with it?



Fear is not sinful in itself.
It is like an internal warning system, alerting us to potential danger. Fear holds us back from the platform’s edge, keeps us from driving while tired, or walking home alone late at night. But fear can lead to sin.

When fear convinces us to put safety and keeping control first, it undermines our faith and trust in God. Our lives get smaller and smaller as we are hemmed in by worries and ‘what-ifs’. For this reason, Jesus takes our fear seriously.

Of the 125 commands of Christ in the four gospels, 21 are related to fear and courage, which makes it the one statement He made more than any other.

Perhaps you can quote some of them from memory… ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.’ Matthew 6:25



Following our fear is guaranteed to lead us away from God’s best for our lives


(NIV) Following our fear is guaranteed to lead us away from God’s best for our lives ‘The very hairs on your head are all numbered.
So don’t be afraid’ Matthew 10:31 (NLT)



‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ John 14:27 (NIV) The antidote to fear is faith. When we shine the light of Jesus into the places our fear lurks, the darkness cannot remain – it has to flee.

We can only banish wrong thinking with right thinking; the only way to evict lies is with truth.

Sometimes, we allow ourselves to learn the hard way, like Abraham. He is included in the role call of heroes in Hebrews 11 – one of those who ‘by faith’ took hold of God’s promises.

But look closely at his story in Genesis and you soon realise that this was a man whose actions were sometimes motivated by fear, and not faith. He jeopardises his own wife rather than put his life at risk before entering Egypt (12:10–13); he has a child by his servant, anxious that God won’t make good on His promise to give him an heir (16:1–4). Perhaps Abraham’s example is so prominent this early in the Bible because we so urgently need to heed his example.

Following our fear is guaranteed to lead us away from God’s best for our lives. So God gives us everything we need to f ight back – and it begins with trusting in His faithful character and perfect love.

Bless you.

[ebankole]

Step by step


Your guide to overcoming fear with God’s help Who else could do a better job of taking care of the things we most fear than Jesus?




When fear comes calling, the thing we long for most of all is PEACE. So here’s a step-bystep guide towards finding it.

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P… is for PRAY ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ 1 Peter 5:7 NIV


Prayer is not just the wisest thing to do first when fazed by fear, it’s by far the most effective, too. Who else could do a better job of taking care of the things we most fear than Jesus, who has authority above all others (Ephesians 1:21) and who holds all things together (Colossians 1:17)? TRY... When we pray we get immediate relief: As we turn to God and begin to cast our cares on Him one by one, He takes the weight off our shoulders and takes it on Himself. So instantly we can feel lighter, and happier. Just by praying.



TRY-Whatever you fear today, pray about it right now. Ask the Holy Spirit to put faith in the place of fear.



E… is for EXAMINE YOUR FEARS ‘Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!’ Luke 12:23-25 NLT



There is enormous power in naming the things that worry you the most and seeing them in black and white on a page. In his award-winning novel Life of Pi, author Yann Martel writes: ‘You must fight hard to express [fear]. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, TRY... if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself up to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.’ (Yann Martel, Life of Pi, Canongate Books, 2001)




TRY-Over a period of a week, take careful note of the things you worry about each day. Then ask: how many of them actually happened?


A… is for ACCEPT HELP ‘Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God’ 1 John 4:7 NIV


Fears can seem much worse when we are alone. God knows that we need constant reassurance about who He is and who we are, so that’s why He puts us in community with other believers – the church!



Jesus took his closest friends with Him to Gethsemane to pray before His arrest and trial – He knew that He needed support in those fearful final hours: ‘He took Peter, James and John along with him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled’ (Mark 14:33

Friends can minister the peace of Jesus in a way that nothing else can. They can be His arm around you at the crucial moment. All you need to do is open up and ask for help.

Share your fear with a small group of close friends and ask them to pray with you.C… is for COURAGE TRY... ‘The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion’ Proverbs 28:1 NIV

In the face of fear, courage often feels a long way off. But it never is. All it takes is a change in perspective. Today, Jesus says you are as ‘bold as a lion’ if you are in Him. I Brother Yun writes, ‘There are many timid Christians today, but the two words “timid” and “Christian” do not belong together… You may have been a timid and fearful person in the past, but God wants you to hand your fear to Him and become as bold as a lion.

You see, it doesn’t matter at all how people see you or what they say about you. It doesn’t even matter what you think about yourself. All that matters is how God sees you.


TRY E...

Bless you.

Happy sunday to you all in jesus--

Prophet E-bankole

[ebankole]

....E… is for EXPECT JESUS “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Matthew 14:27 NLT

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The disciples were caught in a storm on Galilee, fighting against the wind and the waves.



They thought Jesus was miles away – He’d sent them on ahead while He’d gone off somewhere else to pray.

So they didn’t think for a moment that He would come out to help them in their fear.

But He did, and He performed one of His most amazing miracles before their eyes – walking on water. TRY... We often think we need peace and quiet to find Jesus: meditating on a retreat maybe, or praying in a silent church.

But in fact, He’s close to us during our most trying times, too, saying ‘Don’t be afraid… I am here!’ When we expect Him to show up in the middle of our storm, our fears die down like the wind and waves.


Next time you’re faced with a personal storm, seek the face of Jesus in the middle of it. He will be there


Bless you all.
Pst E-bankole

[ebankole]

THE BIBLE TEACHES US that ‘Perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18).

Today I know that this is true, however a few years ago I was so full of fear that I wouldn’t leave the house, and even hid behind furniture when the front doorbell rang… Although I was a Christian and married to a good man with two lovely children, I carried the scars of a violent, abusive childhood, which ultimately led to a serious suicide attempt and psychiatric hospitalisation.

I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia, self-harming and suicidal tendencies, and prescribed many different types of medication and therapies.

The psychiatrist finally reached a point of being at a loss to know how to help.


He then agreed to release me (with a carer) to attend a Christian Healing Retreat at Ellel Grange. As the team prayed and God gently exposed the roots to my problems, I began to see that throughout my childhood fear had been both my enemy and my friend.


I had been tormented by it, yet at the same time I had clung to it because it kept me on red alert. Fear gave me a level of control.


There were difficult issues to work through over a series of visits to Ellel, including forgiveness, repentance and deliverance, but the hardest of all was receiving God’s love. I was afraid of love. So-called ‘love’ had violated, abused and abandoned me. I didn’t trust it, I fought it … yet at the same time, from somewhere deep inside, I hungered for it. Through the teaching I heard and the example of Ellel team, I slowly learned that God’s love wasn’t like my parents’ love.


It was the love of 1 Corinthians 13 – patient, kind, didn’t force itself on me, was unselfish and not irritable, rough or hostile. It believed in me, it was never going to give up on me … it was never going to abandon me.


Tentatively, I began to allow myself to receive this love – it was like soothing balm to my wounds. Still, the fears didn’t just fall away.


They were my friend and protection in childhood, and despite bombarding my mind with constant ‘What if’s ….’, causing debilitating migraines, robbing me of sleep and preventing me freely entering into life and relationships, they were still my friend and protection in adulthood.


When fear rose up, I was still submitting to it – hiding and withdrawing, instead of remaining in God’s love and trusting in all His promises of protection.


I realised I had a choice: continue to give place to fear (and the powers of darkness - 1 Peter 5:8) or press into God, daring to put my trust in Him. I’m so grateful that by His Spirit, He enabled me to tentatively begin to push against the barriers of my fears.


As I faced the truth and dared to initiate phone calls, go back to church after years of being away, venture to the shops, my roots began to sink deeper into the soil of God’s love, the fears gradually fell away and my confidence grew.


Today, I really am free – not just to go outside, but to enter into all the fullness of life! Shopping, outings and family holidays are no longer a problem, but a joy.


And I can truly say that it is the power of God’s love that has worked this miracle, triumphing over the hatred and evil that put me in that prison of fear.


Perfect love, our wonderful heavenly Father’s love, really does cast out fear! It’s amazingly unconditional, but we have to choose to receive it, depend on it and really live in it

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DARKNESS, WHATEVER ITS CAUSE, CAN BRING IRRATIONAL FEAR

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Dear struggling child of God, be still and know that He is God. Be still, be confident, and be assured that all is under His control. He has not forgotten you.

Know this: nothing has gone wrong with His good plans for you. It’s when we do not hear His voice that our minds overflow with fears. It’s then when we tend to lose our confidence in God. Beloved, every believer goes through this.

Take John the Baptist, the one who had declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. John preached in the power of the Holy Spirit but he doubted when he was in the darkness of a dungeon. In his despair he sent messengers to Jesus asking, ‘Are you the one who should come or should we look for another?’ Darkness, whatever its cause, can bring irrational fear upon even the strongest.

The enemy sends his tormentors in darkness, for that’s his style. Now look at how Jesus dealt with John’s enquiry; how He in love sent a message of hope that would cause John to overcome his fears.

He said, ‘Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor’ (Luke 7:22). This same Lord is the one who says, ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).

He is saying the same to you. He wants to remind you that He healed all who came to Him – of whatever disease or sickness they had. Just as these words calmed John the Baptist’s greatest fears, so let them quieten your heart.

Be still and know that this sickness is not unto death; rather it is unto a life that will be far more fulfilling for you. With all that’s within me I know that God heals and sets His children free; it was for this reason Christ died to save us.

Be like the birds, beloved, start singing God’s praises this side of the new dawn that awaits you. ‘God did not give you a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV).

God has given you the power, through love, to life in perfect soundness of mind.


Bless you.

[ebankole]

Go ahead-Jump!


DAY 1.
".....Though the righteous fall seven times,they rise again...."
Proverbs 24 :16

Proverbs 24:16 NIV ONE DAY a young man sat on a park bench watching a squirrel in a tree. It was aiming for a branch so high above that it looked like a leap of suicide.


Suddenly it jumped, missed and landed on a branch several feet lower down. Immediately, it steadied itself and got ready to jump again.


An old man sitting on the same bench said to him, ‘Funny, I’ve seen hundreds of ‘em jump like that, even with dogs barking at them from the ground. And a lot of them miss.


But I’ve never seen one get hurt trying.’ Then he added, ‘I guess they must think it’s better to take a risk than spend your whole life where you don’t want to be.’ What are you aiming for? Does it seem out of your reach? Do you have less nerve than a squirrel?



Go ahead, use your faith, take the leap; God will catch you if you fall! Otherwise, where you are today is as far as you’re ever going to get. Look at Moses: an interrupted childhood, a foster family, a violent temper, a stammering tongue and a criminal record.


What a résumé! He could have given up before he even started! Yet God used him to lead the greatest migration of people in the history of the world.


Peter sinks trying to walk on water and denies his Lord yet he becomes head of the New Testament church.

Failing does not make you a failure – quitting does. Get up and try again. Next time, with God’s help, you’ll make it!

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Prayer Points :


Lord, help me to overcome my fear of failure, bring me to a place where my life is in line with Your will and give me the confidence to step out in faith when I need to.

When I worry about the future, help me to be bold and trust in Your promises for my life. Let the words of my mouth be uplifting and focussed on a bright future, in Jesus’ name

Bless you.

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Day 2 Are you worried??

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’ Philippians 4:6 NAS



HAVE YOU SEEN the poster that reads, ‘Who says worry doesn’t work? Most of the things I worry about never happen!’ If you want to test your memory, try remembering what you worried about last year – or even last week! Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble.


But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33 NIV). We’re not hurt so much by what happens to us as by our perception of it. David writes, ‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee…’ (Psalm 55:22). Those who live worry-free are those who keep casting their

burdens upon the Lord until the enemy decides there’s no point giving them that burden anymore. Trust is an attitude.


Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought and habits can be acquired. HAVE YOU SEEN the poster that reads, ‘Who says worry doesn’t work?

Most of the things I worry about never happen!’ If you want to test your memory, try remembering what you worried about last year – or even last week! Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble.


But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33 NIV). We’re not hurt so much by what happens to us as by our perception of it. David writes, ‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee…’ (Psalm 55:22).


Those who live worry-free are those who keep casting their If you want to change your attitude from worry to trust, do these six things: a) pray the right prayers; b) hang out with the right people; c) read the right books; d) speak the right words; e) listen to the right messages; f) do the right things. Is a worryfree life really possible?

Yes! Listen: ‘It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life’ (Philippians 4:7 TM

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Season Greetings!!

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3 DAY DR Mayo on worry..
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything…’ Philippians 4:6 AMP




WORRY IS LIKE A ROCKING CHAIR; it uses up all your energy but where does it get you? Leo Buscaglia writes, ‘Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.’ He’s right! Dr Charles Mayo of the famous Mayo Clinic says, ‘There’s a growing mountain of evidence to suggest that worry is the chief contributor to depression, nervous breakdowns, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and early death.

Stress kills. I’ve never known a man to die from hard work, but I’ve known a lot who died from worry.’ Mathematically speaking, it doesn’t make sense to worry.


Psychologists tell us that roughly 30 per cent of what we worry about never happens; another 30 per cent has already happened; 12 per cent is about unfounded health concerns, and an additional 20 per cent involves worrying about the little things.’ That leaves only eight per cent.


Think about that! We worry 92 per cent of the time for no good reason at all, and if Dr Mayo is right, it’s killing us. What’s the answer? Listen: ‘Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.


And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise.


Think about the things that are true and honourable and right and pure and beautiful and respected … And the God who gives peace will be with you’ (Philippians 4:69 NCV). That’s God’s answer to worry!




Prayer Point :

Father, I so crave peace in my life, when so much is in turmoil. Help me to meditate on Your Word today and create an oasis of peace within me.

I pray that Your Holy Spirit would come and dwell in my life and slowly build up my ability to handle the pressure I feel under. You are Lord over every circumstance; I submit my life to You today. Amen


Merry Christmas.

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DAY 4
Go Ahead,Risk It!

DAY 4 Go ahead, risk it! ‘With Him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing’ Psalm 27:1 TM




RAY BLANKENSHIP looked out his window one morning to see a little girl being swept along in a rainflooded drainage ditch beside his home.


He knew that further downstream the ditch disappeared underneath the road and emptied into the main culvert.


Nobody could survive that! He raced along the side of the ditch trying to get ahead of the child. Finally, he hurled himself into the water.


When he surfaced he was able to grab her. The two tumbled head-over-heels, and then, within three feet of the culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protruding from the bank – a tree limb! He clung to it desperately while the force of the water kept trying to tear him and the child away.


Amazingly by the time the fire department arrived, Ray had pulled her to safety.

As both were being treated for shock it was discovered just how much of a hero Ray was: Ray Blankenship couldn’t swim! Today, let your courage respond to the needs you see, not the fear you feel. Go ahead, take that risk.


Reach out and meet that need. Walk through that door of opportunity. Step over your fear.

God is just waiting for you to do what you can, then He’ll do for you what you can’t.
But nothing happen until you make that first move!

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Happy new year in advance!

Bless you.