Fear vs. Fear

Hello everyone!
This blog post was written by my wonderfully fantastic friend Megan. (You can follow her poetry blog here: http://hungryfishpoetry.blogspot.com/) It is an excellent piece of writing, concerning fear, doubt, worry, and the like, that she wrote specifically for my blog. So, enjoy!

"I've been thinking about fear a lot recently. Everybody has something that triggers this bitter feeling. Maybe it's a fear of rejection, a fear of pain, or anything else. 1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Yet, knowing this, I am conflicted by the use of the word 'fear', because through the Old Testament AND the New Testament people are said to be God-fearing, or filled with a fear of God. I am confused and conflicted. 2 Timothy 1 says we weren't made with a spirit of timidity or fear, but again, the fear of God issue... I think the problem lies in the word itself. I find this to be a failing of the English language! Rather than one meaning to a word, we stave every word to a host of names. I think the fear issue I have should be rested like this: fear of God: respect, reverence, and love of God. An unwillingness to disappoint Him. I think God wants us to be bold and courageous. Now, courageous people don't have an absence of fear; they have a determination to overcome it. I'm sure firefighters have a healthy respect and fear of fire, but they master it. Surgeons, I feel confident saying, fear messing up a procedure. Again though, they overcome it. I think that's where God wants us to be. We are permitted to be unsure of our abilities, but we should be bold in our relationship with Him. After all, Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." I think the Biblical admonishments against fear can be further clarified like this: "Don't worry. You may not be able to do it in your own strength, and it's fine to recognize that. In God's strength, however, anything can get done. Trust Him."
So, perfect love (le God) drives out doubts, worries, and inability. God wants us to trust Him and to live boldly, day by day. Let God worry about the big stuff, the small stuff, the scary stuff, and all the stuff. We should just concern ourselves with obeying Him."