See | Hidden facts about FEAR you don't know.

Generally, fear is known to be feeling of insecurity, a feeling of impending danger. From any angle one may consider it, fear makes one not to act as he/she intended to. Fear paralyzes the faculty of imagination, vision and insight, and kills self reliance. It encourages procrastination;thinking that things will take a better shape as time elapses, but the reverse is always the case because, as time elapses, if fear is not subdued, it becomes stronger.

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Fear makes self control so difficult if not impossible. It destroy the possibility if accurate thinking. It diverts power into nothingness, destroys ambitions, blurred memory and invites failure of different forms. Fear makes loving difficult by first, devouring the wonderful emotions if the heart. This discourages friendship God and with men. All this invites disaster into one's life and can lead to sleeplessness; misery, sadness and so many other similar vices. 

It was that David Ofondu in his book ACHIEVING YOUR DESTINY said:"It is very difficult for a man of fear to get to the height of greatness because success is full of risk and a man full
of fear always sees failure in anything he wants to do".

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One if the most dangerous qualities of fear is its calm nature. Fear can exist in somebody for a very long time without the person knowing it. Though always calm, but it is deeply rooted. Whenever and where ever fear is in existence, it controls every affair if the individual.

From the explanation given above about fear, you may be forced to ask in some portions of the Bible, God request that we fear him; as in Prov. 14:17 which reads "Fear of the lord is a life giving fountain"
While in some other portions, God encourages us not to fear: Do not be afraid for I am with you" (Isiah 43:5). I have come to understand that fear has two faces. While God despises one, he supports the other: 
• Healthy fear (fear of God)
• Unhealthy fear

1. Healthy concept of fear - The fear of God                                  
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. (Prov. 9:10). The fear of God is the reverence one has for God due to his supremacy. This type of fear is always accompanied by righteousness. Thus Solomon said: " All who fear the lord hate evil, That is why I hate pride, arrogance  corruption and perverted speech, "(Prov. 8:13). This the fear that makes one not to offend God because of his goodness and faithfulnessis the fear of God that makes one to obey God by keeping and so the bible says: "In every nation, God accepts those who dear him and do what is right". (Act 10:35). The fear of God brings one so close to God that every week there fear is subdue. That was why David in Psalm 23:4 said:" Even when I walk through the valley of death, I will not be afraid". 

2. Unhealthy Fear - Fear as a negative passion
Passions are energetic feelings emanating from the heart, some of the major passions found in man are love, jealousy, anger, hatred,fear etc. 

Fear is a passion because it is rooted in the mind. Reverence to any being or thing at the expense of God is unhealthy fear. This is the type of fear Aristotle was referring to when he said" Fear is pain arising from anticipation of evil". Psychologically, this kind of fear handicaps your intellect, making it unable to access the reality of what you fear. Spiritually, it weighs you down by making you doubt the omnipotence of God. It was on this note that Francis Bacon said: "it is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear". Unhealthy fear is an intellectual handicap because once one is gripped by it any action carried out becomes dubious. That is why it is a great enemy of human existence; its effect on the victim is always disastrous. 

Fear does not just exist in a twinkle of an eye. It involves and passes through series of stages before maturation. The earliest stage is indecision. With time, indecision crystallizes into doubt. This two then blend slowly into fear. Futton sheen compared fear to love when he said" Fear actually is relayed to love as all are passions; but love is an attraction for an object, while fear is a flight from it". Fear makes one to avoid many things even the necessary things that need to be done in order to make a head way in life.

Factors that promote unhealthy fear

• Poverty - Some people are not trustworthy in matters of money and earthly possessions. This is because, Man's so much afraid of facing poverty that he is ready to acquire riches by any possible means - good or evil. What most people don't understand is that money is only a snippets of paper, but there are higher treasures in man which cannot be bought with money.

• Criticism - An act of showing disapproval of somebody or something and opinions about their fault is what is called criticism. It is in mans nature to render instant judgment on fellow man's action or idea. In public places, the fear of criticism hinders some people from making contributions that can be of great value. This fear robs man of his initiatives, destroys his power of imagination and takes away his self reliance, planting resentment in his heart.

• Sickness - Man fears sickness because of the ugly and terrible pictures which have been plated in his mind of what may happen if sickness strikes. Sometimes, it may be the fear of the finance which the sickness may claim.

• Loss of love - It is in man's mature to love and to wish to be loved and cherished. It is also in man's nature to think of the possibility of losing the love and affection of a beloved. With time, jealousy and other similar neurosis grow out of this fear. Women are more susceptible to this type of fear than men.

• Old age - There are people who fear old age as if it is a curse. Three major categories of people fear old age: The first category are those who think that old age leads to loss of beauty, relevance, sexual power etc. To them, old age brings about abandonment by people. Most of the people that fall into this category are public figures like actors/actresses, musicians, politicians etc.