fear

The subject of fear is like the subject of grace, it has a variety of applications. No man can be saved apart from grace, but it is also the supernatural power of God that enables us to endure the devil's best fiery darts.

Psalm 23:4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

The word fear in this verse means frightened or afraid, this is the fear we are most familiar with. The Lord convinced David that there was nothing to be scared of because He had his back. If something is scaring you, it would be in your best interest to put your faith and trust in your Lord. Let me give you a testimony, since I began walking with the Lord I have very few things that I am afraid of. How do you overcome your fears? You read the Word of God and stay in it until the Lord convinces you that He is with you always. The world would teach you how to live with your fears, the Word teaches you to use your faith and overcome them.

Romans 8:15 We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of Adoption where we call God, Abba.

Fear will hold us in bondage, we will not be able to do what we want to do or what the Lord tells us to do. We use our fears to exempt us from doing what we need to do, such excuses are widely accepted by those who share the same fears. Israel was in so much bondage to fear that they did not trust God to lead them into the promised land. They were so afraid, that God had no choice but to leave them in the wilderness until they died. Fear at any level must be confronted, if the devil can get his foot in the door he will not relent.

2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us the spirit of fear; but the Spirit of power, love and of a sound mind.

We must discern something here, there is fear and there is the spirit of fear. Fear is a natural element, it means to be afraid or frightened and it will never come from God. The Lord appeared to Joseph as he slept and told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill King Jesus. God did not scare Joseph, He just told him what was coming and how to avoid it. God will always tell us truth but He will never say things that will put us in fear. One of the most restrictive fears of all is the fear of man. We have a tendency to imagine things that man might do. I had a large list of fears that I intended to live with, but the more I read the Word the more I trusted my Lord. All of those fears began to fall away even though I never confronted them, I just believed the Father's Word.

The Spirit of Fear

The spirit of fear is of the devil and he is a master at twisting the thoughts in our mind. The spirit of fear will always prompt us to do something irrational and we always regret it later. One of the characteristics of this spirit is to push us to control the situation. We try to create the outcome of a situation by lying and manipulating people to make things happen. The spirit of fear will totally destroy any hope of trusting God, you won't even consider it. No matter what we face, if we don't fully trust our Lord, the spirit of fear will try to control the event, but remember we have been given a sound mind.