God knows that we as humans can get pretty wounded as we go about our day-to-day living, which is why there are so many verses in the Scriptures that proclaim in essence, “Fear not!” The Bible tells us to let the peace of God reign in our hearts (Colossians 3:15). God says that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
At various junctures in our lives, we can let our hearts become troubled, especially when our safety net has been threatened – financial challenges, marital discord, job insecurities, health issues, changing living situations, dreams becoming seemingly more elusive than ever.
We have a tendency of doing what Peter did when he stepped out of the boat – we focus on the deep waters beneath us instead of the awesome provision of Jesus Christ straight ahead and we start sinking!
We forget that our Advocate, Jesus, is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Even though we might not see it in the turbulent times of our lives, we have to remember that God is in control. He will keep us from falling (Jude 1:24). He will not give us more than we can bear. When we live one day at a time, understanding that God sets our course, and we let His peace rule in our hearts, the abundant life is ours, no matter what our age, rank, circumstance, hang-ups, or failures.
How Job (in the Bible) handled the spirit of fear and what happened
Most believers know the story of Job, but most don’t know that Job allowed fear to open the door for some of the terrible things that happened in his life. Job chapter one opens with these words; “A man named Job lived in Uz. He was a man of integrity: He was decent, he feared God, and he stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep and goats, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the richest and most influential person in the Middle East. His sons used to go to each other’s homes, where they would have parties (Each brother took his turn having a party). They would send someone to invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When they finished having their parties, Job would send for them in order to cleanse them from sin.
He would get up early in the morning and sacrifice burnt offerings for each of them. Job thought, “My children may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job offered sacrifices for them all the time” (Job 1:1-5).
While it does not seem like a bad thing for a parent to get up early in the morning and intercede with the Lord on behalf of their children, the issue is a matter of motivation. Job did these daily sacrifices for each child because he was afraid that if he didn’t, that something bad would happen to them. While the ritual and routine seemed innocent enough, it was not done in faith. Actually, Job was doing this out of fear, and we all know what happened to his children. Later on, as our focus text points out, Job said, “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.” (Job 3:24)
So, what does this mean to you today?
The same thing can happen to us if we do NOT handle fear by the help of Holy Spirit. If you get up early every morning and pray for your children, marriage, health, career, finances, relationships, community, and etc., but you do it out of fear that if you don’t, something bad will happen, then your prayers will not be effective. We are supposed to pray in-faith not in-fear. Not only do fear-based prayers have NO power, but even worse, when you fear, you are literally opening the door for the thing that you fear to come upon you.
My book titled “The Keys To Inheriting God’s Best” is designed to expose the schemes of the enemy, so that you can live a victorious life in Christ and receive your inheritance in a complete package. So instead of expressing confidence in the negative, simply stuff it!
How do you do that?
For example, have you ever had struggles with believing God? Have you ever had to make a conscious effort to overcome doubt? Doubt will stop you from seeing the manifestation of God’s best in your life. Doubt will always lead to a faith-failure. When the enemy puts a negative thought in your mind, a thought that goes against what you are praying for in-faith, then simply tell him, “I doubt it!” If you start doubting what the enemy can do to you, you will experience fear-failures. Believe me, if you want your fear to fail and your faith to succeed, close every negative door that fear has opened. Fear is an evil spirit from the devil. We see that from the Word of God. 2 Timothy 1:7; “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. Apostle Paul gave this Scripture to his son in faith Timothy right in the midst of telling him to stir up his spiritual gifts, to testify for Jesus Christ, and to share with Paul in the sufferings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan doesn’t want you to use your spiritual gifts. He doesn’t want you to talk about Jesus, and he wants you to be afraid of the suffering that you may or may not experience if you do talk about Jesus.
Looking around at many Christians today, it seems that Satan has succeeded in stopping them from moving forward by means of this one evil power alone – “the spirit of fear”. It is estimated that this spirit of fear today oppresses 80% of Christians. This can and must be reversed brothers and sisters if we are going to go deeper into God’s word and receive our inheritance from God. Proverbs 11:9 says, “Through knowledge the righteous will be delivered”. We need the genuine knowledge of God to be delivered from the Spirit of fear. Fear stops people not only in the areas of witnessing but also from using their God given spiritual gifts.
The three main types of fear that the enemy uses most to trap believers in our day
- The fear of rejection. This type of fear hinders people from beginning wonderful relationships. Read more details about it in my book “The Keys To Inheriting God’s Best“.
- The fear of failure. This type of fear holds many from beginning wonderful enterprises
- The fear of death. This type of fear paralyzes and torments on daily basis especially after people hear a bad report from the doctor.
Even though there are many other kinds of fear, we must realize that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and a sound mind (1 Timothy 1:7). Majority of Christians have received a spirit of fear at some time in their life. Many times, they received it before they became Christians, and they have not known God well enough to get rid of it since that time. The Bible says in Galatians 3:13 that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. But Christ rescued us from the Law’s curse, when he became a curse in our place.
One thing is clear, the spirit of fear DOES NOT come from God. In fact, the Bible tells us in 1 John 4:18 that “perfect love casts out fear”. The more of the divine love of God that we receive into our lives, the less scope there is for fear to get a grip.
The evil fear verses the healthy fear
Fear tends to attract evil upon us, just as faith tends to attract the goodness and blessings of God. Fear is a substance of things we hope won’t happen; it’s almost like a conviction that they will happen. Fear is faith in reverse. It is faith in the devil, whether we know it or not. God wants Christians to be free of such fear. Many blessings are associated with the healthy fear of the Lord. There is another naturally healthy fear like the fear of jumping off a cliff or walking into heavy speeding traffic, but we are not talking about that kind of fear here. We are talking about a tormenting fear. The fear strictly of the devil.
The remedy of unhealthy fear
Someone said, “Do the thing you fear most, and you will staff that spirit of fear to death” This is good advice when it comes to things like public speaking or climbing mountains or even flying in an airplane, but certainly NOT a good advice when it comes to doing what God is asking us to do. We need the actual consciousness that God is within us, and around us, and over us. And we need to know who God is. God is greater than the devil. Jesus said, “I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20). If we are aware of the presence of Jesus with us, we really can’t be swallowed up or dominated by fear. Fear cannot control us. Ultimately, it must be driven out, in all its forms.
We’ve read the Scripture that says, “perfect love drives out fear” But where does this perfect love come from? One thing to be sure of – it doesn’t come from ourselves. This perfect love comes from the Lord. God is love and the Spirit of God drives out the spirit of fear. Make a decision to walk more closely with God in your life and fear will free. Make room for Him through much prayer, through more meditation on the Word, through verbally praising the Lord with your mouth or praise and worship. Play worship music in your house, car or wherever you are by yourself as much as possible. This creates an atmosphere of Heaven where God can minister to you.
King David, a man who faced many dangerous battles, said this in Psalms 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” Because David was conscious of the Lord’s presence with him, and because he knew God, David did not walk in fear. To have the full consciousness of the presence of the Lord with us in these days, I believe that we must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues on a daily basis.
