[Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Take hold of the plumbline immediately

[Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Fear hath torment

By Oke Chinye

Read: Joshua 1:1-9

Meditation verse: 

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;  for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).  

The story is told of a man who got trapped inside a freezer truck whilst cleaning  it, after he mistakenly shut the doors. His family began searching for him when  he did not return home that Friday night. It wasn’t until Monday that his lifeless  body was discovered inside the truck. However, the cooling system in the truck  was not on, so the man did not freeze to death and there was a window that  was wide open in the truck, so he did not suffocate either. The question therefore on everyone’s lips was how did he die?

The amygdala is a cluster of almond shaped cells located near the base of the  brain. They are two on each side of the brain. They help define and regulate  emotions. The amygdala which is part of the brain’s limbic system is responsible  for the fight and flight response. This is the emotional part of the brain. The front  lobes are part of the brain’s cerebral cortex which is the rational part of the brain  that regulates reasoning, thinking, decision making and planning. The front  lobes allow you to evaluate your emotions and uses your experience and  judgement to evaluate. When a threat is perceived, the amygdala may jump to  the fight or flight mode but the frontal lobes often override the amygdala so you  can process the situation rationally. However, in the event of extreme emotions of fear, panic or anger, the functions of the frontal lobes are compromised, the  amygdala takes over and disables the frontal lobes. The fight-flight response is  activated, and rational thinking and reasoned responses are disabled. This can  cause sudden, illogical, and even irrational reactions.

1 John 4:18 states that fear hath torment. Fear can kill a person several times  over before the real danger will kill because fear shuts out your ability to think your way out of the mess. Turns out that the man had expected that being  locked up in a cooling truck would kill him, so he died out of sheer panic, even  though he was not in any real danger. Little wonder ‘fear not’ is the most  repeated command in the bible. It occurs 365 times; one for each day of the  year.

 

IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

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