Your belief system is the driving force behind your behaviors and your results. If you can change your beliefs, you will change your behaviors. When you change your behaviors, you will change your results. Then, when you change your results, you will change your life.

It all starts with your belief system. Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23).

Many things can keep one from believing. But, I think the biggest factor that keeps one from believing is fear and doubt.

Fear and doubt is a common problem from which none of us is immune. They are acquired diseases because we weren't born with them. They are very contagious and are passed around from one person to another. They impair your normal functioning and keep you from making positive and long lasting changes in your life. If you're not careful, fear and doubt will cause you to make weak and irrational decisions that sell out your future for the sake of today. They will steal your peace, your joy, and your very life.

Fear is probably the dominant problem in one's life. 90 percent of the chronic patients who see today's physicians have one common symptom - fear.

Many different fears are common to us all to some degree, such as a fear of failure, fear of success, fear of losing one's job, fear of poverty, fear of criticism, fear of illness, fear of rejection, fear of growing old, fear of being separated from loved ones, fear of death, and probably one of the most common fears of all - fear of inadequacy.

Then there are innumerable phobias such as a fear of the dark, fear of high places, fear of closed-in places, fear of insects, and so on.

But, fear is a part of life and a God-given emotion. We rightly fear many things that we should fear. In it's right place, fear is a strong motivator and protecter.

Fear becomes a problem when it is irrational, such as fears that are imagined. 90 percent of the things we imagine through fear never happen. Much of the remaining 10 percent we often make happen ourselves. Like the person who has a fear of failure; he may get himself so anxious about failing, he will actually, somehow, make himself fail.

So, how do we overcome our fears?

~ The first step for resolving any problem is to admit you have the problem. Whatever fear you're experiencing, admit it. It's ok to feel fear but it's not ok to let your fear control you. For those who will admit they have a disease called fear, they are more likely to break through it's control over them.

~ Determine if your fears are imaginary. If so, acknowledge it and refuse to continue to dwell on those fearful thoughts. What the mind dwells on, it magnifies and attracts. It will eventually begin to actually believe that your fearful imaginations are real and act upon them.

~ If your fear is real, accept it and take whatever steps you can to change the circumstances that cause your fear. Keep in mind that courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the ability to press on dispite the presence of fear. Many times, the solution to any fear is simply - do the thing you fear. It's amazing how action conquers fear! Try it.

~ If you are fearing a person, or the 'unknown,' the best thing to do is simply trust God. There is no greater way to overcome these kinds of fears. The Bible says, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe" (Proverbs 29:25). Trust your circumstances to God every day. 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast your care on Him for He cares for you."

Remember, your belief system is the driving force behind your behaviors and your results. If your beliefs are fear driven, they will impair your normal functioning and keep you from making positive and long lasting changes in your life.

If you conquer your fears and doubts, you will conquer failure.

Copyright 2005 Daniel N Brown