You must know that fear will attack, every time you step out of your comfort zone to do great exploits for God. Brace yourself, but jump anyway. Act on the faith, but know Satan will throw doubt, unbelief and fear at you in the middle of your jump.

There was a movie a few years back that I saw where a baseball pitcher was in the waning years of his career. He was pitching in Yankee Stadium in front of 55,000 screaming fans. He wasn't a Yankee, so they weren't cheering him.

As the game wore on, so did the pain in his arm and the fear that he wouldn't be able to throw one more successful pitch. What did he do? The director showed—through some special effects—his concentration. He tuned out the things that were not important.

First, he tuned out the crowd and the noise. Then he tuned out the coaches and the players in the dugout. Next he tuned out the runners on the bases and his teammates and finally he tuned out the batter and even the umpire.

All that was left was that catcher and his target. He was a kid again, playing catch. He was back to the fundamentals and back to the days when pitching was fun. The pain was still there, but his mind was on the target and not on the pain.

He began to hit the target. A fastball fading, smack hit the target. "Strike One." A curve ball breaks in toward the hitter, moving him off the plate. Thud, the ball hits the target. "Ball." The umpire grunts.

Another curveball starts way outside, but curves hard to catch the outside corner of the plate. "Strike two." He was just playing catch. And as the batter inched back on top of the plate, Costner knew just what to do and so did the catcher. He rang a fastball in on the hands, just over the inside corner of the plate. "Steeeerike three. Batter, you're out."

The crowd was silenced and came back into view, but as the next batter came up, the process began again.

Are you capable of this kind of concentration? You might not be today, but you could be if you understood how valuable it is. Satan is trying to steal from you, kill you and destroy everything valuable that you do.

He is doing it with disease and distraction. You need to shut him out and pay close attention to that voice that lives inside every New Creation.

My friends in trading used to make fun of me, because every time I entered the trading pits, I would enter a level of concentration they would call "the zone." They would try to get my attention and sometimes would even play tricks on me for their enjoyment.

Occasionally they would get me to smirk and we would all have a good laugh. Still, my life in the pits was a war for the Kingdom and I took it very seriously. I was there to extract spoils to see that the gospel would be preached. Like that pitcher, I would shut the world out and get right down to the basics. I would hear the market, see the players and watch the movement and as I did, I would know what to do.

I also knew that every time I would move, Satan would parry with fear. But knowing that fear was coming allowed me to stay balanced. He could never catch me off guard:

Buy 100, rush of emotion. Take a breath, lay off the trade. There's the bid hit the bid. Sold 50 there and 50 there. Sell 200, rush of emotion, fear was telling me that the market was going to run against me. Take a deep breath, there's the offer, lift the offer. Take a deep breath. Stay in rhythm. Write carefully. Record the trade accurately. Sell another 100. Where's the market. Here come's the fear. Breathe, listen, see the offer, lift the offer. No surprise there. Another successful trade. This is where I would allow the smirk. Satan, you're such a loser.

Fear comes from without, but you are bigger than that fear. The only way that it can beat you is if you don't make it part of the dance.

If you deny its existence, you will be off balance whenever it shows up. And remember, it doesn't always look the same. Fear looks like doubt. It feels like unbelief and lack of confidence. It can even feel like weakness where you will be intimidated.

It's all from the same sorry source. Don't be fooled or lulled into thinking that he will ever stop trying to harass you. As long as you are doing anything for the kingdom, fear will be on the scene.

Just hone your concentration back to the basics and cast it out. You have the authority and the ability to do so. Start doing it and you will have a long and successful life and career.

Copyright © Faith Exchange Fellowship
All rights reserved. Used by permission.