Becoming Fearless

Driving over bridges had never been one of my favorite things to do, but four years ago while taking a road trip vacation with my family to beautiful Prince Edward Island, Canada we had to drive over a very long bridge – 8 miles long to be exact (pictured above).

It felt like an eternity driving over that bridge as the devil kept feeding me lies. “What if you have a terrible accident and flip over the side of this bridge? What if there is an earthquake and the bridge collapses? What if your vehicle starts sinking, filling up with water, and you and your family can’t get out?”

I remember the further we drove the harder and faster I began to breathe. Then suddenly I said to Steve, “That’s it, I have had this fear of bridges for far too long. Will you pray with me about this right now?”

Why do we go on allowing ourselves to suffer with fears when God is so willing to take those fears from us? In many cases I think it’s simply because people are speeding through life at such a pace that they’re not really paying attention to the fears that control them.

On my grace journey, I’ve learned to pay attention to what’s going on inside me because I’ve come to understand that at any given moment I am either living by relying on myself and my own human efforts or I am relying on my good, good Father.

On this particular day, while driving over that bridge, I was depending on my own human efforts to keep my family and I safe.

Paying attention to what is going on inside us – in our mind and emotions – tells us who we are relying on.

I believe it’s God’s will for us to be free from fear, but in order to get there we have to first embrace that fearless is our new name in Christ Jesus and then recognize when we are reacting out of fear (as a result of temporarily forgetting our name). Once we do we can begin receiving God’s love in the areas we are experiencing fear in and watch His love drive out those fears!

Peter left us this great advice:

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 1 Peter 5:7 (AMP)

That day, four years ago, this is exactly what I did when I prayed right in the middle of that 8 mile long Confederation Bridge. I remember telling God things like, “I know You love us and You are protecting my family and will continue to protect us as we drive over every single bridge. Your Angels surround us and we will never flip over the side of any bridge, nor will a bridge collapse while we are driving over it. You have us right in the palm of Your hand!”

Well guess what? Praying and receiving God’s love made all the difference for me. God delivered me that day. Coming home from vacation my breathing was completely normal on our way back over that 8 mile long Confederation Bridge. The fear was gone and I have never experienced fear while driving over a bridge since that day! I am on my way to becoming fearless!

I told a friend of mine recently who had an unfortunate situation happen, then she chose to believe God in the midst the situation and saw a great testimony come out of it, “I just can’t get over how simple this grace life is. Even after six years of living it out it hit me the other day how it’s just about trusting in Jesus over and over and over and over and over again!”

Here’s another example: There’s a very sharp curve in the road before we turn onto the side road we live off of. A couple of months ago I was turning the corner and the person coming the other way crossed the line and came so close to slamming into me. This shook me up for about five seconds during which time the devil’s lies had already started:

What if next time that happens the person does slam into you? What if it happens with your whole family in the car?

I let him get about two sentences out and picked up my phone, called my husband, told him what almost happened and asked him to pray for me. After we hung up I began to thank God for protecting me and my family while driving around that curve. I even covered our girls in prayer for when they start driving.

“I thank You Father that You are always watching over us. Thank You so much for protecting me from that driver slamming into me today. I receive Your love right now and I believe You’re so great that you can keep anyone who would be driving too fast around that curve away from my family and I each time we are in that exact spot on the road.”

It’s kingdom living at it’s finest! Pray…Believe…and Receive!

You should hear me throughout the day. When the devil lies to me I say, “No, that’s not gonna happen,” or if I’m driving on the highway and a tailgater decides they are practically going to drive over the top of my car even though I’m driving the speed limit in the slow lane, I’ll say out loud “No weapon” referring to this scripture!

Isaiah 54:17  

But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord. (AMPC)

Many times I’ll quote the whole scripture, but sometimes I just remind the devil, “NO weapon” because remember, our war is not against flesh and blood (against people).

Ephesians 6:12 says, 

Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage. (TPT)

When a driver does this (acts like they are going to run over me if I don’t move out of the way) my opinion is, they are operating under a spirit of fear that is causing them to be controlling in that moment.

• Maybe they are fearful they are going to get to work late…again, and they are convinced that would mean they are a failure?
• Maybe they are on drugs or drunk and not in their right mind?
• Maybe they think they are more important than me?
• Maybe they think I’m a stupid driver?

Whatever the reason, I still believe it all stems from fear that is controlling them and that stems from guilt and condemnation from whatever they’ve gone through in life. I’m sure you’ve noticed that people go through some absolutely horrendous things. The devil is out to kill, steal from and destroy people.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:10 (NLT)

But Jesus is out to give people a rich and satisfying life!

It doesn’t bother me when a person acts like they’re going to run over the top of my car if I don’t move because the Holy Spirit has taught me to see each person as a person that Jesus died for instead of focusing on what they are doing to me in that moment.

This is one of those radical changes that God brought into my life once I decided to surrender to living under His grace as opposed to living by my own strength.

When we surrender to grace – to the life of Christ on the inside of us – we see people completely different because God’s grace transforms our heart.

As a result of God’s grace, I feel compassion for people now because I know they are living in bondage. I don’t fear the evil spirits that are controlling and working through others. They have no authority over me!

I love to pray for the freedom of those who are living deceived, even while they are practically running me over! This is what I call the miracle of grace. I don’t take any credit for it. It’s all because of Jesus!

If I could just get every person on this planet to understand the difference that living under God’s grace could make in their life. I want this freedom for people so bad!

And this doesn’t mean I never give into the devil’s lies. In fact, He’s been trying to beat my head off the past couple of weeks attempting to make me succumb to guilt and condemnation over several different situations.

I finally got victory over the first situation where I was struggling with how someone reacted over a simple conversation I needed to have with them and for a while I was giving into believing the devil’s lie that I needed to carry the responsibility of this other person’s response.

Then this week he’s been trying to take me down over a decision I made that may have been wrong regarding my kids. Not even sure if it was the wrong decision but the devil keeps whispering in my ear, “What if you would have done this differently? Then you wouldn’t have thrown Angel and Starr off the course of their destiny.” And I keep having to go back to Romans 8:28.

This week in particular has been a super busy week so I have not been as good at stopping his lies in their tracks as I normally am.

Do you know why satan wants to take me down? So I stop preaching the good news. Well guess what, he just lost because I’m preaching it right now, to you, to myself and to everyone around the world who will be reading this post!

For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. – 2 Timothy 1:7

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom