How to Take Risks and Abandon Your Fears

I have a little secret. Hmmm… should I tell you? What will you think of me?
You may know me as a recording artist, speaker, world traveler and songwriter. I appear on television. People think that people like me walk on water. Some think that we’re different than other people because we are in”full time ministry.” We walk through airports and some people even know our names. We must have connections and courage that most people just don’t have.
Of course, that’s all pretty ridiculous and couldn’t be further from the truth!
You see my little secret is that years ago, even while singing around the world, I lived so much of my life in fear.
Afraid of what people thought of me. How can they not like my chubby little face? LOL!
Afraid of failure? Hey, nobody wants to be a loser.
I was even afraid of success. You see I didn’t want anybody to think that I thought I was better than they are.
So for many years, I had some success, but never lived up to my God given potential. I used to pray, “God, if you will please just take away all my fears, I can do great things for you. If you take away my fears I can accomplish all the dreams that are hidden in my heart.”
But God never removed the fear.
You know why? Because God does not remove your fears. However… He will give you the words, courage and boldness to walk through your fears! You can overcome your fears.
Paul said, “Praying always with all prayer …. for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, —Ephesians 6:18-19
If the Apostle Paul prayed for boldness and the right words to say, how much more do we?
I no longer fear people’s opinions. Sure I want to be liked, but it will never, ever hinder me from God’s plan for me. Failure? It happens. But if I fail, and we all do, I’ll just get back up, seek God’s way and keep moving ahead. Success? It’s a good thing. Put wealth and influence in the hands of the righteous and they’ll build God’s Kingdom.
So here are just a few ways to learn How to Take Risks and Abandon Your Fears. God will always do His part. Here is how we do our part.
It’s quite comfortable to sit back and keep the status quo. After all, if you don’t rock the boat, you can’t fall into the sea. But without risk, there are few rewards.
Abandon Your Fears
You already know that taking risks is risky. To build up the courage, you need to master your fears. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. If you’ve spent the better part of your life with fear, it could be deeply engrained in your subconscious, but it’s not impossible to change. All you need now is the willingness to overcome your fears. If you really want to abandon your fears, there’s nothing that can stop you!
Here are some tips to keep fear at bay:
1. Recognize Your Fears. Recognize your fears for what they really are. You’ll soon discover how your fears are limiting you by your reactions to them.
• Let’s say you’re afraid of driving, if you’re ever in the driver’s seat your response might be a quick “Oh no! Get me out of here!” If you continue this pattern of thinking you’ll always be afraid. Accept that the fear is real, but challenge yourself to approach the situation with courage and inner strength.
2. Overcome Your Fears. Many times we’re afraid of something because it remains in the unknown. We might label something as risky because we don’t yet know or understand what’s going on.
• An example would be avoiding college because you’re afraid of meeting new people, the workload, and so on. To overcome this fear, you can get familiar with the college, the courses, and the people so you can feel more comfortable and confident. Doing so will ease the fear of the unknown and give you a sense of relief.
3. Change Your Thinking. If you can alter the way you think about a certain situation, you’ll then act differently. Your fears may overwhelm your thoughts at times, but your job is to put a stop to this.
• For example, if you think you’ll never be able to achieve your goals, you won’t. But if you believe in yourself, you’re far more likely to succeed!
How to Take Risks
Once you overcome your fears mentally, it’s time to take risks. Whether you realize it or not, you take risks everyday. Most risks are quite minor, but risk accompanies nearly every decision you make.
Follow these pointers to help you get into a risk taking mindset:
• A “risk” may sound negative; instead, think of it as more of an “adventure” or “journey.”
• Visualize a positive outcome.
• Consider the reasons why you’re hesitant to take a risk.
• When you have a set plan in place, taking a risk is a whole lot less threatening.
• When you’ve taken the leap, evaluate your experience so you can improve in the future.
• Self-confidence is the most important ingredient to success.
Putting it all Together
If you’re feeling tentative about the whole thing, get your feet wet with small steps. You can’t expect yourself to change drastically overnight, but at the same time you have to believe in yourself and believe that change is possible.
Overcoming fears and taking risks go hand in hand. Start small and dream big. You only have one journey on this earth, so you might as well make the most of it!

by Alvin Slaughter and resource team on September 22, 2009

WHAT FIRES YOUR ENTHUSIASM?

Everyone’s life; is driven by something.
What drives you is whatever you allow to guide and control your life.

There are several things that people allow to drive there life where are:

Guilt: They dwell on all the sins they have committed. Both the ones they committed consciously and the ones they were compelled to. In fact, they dwell more on the one they were compelled to and there after finds it very difficult to forgive themselves and others.

Anger and Unforgiveness: Many people dwell on anger and unforgiveness, I agree with you, that you have been hurt and in fact people will continue to do so as long as you are still on this planet. But it begins to drive your life when you continually dwell in it, you allow yourself to be distracted and you gradually with your own hands, remove yourself from all that God have prepared for you.
Many people use words like

I can’t let go of this hurt,
I can’t forgive this fellow.
The truth is that the more you keep those hurt in your heart the more you are pulling yourself out from what God has plan for you.

You have to realize that your past is past and there is nothing you can do about it and I am so glad that you still have the opportunity to change your tomorrow no matter how your yesterday and today has been.

PEOPLE’S APPOVAL: These set of people seek the approval from parents, spouse, teachers, friends, siblings and children if possible. They won’t take a step on their own; they expect people to tell them how to live their life.
You have to look and think beyond getting people’s approval, because God created you for a purpose and you have to fulfil it. The truth is that on the day of Judgment, God will ask you what you did with what He gave you and how you lived your life and I believe you won’t tell God that your brother or sister stopped you.

Dreams and Eternity: some people are driven by their dreams, they have in their heart they have planned how they want their life to be, or they think of is how they can make do it better, they think of the next step to take, to enable them come out with excellent result.
Some are driven by eternity, they watch what they say, do, wear, stay, go and how to live their daily life knowing that life here in earth is temporary.

BENEFITS:
When your life is driven by focus, it will give your daily life a meaning because you will wake up with so much joy in your heart knowing that you are going somewhere.

It won’t allow others to come in and dictate how to live your life. you won’t have to wait for someone to tell you move before you take a step.

It will motivate you; it will help you push forward; it will encourage you even when it seem as if your dreams are turning to nightmares, it will help you stay on the way and keep your hope in God when everyone around you have turned their back on you it will help you do more than your best and it will give you the boldness to declare to yourself that anywhere above the sky is your limit.