FLIGHT, FIGHT OR FREEZE”

Genesis 12:10-20, 20:1-7

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Introduction

Your quality of life is impacted by the decisions you make. The quality of your decision, in turn, is impacted by whether you make value-based decisions or emotion-based decisions. Emotion-based decision-making leads to unnecessary “fight or flight”.

Emotion-based decision-making leads to sub-quality living, anti-kingdom living.  Interestingly, Abram, the father of many nations, is an excellent example of that type of decision-making.

Abraham’s selfishness and fear – emotions based stuff – eclipsed Abraham’s values. Instead of Abraham making his decisions based on his values, like his trust in The Lord and respect for his wife, he made decisions based on his emotions.

Abram’s choices caused his wife to be “exploited” and her life to be placed in danger.  Amazingly, The Lord blessed Abram to be an effective priest and prayer in-spite of his immature and inexcusably emotion-based decision-making! Genesis 20:17,18

Grace PREVAILS!
The Facts
  1. Deceit index – Abram asked his beautiful wife to pretend to be his sister because he feared for his life. He feared the foreign leader might kill him to gain access to her. Genesis 12:12,13
  2. Economic index – Abram received gifts of sheep, oxen, and slavers from Pharaoh and Abimelech as a result of the “arrangement” with his wife. Genesis 12:16, 2:16
  3. Spiritual index – Abram failed to trust The Lord. Period!
  4. Grace index – The Lord still blessed Abram to bless others! Genesis 20:17
The Takeaways
  1. Emotion-based decisions can crumble your life like broken peanut brittle.
  2. The same grace that was available to Abram is available to you now.
  3. Your natural emotions will trigger you to fight, flight, or freeze. The Lord, however, wants you to have faith. Full stop!
  4. Your faith in The Lord can bless you to go forward as if you had never messed up! Genesis 20:16-18

 

February 15, 2026

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