At my church, I am in the middle of a series all about the perils of irrational FEAR.  You know, we’re saying things like, “FEAR is a destiny killer.  FEAR points you to an enemy that doesn’t even really exist.  FEAR, sorry ‘fear,’ doesn’t deserve capital letters when you type it.” Great stuff, I know.

But over and over, I’ve been asked this question:  how do I know if that little voice in the back of my head is fear’s voice telling me not to do something or God’s voice telling me not to do something?  And that’s a great a question.  How do we know when a risk is acceptable or not.

The truth is that with every acceptable risk God asks you to take, fear will always tell you “No!”

But with every unacceptable risk that comes your way, God will also be trying to tell you “No!”  And sometimes it’s hard to know who is doing the talking.

Here is a mental checklist that I go through in deciding which way to go:

1.  An acceptable risk is an opportunity that you just can’t seem to shake.  It keeps showing up over and over.  God has placed it deep into your spirit.

2.  An unacceptable risk is sudden, compelling, and often presents you with a “you must do this now” deadline.

3.  An acceptable risk is one that you aren’t ashamed to talk about.

4.  An unacceptable risk is so out in left field that you don’t really want people to know that you’re even thinking about it.

5.  An acceptable risk has the capacity to take you to the next level of your life.

6.  An unacceptable risk has the capacity to make you start over with your life.

7.  An acceptable risk will stretch you in any number of ways.

8.  An unacceptable risk will stretch the people around you more than it stretches you.  It will place the burden of the risk on others around you.