Fear is a Thief

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In this episode, Cydni and Sher discuss the battle between fear and faith, exploring how fear can paralyze us and keep us from living our fullest lives. Join them as they encourage listeners to trust in God's promises and break free from the cages that hold us back.

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We challenge you to face your fears, see how they’re holding you back, and give them to God—trusting that as you take a step into the unknown, He’ll be with you and give you strength, love, and a clear mind.

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Episode 107 - Fear is a Thief

Cydni: [00:00:00] And so one thing I have learned as I've studied is that really there is such a resistance. it's like an arrow that gets pulled back. That one you're like, I'm gonna let go and I'm gonna do this. It slingshots you forward a slingshot in an arrow that goes together, right. Yes. Once you pull back the arrow, the gunshot is released and you will stab the fear with that blade. 

Sher: Cydni. So the last few weeks we've been talking about gifts that God has given us so today we are going to talk about using those gifts to overcome fear and remember, we're going on a deep dive researching happiness this year, and we've learned that fear and happiness really don't go together very well.

And here's where things get a little too true. This whole entire, no, I demand lying. Lie to us. Sher. Okay, let's keep it steady. Then this next sentence I'm gonna say is a lie. This episode . As we researched it was definitely for the two of [00:01:00] us.

Cydni: Yeah, this was easy. Starting a podcast with someone we didn't know was so easy. We weren't fearful. I didn't try to stop us 18 times. Sher, I don't know if you remember, but you said, we are releasing our first episode in May and I. Had a panic attack. I was like, we're not ready. And I tried so many ways 'cause we didn't know each other that well yet.

And so I was like, how do I manipulate the situation? And I didn't know at that time, you can't manipulate Sher. And , I didn't know. And I tried and I was panicking behind texting. I was like, she's gonna release it. We're not ready. And here we are doing it, but still not ready. 

Sher: And we're not really telling anyone about it.

Cydni: My children, they know. They tell some people sometimes, and then I tell 'em to zip it my mom has a potch. A pot problem. I have a pot problem. I'd rather people think I have a pot problem than a 

Sher: podcast. Sad but true. I think we're both in the same boat. needless to say, this episode is like a big punch in the throat to me and Cydni. When we prepared, 

Cydni: we [00:02:00] said we would be prayerful with what do we need to learn so that we can move forward in faith? Because currently we are staying steady in fear. I'm sure you've heard when people talk about fear. They break it down to fear means face everything and rise, which is really motivating. But I also found some people say, forget everything and run. Forget everything and run away. And then I thought, well, I could write some, so I have F everything and rest.

Feed everyone at restaurant. That way we don't have to cook at night. 'cause that's fearful to me is cooking and fearful to our neighbors and family and then the last one I thought would be a great one was Flat Earthers are right. I feel like that takes some of the seriousness out of fear. I like 

Sher: it a 

Cydni: lot. And so Our intention today is to motivate. Ourselves and those who are listening to overcome fears and start living a fuller life. And recently, one thing I was trying to do, because I [00:03:00] have just been struggling probably 'cause it's cold and I just wanna eat soup and carbs, but I wanna be healthy and I know I haven't been healthy and I know my workouts haven't been like effective because I just stand and stare.

At the wall, at the gym. it's not going well. But I've learned something, I had not only no motivation. But I had this deep resistance to making a change, and I knew I probably should start logging food and seeing where I'm at, but I have not wanted to. For about two months I've thought about I should know what I'm eating and change because I'm not feeling great. And so I finally faced it and I used ai.

Put together a plan of what I should be eating to fill my best and how much protein to be eating. And then I logged what I was eating for a day and it was so bad and so off, but I've been afraid to face this. But I did it. And when I did that, then I thought maybe I should join like a bootcamp or something.

'cause , I don't have any motivation. So then I did that and then. I have found that fear [00:04:00] has really caused me to make zero movement. I've been just frozen with fear and once I made a decision, to do something a little bit different. I now have a momentum I didn't have before where it started with just asking AI a little question and then looking at the reality and then joining a bootcamp.

And now I've actually followed a meal plan for like 24 hours. Good. You're ahead of me. first, Before we got into the seriousness of this cause it's very, very serious and we are very serious. could you guess the top, let's say five phobias according to the first article on Google? 

Sher: Okay. The fear of public speaking heights, spiders, snakes fifth one, teaching middle school.

Cydni: Teaching middle schools first. All right. I'll give you the top 10. But to be fair, there's other articles that listed them in a different order, but we're not going off of those. 

Sher: Did you choose the one to make me look as bad as possible? Have choices? I have several options, 

Cydni: and I went with the one that you didn't list any. Right? Okay. Number one, [00:05:00] spiders. Ooh, Heights. Social phobia, claustrophobia, open spaces. Flying, which couple years ago wouldn't have thought too much about being afraid of flying. But lately with what's going on in the world, I'm like, I'm kind of afraid to fly too. Just stay on the ground. You got 

Sher: me with the social one? Yeah, that's me. talk to someone. Heck no. 

Cydni: I'm talk to this mic. Thunder and lightning. Public speaking dogs, snakes. You got several of them? Yes. Way to go. but now you have to guess. What do you think aqua phobia is? 

Sher: The fear of water. 

Cydni: Ding, ding, ding. Dental phobia. 

Sher: Afraid of the 

Cydni: dentist.

Ding, ding, ding. Oh man. Mono phobia. 

Sher: Afraid of. Being alone. 

Cydni: You got it. All right. And I am just gonna pretend I know how to say these, okay? Mm-hmm. Um, Phobia, afraid of elephants, belly buttons, photophobia. Afraid of pedophiles? Nope. Just feet. SC phobia. I said that one wrong. Don't quote me. Anybody afraid of school?

Yeah. [00:06:00] Did you know that one? No. All right. And then bath mo phobia. Afraid of bath, you would think. But it's stares. Really? Yeah. And then I just wanted to say there was one that was afraid of food and I was just thinking how unafraid of food I am. Yeah, me too. But at least I log that food now.

Good job. Thanks. But one thing that we talked about is that just like Satan, fear has been called so many things and described in so many ways. And we've been watching the new David and Goliath series and the first episode, I love so much what David,. He says, taught by his mother, fear is the enemy fear is the thief. I wrote that down and I've really been pondering on it. And I don't know if fear could be described better than an enemy because it is both of those things to our goals, our dreams, our potential, our identity. It's a thief and an enemy to us. I also heard people describe fear as selfish. Fear is paralyzing and fear stops. 

Sher: This is like [00:07:00] a slasher podcast to me. I'm just getting slashed over and over again. 

Cydni: Yeah, but this is Satan's tool because if you wanted to prevent someone from doing something wonderful and great, what a perfect way. But to put doubt and fear. If it's going to paralyze and freeze and stop somebody, 

Sher: I wanna come back to the idea that fear is like a thief. But before we do that, I thought maybe we should define what fear is. I have a few quotes. The first one is from President Hinkley. He taught us that fear comes not from God, but from the adversary. Faith is the very antithesis of fear.

Alright, so we're starting to get an idea that in order to get rid of and dispel fear, we need to have faith. And then President Thomas s Monson said, faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time. For one will dispel the other. So again, president Monson is saying that if we have faith that will help us get rid of our doubt and our fear. so as I was studying this this is what [00:08:00] President Uchtdorf, Elder Bednar, President Hinkley, President Monson and President Nielsen have all taught us that faith is the antidote.

Fear. Fear is a tool that Satan uses and they cannot exist at the same time. It was repeated over and over by all of them, plus more. These are just like the top hits I got. Right? And then I found numerous quotes from. Many faith leaders from a whole bunch of different faiths that explained fear is part of life.

And I'm gonna use Elder Bednar quote, how he explained it. He said, fear is a normal part of our mortal experience. However, acting in faith is the antidote to fear. So all of us are gonna experience. Fear and doubt, but the more we have faith in Christ, the less we will fear this sounds so easy, but really, I'm so bad at it. This is not my strong suit, but what I learned from all of this is that if I want to have less fear than I need more faith, that's basically sums it up right there. Am I [00:09:00] gonna have fear in my life? Yes. Is everyone gonna experience fear in some way or another? Absolutely. But the more we have faith, the less I will have that in my life. 

Cydni: I love that thought and , I like the idea that faith can help get rid of fear, but that fear and faith are together. It's just one of 'em is in control and whichever one we're going to feed, isn't there like a tail like that?

Like there are two wolves that live inside you and one is fear and one is faith, or something like that. Mm-hmm. Then you're supposed to starve one and feed the other so that the wolf doesn't overtake you. The one that's not supposed to. 

Sher: Yes. I feel like I know what you're talking about, so feed the right wolf, everyone.

Cydni: Exactly. We are like incredibly motivating. We have the spirit of exhortation with us. I've been working on it. I've been practicing a lot with Rock. He loves it every day, motivating him. I'm like, feed the right wolf Rock. Don't feed the wrong wolf. He's like, what?

Lemme go to bed. He's like, lemme play Minecraft. . I do deal with a lot of fear. I've realized sadly, that I live a lot of my [00:10:00] life and fear. Doubt. one thing I've tried to do is change my prayers a little bit because it feels like the fear is always gonna be with me. But what if we shrink that fear so it's less controlling, starve that wolf I learned something thanks to ai. I asked how many times fear not is in the Bible, would you believe the number is 365? 

And then I made sure I asked him next how many days or in a year, just to be sure. And so I thought, how interesting a term like fear not or be not afraid, in the Bible, 365 times one for every day. Because every day we are going to face these feelings because like you've said, it's part of our mortal life. It's going to be there. I've heard someone say fear is real, but the story it tells is not. So what story is fear telling you? Is it telling you that you're too old to do something, that you're too young to do something that you're not smart enough to do something that you don't have any friends? I don't know. That's [00:11:00] just what it says to me. I think it's really important to understand fear and acknowledge that it's part of our life, but it's very important to shrink that fear and to understand that in the Bible for every day of the year, there is God telling us fear not.

And there is a difference between saying, Hey, don't be afraid of that, and a command of fear not there is a difference. And in Isaiah 41, 10. We read Fear Thou not for I am with thee, be not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will strengthen thee. Yay. I will help thee. Yay. I will uphold thee. With the right hand of my righteousness, . For all the many names that fear is. It is a thief of our freedom. Fear wants to cage us like a scared little dog so that we live quietly without causing a mess, without showing who we really are.

 And We do that for different reasons. And one thing I did think about is it does say fear God. So. As Christians, I feel like we have to juggle this and understand that [00:12:00] yes, we're supposed to fear God, but that doesn't mean live scared in a kennel. It means to respect and reverence God.

The other fear, the one that comes from Satan is caging you. It's stealing from you. It's stealing who you are and what you're capable of becoming, and the joy and the power that you're promised from God.

Sher: I kind of got stuck on this idea of fear is like a cage if we wanna be free and we wanna be happy, I have to be able to get rid of that fear out of my life. in Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Okay? That's what I want. I want power and control of my own life, and I want love in my life and I want a sound mind in my life. But in order to do that, I need to get rid of that fear. And have faith in Christ as much as possible. 

Cydni: I just feel like he used sound mind pretty freely, really loosely, because I don't know how sound my mind is 

Sher: sound mind is [00:13:00] relative. Yes. Very sound mind for you and for me is a different sound mind for someone who is actually intelligent and smart. Big difference. All right. As I read this. Numerous times. I thought, do I want to be caged with fear because that comes from Satan? Or do I wanna be free and have power and love it's my choice is what it all comes down to. And all of this. I'm gonna go on a chant. Are you ready here, Cydni? It's been a 

Cydni: while. But here we need a chant noise. It's a chant. That's it. It's a, that's it right there. It's a, it's, it's. Perfect. Don't ever play that 

Sher: again. You nailed it. I'm gonna go on a she rant and a history rant coming in hot. John Adams said Fear is the foundation of most governments. And this made me think about in history that it's true that kings and dictators and evil leaders, that they oppress people and they get control by using the tool that Satan uses, which is fear.

once they have that control of the people, then they cage them in, they cage their [00:14:00] citizens in and then they can't get out. So I was thinking about the American Revolution and it it was based on individual rights and also natural rights that were given to us by God and once we got our freedom.

France, of course, helped us in the American Revolution, and France wanted to have a revolution also. But they did something that was a lot different. They didn't base it on individual rights. They didn't base it on the gifts that God has given us. Instead, they threw God out and they began the reign of terror the Reign of Terror was led by Robes Pierre, and he killed tens of thousands of people. Most of them were executed by the guillotine. Including King Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette, he also started the Committee of Public Safety. He arrested and executed thousands based on accusations of being enemies of the revolution. how he found these people is he had friends and even family members turn on each other out of fear.

They didn't wanna be the ones caught, so they're gonna turn in their neighbor instead. So, who was [00:15:00] this group of people that they needed to fear? Well, in this situation, it was the rich people. they had the lower class people turning against the wealthy people. So they were executed just because of their wealth. this is how bad it got. he even took leaders that were his friends, robes Pierre did, and he had them executed because they were too moderate.

And then he justified these mass executions by saying this, this is from robes Pierre. Terror is nothing other than justice prompt, severe and flexible. This is the cage that he was creating for the country. And again, using fear and having somebody to be afraid of, which was the wealthy the government then, seized land not only from rich people, but they also took it from the churches.

Then they redistributed it and set price controls and it caused shortages and famine. Then they rewrote history. They renamed streets, they changed calendars and replaced Christianity with something called the cult of reason.

Now, this government is not gonna last [00:16:00] very long. They were kicked out by Napoleon, which you can argue maybe was better or worse, but The point is. since that time, every single dictatorship that has come to power, this is the tactic they used, including Adolf Hitler, everyone had a bad guy that they were going after and you have to go get him. Or else they're gonna do something to you. And this is the tactic that evil people have used over and over again to gain power. So that's historically how it works. But here's where the chant is really coming in.

 How do we use these same tactics in our own life? who is the group or the person that we fear in our life? Probably in my case, it's the lack of confidence in myself. am I my worst enemy? do we talk bad about ourselves and say we can't and give all of these reasons why we can't do something.

We're too old. I don't wanna list them all. There's too many to count. are we fighting and creating a revolution in ourselves? are you changing your own history? am I making my life look or feel [00:17:00] worse? I'm rewriting my own history in real time. And as I pondered all of this, I thought again of the scripture, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.

So when we're in our own little revolution to ourselves, we are pushing out power and love and the sound mind that God gave us, and other words, we're taking the gifts that God has given us and We're choosing not to accept them. And instead we're accepting Satan's big fat lies that he tells to us over and over again, and we're choosing to believe them.

And Satan wants us in our own self-imposed cage. And that's what we're doing to ourselves when we allow fear to take over instead of faith. so that entire rant in this entire episode. Was for me to get off my butt and stop being afraid and having more faith in Christ. But it's not just for you 

Cydni: chant. That is for all of us. And my takeaway is going to be that you really cannot win when you're [00:18:00] playing with fear and when you're allowing Satan to be. The loudest voice in your ear. They were too rich, they were too moderate. It didn't matter if they were dead. Yeah. So you can't win playing with fear. You're going to stay a scared little dog and it's kennel not living the full life that you're capable of living and I also listened to several speeches and different religions and different podcasters who talked about fear and overcoming fear. And so many of the men and women who spoke about it started in a place of fear where they grew up terrified of everything, and at one point in their life said, they have to quit living this way because they're not living.

And so I found that comforting that if you've lived a long time, familiar with fear. Then maybe you know your enemy, and if you know your enemy that well, then the positive is that you can defeat your enemy and you can change. One man said it so well that when he decided to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.

He was partnered with the one who would win, and [00:19:00] he had no reason to fear anymore. Every one of them said, you have to take action. one man asked in an interview, how would you recommend staying in fear? And his reply was, if you wanna stay living in fear, the number one thing you must do is nothing. , do not attempt the thing that scares you. Therefore, if you want to live a life in faith and live more fearlessly, then you must face your fear. You have to do the thing that scares you. And fear has been called a compass.

If you want to know which direction to go, look at your fear. What is scaring the crap out of you? You're killing me, Cydni. You're just killing me. Go towards that. Fear is your compass. Just as much as fear has many negative names that we talked about. another one that I failed to mention was that fear is selfish. the idea behind this, if you're having trouble moving forward and using your gifts and talents is to view your gift differently. If you were in a position to [00:20:00] have a large group of people and you can give everyone in that room a hundred thousand dollars, would you be scared to do that? 

Sher: That'd be super fun. 

Cydni: It'd be so fun if you could just say, you get a hundred thousand dollars. You get a hundred thousand dollars because you're giving something. What do you have to be afraid of? What if you had the same outlook with your spiritual gifts, that you're giving something, that you have something to share from your heart, that you're sharing your spiritual gift of joy or happiness or listening, and you just are living in a place of faith and service and giving. 

And on the other side of fear, there's a long list of things that are there for you too.

Cydni: On the other side of fear there is who you really are. It's where your talents are. It's your potential. It's your freedom, it's your light, it's your joy, it's your confidence. There's so much waiting for you. On the other side of fear, we just have to take those steps that we don't want to do those scary steps into the dark where we try something out and realize we didn't die, and if we die. You're with your Lord [00:21:00] And that also will be okay. There's a speech by Dr. Charles Stanley, and he talks about victory over fear. It's a fantastic sermon. He says, first, acknowledge it's there. Clearly. Understand what you're afraid of. Write it down, be clear about it. Then ask yourself why. Where does this fear come from? Is it something someone said to me? Is it something I did once and failed and I never wanna feel that way again? If you understand clearly what your fear is, and where it comes from, that takes away some of the hold it has on you.

When you see that it's maybe more simple than it seemed in your head he says that fear is an uneasy feeling. It's a dread. It's like an alarm going off within us, and if you recognize fear for what it is that will help ease some of its grip, 

He reminds us that if you focus on your fear, it will not get any smaller. And if it's not smaller, then you're not feeding the right wolf, and it's going to take control over you. So you have to change your focus, you have to shrink it, you have to starve it. You [00:22:00] have to turn your focus to the most powerful weapon, which is the word of God.

And we have discovered today that 365 times in the Bible, It commands us. Do not fear. I am with thee Then he asks everybody in the crowd, do you believe the promises that are there? Do you believe in the God you say you believe in?

Do you believe that God does not change? Do you believe that God is your God? Do you trust him? Do you trust that he really is there for you? when he was saying this, I thought of what it would sound like in Isaiah 41 10 if I added my own name. And you should do the same. Fear thou not Cydni. For I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. If you go through and you think about this scripture for you individually. And you say to yourself, fear not share. Quit being so freaking afraid all the time and make it personal. And he challenges us to make these scriptures personal, and he challenges us to really think about your testimony [00:23:00] of God. Do you believe he's your God? Do you believe that he will uphold you, that he will strengthen you? And do you believe this is true for others?

If so, believe it's true for yourself, and then start living your life. As if it's true and living your life as if he is going to uphold you and strengthen you. And he concludes by saying that you should go to God and say to Him, I do trust you. I do believe you're here with me, and I give you this fear.

And this is our challenge to you as well. We challenge you to look at your fears, to understand them clearly and see where you're being caged. We challenge you to go to God and offer, as we have discussed, sacrificing, putting things on the altar.

We challenge you to sacrifice the fear that you're living in to take a step in the dark and trust that God will be there with you and it will unlock a power and a sound, mind and love as it's promised.

Sher: This brings us to our final thoughts. Fear is a thief, a cage that keeps us from the [00:24:00] happiness and freedom God intends for us, but we have a choice. Do we accept Satan's lies and remain trapped, or do we claim power love in a sound mind that God has given us? History has shown us how fear can be used to control and oppress, but in our own lives we must not let it rule us. Faith is the antidote to fear, and the more we trust in our Savior Jesus Christ, the less we will be bound by it. When we trust in him, we break free from the cages that hold us back and step into . The peace, power, happiness, and love that God wants for us. This is our prayer. 

Cydni: From Cydni and Sher. 

Sher: And we're going, 

Cydni: What if we just [00:25:00] have everything wrong and the earth is flat? Great. you could fall off the edge of the earth now, so don't be afraid. 'cause you could die that way. 

Sher: what did I just say? Thief? Thank you. why is my brain turning off 

Cydni: and then you said that, 

Sher: wait, what did you say? Rewind. This is 

Cydni: me rewinding right now. Yeah. That, What is wrong with my brain? punch me in the face emotionally right now. 

Sher: Rudy said he doesn't like the dog analogies. He doesn't have a kennel, does he? 

Cydni: No. Yeah, that's 'cause he is living a full free life.

But are we Cher? Starve the right wolf. Feed the right Wolf. Oh,

you like that? Have a great week.