FEAR NOT
The emotion of fear is widespread and something we can all identify with. We can easily recognize the heart-racing fear that comes when we see blue flashing lights behind our car or receive a bad doctor's report but there are other subtle, not noticeable fears occurring in our thoughts and emotions all day long.
Think of all the ways we fear. There is fear of poverty, fear of not succeeding, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear it’s too late, fear we won’t ever get well, fear we will never find a mate, fear we will die poor, fear our spouse will never change, fear we will be late for an appointment, fear we are too old, fear of the future, fear of flying, fear of fire, heights, small places, snakes, fear of other religions, fear of what’s happening in this country, fear of losing our memory, fear of loneliness, fear our faith will fail us, fear of being misunderstood, fear of things again happening the same way, fear of others, fear of other nations, fear of God’s promises not manifesting, fear of what people will say, fear of unemployment, fear, fear, fear, fear! Mankind has many fears and none of them are from God.
Fear is basically an unpleasant emotion based on a fear producing thought. It is caused by the anticipation or awareness of danger. It brings dread, alarm, panic, trepidation, and a sense of peril, all of which cause us to want to flee.
Fear is prevalent and regardless of whether it's big or small, God does not want us to fear and clearly commands, "Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you:..." (Isaiah 41:10 AMPC). This is an amazing announcement, we should fear nothing because God is with us!
2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." This scripture lets us know fear is a spirit from the enemy. It is a demon to bring to pass Satan's purposes. It makes it clear fear is not from God and therefore is not benign. We learn here that God has not given us this evil spirit but in contrast, God has given us His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit which is life-giving and produces power, love and a sound mind. God loves us and would not agitate or provoke us with fear. Fear weakens a person. It is not based in love and comes when we allow wrong thinking.
Satan Runs the World on Fear
Fear entered the world when Adam disobeyed God and committed high treason opening the door for Satan to rule the world. It is first addressed in Genesis, "But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Genesis 3:9-10). Fear entered the world When man lost his connection with God.
Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and Satan runs the world on fear. Fear is ever-present and dominates humanity's mind. Look at the news reports and movies – they sell and inspire fear! Satan controls people with fear because fear immobilizes and makes a person focus on wrong results which is Satan's plan. Fear gives attention to wrong outcomes so Satan can bring them to pass.
Over sixty times in the Bible we are admonished to not fear in phrases such as, "fear not," "do not fear," "be not afraid." Jesus commanded His apostles many times to not fear. Fear produces a result because we are having faith in the wrong thing, things that are not God's will for us. So whether our fears are monumental or small they are having impact on our lives. When we fear we are setting ourselves up for the enemy to work in that area rather than God.
Fear Not, Only Believe
There is a story in the Bible where a ruler of a synagogue, named Jairus, asks Jesus to come to his house and heal his dying daughter. Jesus responds by telling the ruler that He will go with him and heal her. While they are on the way to the ruler's house, Jesus is interrupted by a woman with an issue of blood who is instantly healed after touching the hem of Jesus' garment. Jesus realizes healing power has gone out of Him and stops and asks who touched Him. The woman confesses that it was her. In the meantime someone comes from the ruler’s house and tells Jairus his daughter has died and to not bother Jesus any longer.
"While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe" (Mark 5:35-36)(my highlights)
The announcement of Jairus' daughter's death would give plenty of reason to panic and fear. Even with this shocking news, Jesus immediately intercepts Jairus' thoughts by telling Jairus to “not be afraid; only believe.” By quickly interjecting these words Jesus prevents Jairus from starting to become fearful, that it was too late, and lose faith for his daughter's healing. The Lord knew when Jairus heard the bad news, that in a split second Jairus would have to make a decision to become fearful or hold onto his faith. The Lord's admonishment of "only believe" steered Jairus to make the correct choice, which opened the door for Jesuus to raise his daughter from the dead totally restored.
Like us, Jesus encountered many opportunities to fear but He did not. Hebrews 4:15 discloses, "…he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus did not allow fearful thoughts to invade and control Him. He knew instead to trust in the power of His Father and His Word.
Remember the story in Luke 4 where Jesus taught from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue? He announces that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him and went on to proclaim the Gospel. Upon hearing this the people in the synagogue were filled with wrath because Jesus was revealing He was the One spoken about in this scripture, the Messiah. The angry people took Jesus outside to throw Him off a cliff, yet it says, "But he passing through the midst of them went his way" (Luke 4:30). Here was an angry mob of people surrounding Jesus intending to throw Him off a cliff to His death and the scriptures tell us He went "through the midst of them and on His way!" Jesus did not allow the life-threatening mob to affect Him with fear. If he had, He could not have been able to walk through the crowd and leave. His lack of fear opened the door for God's protection and power. Jesus demonstrated a powerful truth here---preventing fear keeps you in the midst of God's power and help.
Fear Begins with a Thought
Because fear is a very real temptation, it must be recognized and dealt with. We should never inspire fear or use it to control or manipulate. It is a destructive force and is the opposite of faith in good outcomes. Fear opens the door to the enemy and blocks God's power. Rather than fear, God wants us to believe in His Word, believe in His love and trust Him.
When you analyze fear, you will find it actually starts in your mind with a thought. Thinking the thought leads to the uncomfortable feelings we associate with fear. First a fear-based thought, then fear-based emotions follow such as panic, stress, anxiety, despondency and a host of other negative emotions. We lose our joy and become concerned instead. By understanding this sequence, we can learn to control fear and reject it
Because emotions are attached to fear, we can use our negative feelings as tell-tale signs to let us know we are afraid and to overcome fear. Feelings of anxiety, stress, nervousness, panic and other sensations of fear become an early warning detection system letting us know we are operating in fear and to take immediate action against it. After we recognize we are afraid, we can take the next step by considering what we are thinking. To do this we can simply ask ourselves, "What am I thinking right now? What is the thought that is causing me to feel this way?" It can be challenging at first isolating the exact thought but it's necessary if we want to thwart the enemy's attack. It is important to understand, Satan's entrance into our lives is through our thoughts. Since this is the case, it is paramount we learn to guard our minds by choosing what thoughts we think. Since a thought is at the root of our fear, we need to first tackle the thought causing us to fear.
A fear provoking thought might be, "I'm afraid I won't have enough money to pay my bills this month." Or something like, "Everyone is being laid off from work, I hope I'm not next." Or, "I'm afraid I'm going to get sick."
Remember fear is a spiritual attack and therefore it requires the use of a spiritual weapon against it (2 Corinthians 10:2-5). Our strength as Christians is in the Spirit, not in the natural. As with any temptation we are exhorted to respond as Jesus did,"... it is written..." (Luke 4:4-8) and announce the Word of God. The Word of God is Spirit (John 6:63) and it is the truth (John 17:17).
Whatever the thought, we now immediately replace it with God's Word. We know we are using a powerful overriding spiritual weapon and the truth against the lie of fear. By doing so we are expressing an attitude of faith which opens the door for God to work. We could respectively replace the previously mentioned fears by saying, "God supplies all my needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19) and "God is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do unto me?" (Psalm 118:6). For fear of getting sick, "There shall no evil befall me, no plague shall come nigh my dwelling." (Psalm 91:10). The power of God's Word (Hebrews 4:12) steadily spoken in confidence of its truthfulness, will overcome fear and keep it out of your mind and avert its damaging effects on your life.
Recognize, the enemy can be very persistent bringing fear thoughts against our mind, especially if we have been entertaining fear for a long time. He doesn't stop because we use the Word of God a few times against him. No, he is a fighter and we must likewise be a fighter. We must be as persistent in attacking the fear, even if it means dispelling the thought many times a day. Eventually through our effort of continual resistance, fear will flee. We can acknowledge that in the long run our efforts will rule because James 4:7 says, "...resist the devil and he will flee from you."
God does not want you to fear. As a God Who is love (1 John 4:7,8,16), He has much greater and better outcomes in store for you then fear could ever provide.
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