What is the definition of the word weapon? Well, according to dictionary.com, a weapon is “any instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat, fighting, or war, as a sword, rifle, or cannon” or “anything used against an opponent, adversary, or victim”.
Why am I telling you something you already know?
I want you all to just reflect for a second on what the word weapon means. Weapons are meant to cause harm to another person, place or thing…they aren’t exactly rays of sunshine.
Let me ask you another question: what could a weapon be?
I bet most of you are thinking of rifles or bombs. Maybe some of you are thinking about insults and cruel use of language. I don’t want to talk about those weapons today. I want to talk about a weapon that we frequently ignore, even if it is the most powerful weapon in the world today. I want to talk about fear.
Fear is “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined”. (Dictionary.com) “Fear is experienced in your mind, but it triggers a strong physical reaction in your body. As soon as you recognize fear, your amygdala (small organ in the middle of your brain) goes to work. It alerts your nervous system, which sets your body’s fear response into motion. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released. Your blood pressure and heart rate increase. You start breathing faster. Even your blood flow changes — blood actually flows away from your heart and into your limbs, making it easier for you to start throwing punches, or run for your life. Your body is preparing for fight-or-flight.” (Northwestern Medicine) So you see, first of all, fear is physical. It literally causes physical changes in our body and it tells our body to go into survival mode. Secondly, “as some parts of your brain are revving up, others are shutting down. When the amygdala senses fear, the cerebral cortex (area of the brain that harnesses reasoning and judgment) becomes impaired — so now it’s difficult to make good decisions or think clearly. As a result, you might scream and throw your hands up when approached by an actor in a haunted house, unable to rationalize that the threat is not real”. (Northwestern Medicine) So, pretty much when we feel fear, we lose the ability to think clearly and we make some pretty stupid mistakes. We aren’t even able to distinguish whether the threat that caused the fear is real or not!
Are you beginning to understand?
Fear is the ultimate weapon, especially in this generation. All it takes to control millions of people is a person with a good amount of influence, a scary piece of information, and a social media account. A celebrity could tell his or her fans that a Middle Eastern country has decided to declare war on the United States and no one would even think to research that piece of information, they’d just freak out and post it everywhere, causing everyone to panic and no one to actually know the truth. Maybe the celebrity was telling the truth, but that’s not the point. The point is that we have forgotten how to use our brains and we allow ourselves to be completely controlled by fear.
What happened to real research and strong opinions? What happened to intelligence and faith?
Faith. The one remedy for fear.
You probably could ask me: well, if fear is paralyzing, how do you start thinking clearly again?
Faith.
Faith is the product of hope and a principle of action. When someone has faith, he or she doesn’t have time for fear because he/she is too busy trying to find solutions, learning truths and making his/her life better. When people have faith they are out there studying, working, ACTING….not reacting.
See, that’s the difference between fear and faith.
When we allow ourselves to be manipulated by fear, we give away our control. But, when we allow ourselves to be manipulated by faith, we retain control.
Yes, I said manipulated.
Faith can be a tool to influence millions of people. Throughout history, empires have fallen, kings have lost their people and nations have failed. Those leaders lose the control over their people. Many times it’s because their people begin to have faith. Think, for example, of the American Revolution. Our ancestors, the founders of our nation, knew that it was highly improbable that they win against the British, but they fought with faith, because they new the truth and the truth was freedom, it was integrity, and it was God. Faith brought those men together and made them stronger than one of the most powerful armies in the world (at the time).
Today, when it is so easy to allow yourself to be controlled by fear, to stop thinking rationally, to give up faith and embrace helplessness, choose faith. Choose to be in control. At the beginning those who have faith seem on the loosing side but I promise you that they are ALWAYS the winners. Those who have faith and share the message of faith, stand with God. Choose to base your actions on hope, even if everyone around you tells you that your being stupid and unrealistic.
Those who have power and influence will want to control you, not because they hate you or because they like power…but because they think they know best, and they think that they are in a position to make decisions for everyone. Don’t allow yourself to be so undervalued. Stand for what YOU know and base it off of what YOU study. Act instead of being acted upon.
Where there is a will, there is always a way.
So, go find your will and you’ll be surprised by the outcome.