And they were seized with fear

Mark 5:1-20

Lord, please release me from this fear

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes.  When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.  The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.  In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.  Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.  Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I adjure you by God, do not torment me!"  (He had been saying to him, Unclean spirit, come out of the man!")  He asked him, "What is your name?"  He replied, "Legion is my name. There are many of us."  And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.  And they pleaded with him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them."  And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.  The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned.  The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside.  And people came out to see what had happened.  As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind.  And they were seized with fear.  Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine.  Then they began to beg him to leave their district.  As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.  But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."  Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

And they were seized with fear

Lord,
What is it about this statement?  Fear, they were seized with fear.  Lord fear has been the unclean spirit within me all these years.  I have been fighting him and there's been a battle within me raging.  the intensity goes up and down but it is always there, sometimes closer to the top than others.  Lord, how do I release it, become free of it?


Release it.  That is the answer.  It is something you are holding on to .  You don't want to release it.  It gives you comfort because it is familiar.  Even thought it brings much discomfort, it feels natural and you've allowed it to become part of you.

Ok, Lord, I believe that and it makes sense.  So how do I get rid of it?  It is like a huge boulder that I carry around and so often I am frozen (it gets too heavy)  and cannot move and at other times it is so heavy it slows me down as I drag it along and when I hit a bump along the way, it will hold me back or make me fall.  Lord, my back aches carrying this around.   I want to get rid of it but I don't know how.  Right now I can see that it needs to be broken up crushed and my fear is that I will just have lots of little ones to gather and carry along.


No, you crush it and disintegrate it.  I can do anything but you have to cooperate.


Lord, how?

Make the list and pray over it, be faithful to this exercise.  Do what you did in your womb meditations.  This is another stumbling block to your healing and you can overcome it but you have to make a free will effort to do what it takes.  I will help you but you must do the work.