by Mr. Titus Menezes
August is a very special month in our nation’s history. We obtained our freedom from foreign rule. If we ask people who have lived during both foreign and Indian rule, we hear of mixed opinions. Some say foreign rule was much better. There was much progress. Today’s rule is probably selfish.
But all the same we thank and praise God for our country India and for the freedom we have because of our democratic constitution.
We also celebrated the feast of the Assumption of our Lady into heaven – the woman who made it possible for us to have our freedom from sin. When the angel of the Lord visited her, he said to her “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.”
Mary in all her simplicity displayed courage and said “May it be done to me according to your Word”
In the 1st week of August, we had Bro. Carlos cover ‘Freedom from slavery’ and second week we had Sr. Anastasia speak on ‘Freedom in Christ’ through the Book of Galatians. Through this sharing I will try and give you something on ‘Freedom from fear’.
The key verse we would like to take is from 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline”. The KJV translation reads “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of sound mind”.
Fear is one emotion gripping people irrespective of age or caste. We have students who fear the examinations, later fear of not getting a job, then a fear of retaining the job, fear of finances, fear of the future, fear of people, animals, insects, fear of death, blood, heights and a long list continues. Fear is an emotion that is present today in everyone in some form or the other.
Now within limits, fear is a good thing orelse we would be thinking of ourselves, being supreme and very powerful. We would not feel the need for God. A child needs to have the fear of fire else he would burn or hurt himself. This is a healthy fear but this is not the fear I am referring to. It is another kind of fear – an unhealthy fear. A fear which brings torment; - 1 John 4:18 says for fear has to do with punishment.
Fear is such an emotion that if it is not checked, it will produce misery and destruction not only in your life but those around you. Fear creates breakdowns in all areas of life, sleeplessness and even oppression in your spiritual life. Fear magnifies evil, sickness, failure and danger. I heard once “Fear is the greatest crippler”.
More so for us Christians who have experienced freedom from our sins. We have tasted the goodness of the Lord and are filled with His Holy Spirit but Satan wants to ruin this union with the Lord through this spirit of fear. Fear can lead us to do unholy things even to the point of death.
Let us understand the meaning of this word ‘fear’:
- a painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil
- the apprehension of impending danger
- an uneasiness of the mind upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us
- an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
- The dictionaries themselves define that fear is the expectation of evil or bad.
How does the bible define fear?
The Bible has quite a bit to say about fear. In fact it mentions two specific types of fear.
- The first type of fear is ‘fear of the Lord’. This type of fear does not mean to be afraid of the Lord. Rather it is a reverential awe of God; a reverence for His power and glory.
In this talk I will not be covering the fear of the Lord but the other kind of fear which one needs to overcome, the unhealthy fear of things of this world.
Psalms 112:7 They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
Matthew 8:26 And Jesus said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" (when they were caught in a storm.)
In other words, those who trust in the Lord do not fear anything evil will come upon them. Those whose faith is in the Lord, are not afraid of evil tidings. Fear is the opposite of trust in the Lord. Put it plainly – “Fear is distrust in the LORD”
Romans 14:23 says – for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
And therefore, I have an acronym for you:
Fear is
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real.
For us as Christians it is
Faith
Ebbing
Away
Rapidly.
If this fear is continually harboured in our lives we have very well signed our own death warrant. Fear is damaging, disastrous if it is not dealt with immediately
When did fear enter the world?
Genesis 1:9 – after Adam & Eve had eaten the fruit hid themselves from the presence of God. God asked the man – where are you and he said I was afraid of you because I was naked. Alongwith sin came fear into man. He could not face God. Just as the devil tricked Adam in the garden he continues to deceive us with his fruit i.e. fear. He continues to use it cleverly to keep us out of God’s presence.
Just before we wake up every morning, even before our eyes are open, we are filled with anxiety and fear…– what will happen today, will I be able to do things, will I commit a mistake, will I be fired, I hope nothing ill happens today and so on. And they come really fast. And before we are out of bed we are paralysed with all these thoughts making life miserable. Most of us readily give in to these thoughts while few fight these thoughts in the name of Jesus.
We all know the suffering Job went through.
Job 3:25-26 “Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes”
The very thing that Job feared became a reality. He couldn’t handle it. Life became a nightmare – no ease, no quietness, no rest - only trouble. Job’s fear brought him defeat, depression, destruction, disease, disaster.
We too could put ourselves in the same situation as Job. Fear is no joke.
Fear produces in kind:
- fear a cancer and you will be making way for cancer
- fear a heart attack and it will follow
- fear a failure and be sure it will happen
- fear a sickness and well it is on its way
- fear an accident and you are driving into it
- fear death and you have readied your coffin.
We have so many people who openly discuss these issues. My grandmother had it, my mother had it and so I will have it. We have already declared it with our tongue and we are waiting for it to happen in fear and NOT IN FAITH.
Proverbs 18:21 death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits
There is power in fear,
- power to torment,
- power to snare your soul,
- power to render you ineffective
- power to handicap you in life
What are some of the symptoms that are seen when we are filled with fear?
When we are filled with fear or cowardice, certain negative traits are seen in our lives:
- Indecisiveness: People filled with fear are indecisive. They can never make a decision or stand by a decision taken. Some may even spiritualise it saying “It is the Lord’s plan for me”. Sometimes indecisive people allow others to make the decisions for them.
- Overcautious-ness: Another characteristic seen in people filled with fear is over-cautiousness. Caution exercised in the right amount is permissible but when it goes overboard it gives way to worry, uncertainty. They always see failure in everything they undertake
- Procrastination: Things which need immediate attention are put off until tomorrow, next year or some better time in future
- Suspiciousness: People filled with fear always feel that others would do them harm; others are out to ruin them and would always stay away from people. They tend to become lonely people
- Magnify issues: Even the course of a natural event brings so much fear that a mountain is made out of a mole hill.
- Defeat: Most importantly they see defeat and disaster in every activity they undertake.
- Restlessness: They are never at peace, never at ease. They find it difficult to rest at night. They wish not to see another day.
- Contagious: Fear is contagious. Not only does it affect self but even those around.
- Lack of confidence: They are not confident in what they are doing even in the most ordinary tasks. They are reluctant and hesitate from participating in any programmes or taking up something new or even facing someone. At interviews, they are out!
- Jealousy: people with fear feel jealous of people who excel in life. They are afraid that others will be better than them…and they will get sidelined…
- Crankiness: At very small instances they begin to cry for fear of something untoward to happen.
- Spiritual life is affected. Since everything is seen in negative light, the thought comes is what is the use of praying? Anyway there is nothing happening. And this is exactly what Satan wants.
So many crimes in the world today are because of fear… you fear that, a particular person will be better than you…. You fear that he may overpower you and so you eliminate him first etc.
There are many other characteristics that can be traced to fear but the Almighty will surely help you identify if there is an area of fear.
If you are able to identify any of the above traits in your life, do not be afraid or ashamed. All of us have an area of fear in our lives. The first thing is to identify it and if you are able to do so, you are on the right track.
Having identified it, there are two things we need to do:
- find out the root causes
- find what the Word of God has to offer us to overcome it
There could be many areas that can give rise to fear, some directly - others indirectly. But before I identify these areas I would like to read out what the Word of God has to offer us for this weakness.
Throughout the bible there are many scriptural passages from where we can gather strength. As I read, you will realise, many of the men and women God chose for his mission were people filled with fear. He had to comfort them, assure them, before they took the first step in “faith”
Lets start from the first book:
Genesis 15:1 Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great
Exodus 3:11 Moses said to God “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt” and the Lord said “I will be with you”
Exodus 14:13-14 Moses said to the people “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The lord will fight for you and you only have to keep still.
Deuteronomy 1:21 See, the Lord your God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed."
Deuteronomy 3:22 Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you."
Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."
Joshua 8:1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed; take all the fighting men with you, and go up now to Ai. See, I have handed over to you the king of Ai with his people, his city, and his land.
Joshua 10:25 And Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous; for thus the Lord will do to all the enemies against whom you fight."
Daniel 10:19 e said, "Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous!"
Jesus in the NT reprimands the apostles for being fearful.
Matthew 8:26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?"
Matthew 10:31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The same Jesus today is inviting us not to be afraid. If our faith and trust is in Him, He assures us to keep good cheer.
Let us now identify the areas of fear
Fear of man:
Proverbs 29:25 The fear of others i.e. humans lays a snare (trap) but one who trusts in the Lord is secure
No other fear as the fear of man brings so much trouble to our lives. Who or what things other than man can, we think, directly affect our lives? At any given point of time in our lives if we have fear, it is fear of one person or another.
Let us identify who this man/ woman could be in your life:
- At home – your parents, in-laws, spouse, children, relatives, landlord, neighbours
- At school – your principals, teachers, tuition masters, so called ‘friends’
- At college – your professors, guys, girls who will rag you…
- At office – your boss, superiors, your colleagues
- At business – your clients, your associates, partners.
When our children are away from home – the people in the world,
And if you have a daughter - then fear of men, etc.
I firmly believe that the greatest area of inner healing is our relationship with our parents. As a priest once stated, nearly 90% of the cases of inner healing are in this area:
If your father has been loving, you would be a loving person but if you had a father who was kind of ‘I’m the boss’, a dictator, where the opinions of the other family members did not matter, you would begin to fear him. And this fear carries on to other areas of your life. Unless you are healed in this area, you tend to fear your superiors – your teachers, principal, your boss, your spouse. Your whole outlook is of fear. You dread people and situations because you have learnt to live in this manner.
Because you were not a part of the decision-making process at home, you will never want to make a decision and always accept whatever is thrown at you.
If your father was a smoker, drunkard, gambler, wayward, you will see all men in the same light. So much so that you would feel it better to be that way so that you would have company.
If your father beat your mother, there are very good chances that you will do the same. Actually this is rising out of fear. Also the fear of the mother, as you know, gets transmitted to her children.
If you were only punished or criticised for the smallest of mistakes at home, you would always fear doing any activity; as you would only expect criticism and punishment.
If you have been called a good-for-nothing, black sheep, you will consider yourself according to these words and fear doing anything
For some, these areas are not so severe but for a few – a life is ruined.
You will recall the talk Bro Victor gave – the word “bull-dozer”. He was threatened by the landlord of bull-dozing his house and it became a nightmare for him. Every thought of his, was mingled with the word “bull dozer”.
Again if you saw your parents as any of the above, you would always fear your spouse to be of the same kind,
What has been sown in your childhood/younger days will bloom in later years. Fear leaves an indelible impression on your mind. This is the beginning of fear setting in
There are some women who fear men and there some men who fear women. Some incident in their past has left a hurt that whenever a person of the opposite sex is around they begin to fear and would like to move away. They are unable to stand that person.
There are some parents who are always fearful and it is to such an extent that it gets rubbed onto the children and they become the same fearful person as their parents.
The whole point is for some people, fear of man is out of an upbringing i.e. from childhood and this has grown now, for others probably it has been put into them
Fear of exams
At a very tender age we are put through the exams routine and we all have feared exams. Some feared whether they would top the class, others feared whether they would be able to make it to the next grade.
The stakes are too high and so the result is important. So much stress and pressure because of the fierce competition. Most of us fear exams and hate it. This gets transmitted in later years where we do not want to participate in any competitive activity, we fear interviews, appraisals and would want to avoid it altogether, resulting in stagnation.
I continued having dreams of exams till last year – the dreams were weird it would be like, I have studied for one paper and gone to appear for the exam of another paper, I am late for the exam, I have gone to the wrong class and lost time and many such dreams.
Fear of insects
Some people are so frightened of insects like cockroaches, spiders, lizards that they would start screaming and jumping. The worst is when they refuse to go to bed thinking they will crawl on them.
I would like to give my own testimony regarding lizards. We used to stay in a small home… It was a chawl setting… where we had common toilets. It so happened that one day my neighbour got a rash on her hand and she said the lizard urinated and she got the rash. That was enough for me. Everytime I visited the toilet my first aim was to make sure there were no lizards so I threw water around, so as to help them crawl out…
After I came to the Lord, by which time we had moved to an apartment, a much better place, I had these dreams of me having to look for lizards… I couldn’t understand what it was all about. It was the place where I was born and I was filled with fear. In ’99 I undertook a serious inner healing programme – I found the right books and started examining every area of my life. But these dreams wouldn’t leave me until finally one day the Lord showed me a big coloured lizard in my dream and I realised the Lord wanted to set me free from this fear.
Yes friends, you must be saying – these are small things. Yes these are small thing but good enough to cripple you….
Fear of death / dead bodies:
All of us fear death. We hear so many people often saying ‘I am going to die very soon’. All their talk is centered around this topic with everyone.
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Just last week I met a woman who said she pictured herself dead and her two daughters holding each other and crying bitterly….actually this lady had gone for a laser operation… her blood pressure was rising and the doctors didn’t know why… she was too embarrassed to share with them… she told us that she feared death and this was the cause of the blood pressure rising.
Fear of marriage:
In today’s world we see marriages are falling apart for the flimsiest of reasons. So many think it is better to live single and without any commitment as they fear the worst to happen… Probably they have had a break-down in their own home or they have had one partner dominating the other.
In the past we had marriages breaking down after a few years but today it happens in days. Both husband and wife are under tremendous pressure on account of office work and other obligations that at the smallest possible opportunity people think their marriage is headed for the rocks and start evaluating the possibilities of living separately. They start speaking of divorce and that’s the beginning of the slide. Again Proverbs 18:21
Fear of criticism
This is an area I am struggling. I cannot take criticism as yet. I want to keep everybody happy. But if you have noticed carefully that whenever anybody does something he is praised by some and criticised by others. This is a rule of life. If you read letters to the editor column on the centre page, you will have mixed opinions, some admiring the topic others criticising that is bricks and bats.
Criticism is usually a defense mechanism utilised to boost our ego or our self-esteem by lowering the self-esteem of someone else. Constant fault-finding, belittling others, nagging are all symptoms of low self-esteem.
We read in the OT about Moses – God himself declared that there was no greater man than Moses in all of Israel but yet the people of Israel murmured many times against Moses.
The point I am trying to make is some of us fear criticism so much that we prefer to do nothing lest we be criticised. The first thought that runs in our mind is that we will be criticised. We even go to the extent of identifying who will be the person who will criticise. And you can be sure it will happen. Then we proudly say ‘I told you so’
Sometimes you would have wanted to do something for the Church but one of your family members would have said – you rogue, satan, you remember your past and there you are, Giving up, Considering yourself a misfit.
Some of us are so used to criticism that we cannot take a word of appreciation. The moment somebody appreciates or applauds us, we assume that that person has something up his sleeve.
Fear of sickness:
Each one of us at some point of time when we were critically ill, gave up all hope of living. We thought that we will have this sickness for the rest of our life. There are some who feared that they would beget cancer, blindness, paralysis, asthma at the traces of common cold and what not. I myself before I came to the Lord feared that I would get paralysis. I had the best of health but for some unknown reason I had this fear. Probably it was my elderly neighbour who got it and who was of my height.
Another fear in my life was of losing hair. I was born with scanty hair on my scalp and so I was told that I would lose my hair before I was 25. I always believed it. I had frequent dreams about it where I would see myself without much hair and my fears worsened. It was only as I was studying this area of fear that I realised that the Lord wanted to deliver me from such a fear.
Fear of failure
Because of our negative thoughts and looking at every area with a critical eye, we predict doom; we predict failure. Our speech is filled with negativism. Our thoughts are all centred on failure.. This clouds our mind, our thinking process and in the bargain we achieve what we are thinking.
Fear of darkness
There are some people who fear darkness. Some painful childhood memories, some movies or stories of ghosts / people hiding in the dark and suddenly pouncing has resulted in this fear. Some are afraid to venture out in the dark. They sleep with lights on during the night much to the discomfort of others.
Fear arising on account of the past – guilt and shame
Some of us have gone through some painful past wherein we have been abused, misused resulting in major damage to our mind, body and spirit. Today those painful memories keep coming and you remember that person or persons who harmed you and you are filled with fear. Will that person take advantage of me again? Will he bring up my past? Will he blackmail me? And you are living in fear.
You hate that person, you hate that sex, you dislike everything, you are tormented by fearful dreams and you lie awake at night not knowing what to do. You are restless and everything seems going out of hand. You can’t face people and want to hide yourself. Your lifestyle is affected, your work is affected, you become lonely and there is a lot of bitterness and un-forgiveness.
All of us go through these experiences in some form or the other with varying intensity at different points in our lives. With lifestyles deteriorating rapidly, today more than ever before this is becoming a way of life. The media tells us it is okay, they advertise it, everybody does it and we are snared into this lifestyle only to find ourselves in a big mess.
We recently read of the death of a top model & veejay in our city. She feared relationships; her previous two relationships had broken down and now the third one gave way. She herself admitted she was bad at relationships and took the extreme step of hanging herself to death.
Fear of the future
One fear that is engulfing man all over the world is the future. What does the future hold for me? Will I be able to get good marks in the exams? Will I get a good job, will I be able to pay all the bills? Will I be able to live in these days of rising costs? What will happen once I retire? How am I going to manage and so many other questions?
There are so many areas that the evil one causes us to fear that at some point of the day or night we are fearing one thing or the other. I read a list of phobias and they have been alphabetically arranged from A-Y. only Q and Z list of fears were missing.
Fear is an even bigger reality for us Christians. As we begin to walk our walk of faith with the Lord, Satan comes in all his vengeance to steal us through this area of fear. He directly attacks our Christian foundation – faith.
As I stated at the start Mt 8:26 – and Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" when they were caught in a storm.
Faith in Jesus is the key to overcoming fear. Faith and fear as I said are diametrically opposites and like a barometer. So you can determine what rules your life - faith or fear.
Having identified these areas of weakness let us identify the weapons we have to overcome fear. There are numerous scripture quotes from where we can gather strength, confidence and rebuke the spirit of fear.
The fight against the spirit of fear is not in the physical realm but in the spiritual, so we have to use our spiritual weaponry 2 Cor 10:4 – for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.
- Faith: As I have mentioned throughout this talk that faith in Jesus is the opposite of fear, so if fear has to go down and out, faith has to increase. Faith is the key to victory over fear. Eph 6:16 states ‘take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one’
- Praising & Thanking God: Praise does something good in our lives. It smothers the negative thoughts that crowd our mind.
- it brings us into God’s presence
- it gives us a perspective of the situation we are in
- it changes us. we cannot praise God and still be bitter.
I already gave the example of Paul & Silas in the prison. Acts 16:25
2 Chr 20:21-22 – ‘As they (i.e. Judah) began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against Judah’s enemies and the enemies were routed.’
The other thing is to listen to gospel music. As it plays and you are busy with your other chores you pick up the words and tune and start singing it. Sometimes you will repeat some of the lines during the course of the day
- Service: Occupy yourself with service for the Lord. As you get involved in some ministry work, you will keep your thoughts off fear. Additionally you will come in contact with people who could help you overcome your problem area or put you onto somebody who can help you out of the problem. You will have a prayer partner…. One word of caution, don’t do service to the point of a break-down and then say that everyone’s dumping work on you… take things you can do!
- Word of God: Continuing from Eph 6:17 ‘Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’
We are fighting the spirit of fear, of cowardice and the greatest weapon that we have with us is the two edged sword – the Word of God. There are numerous quotes which we can read and assert loudly when we are being tormented by the spirit of fear.
Having identified some areas of fear, let us identify a scripture verse for these areas
Do you fear man?
Psalms 56:4 “in God whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid ; what can flesh do to me”
Psalms 56:11 “in God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me”
Psalms 91:5 “You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by the day”
Do you fear weakness?
Psalms 27:1 “The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid”
Nehemiah 8:10 “The joy of the Lord is our strength”
Joel 3:10 “Let the weakling say, “I am a warrior””
Do you fear being incapable?
Philemon 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”
Do you fear death?
John 11:25-26 Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life… everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”
Do you fear marriage?
Eccle 4:12 A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Invite Jesus into your marriage and you have nothing to fear
Do you fear sickness and disease?
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the punishment that made us whole and by his bruises we are healed
Do you fear criticism?
Isaiah 51:7 “You people who have my teachings in your hearts; do not fear the reproach (criticise) of others, and do not be dismayed when others revile (insult) you”
Do You fear darkness?
Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
Do you fear failure?
Psalms 37:23-24 “Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way, though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand”
Psalms 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all”
Do you fear insecurity, the future?
Philemon 4:19 “My God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of the drought it is not anxious and it does not cease to bear fruit”
Do you fear the past?
Isaiah 1:18 “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool”
Do you trust in God, do you have faith in Him? Do you meditate on His word? There are more than 365 promises in the Bible and you could claim one each day and meditate on them. Each of these is a positive statement and the need of the hour for us Christians is to keep a positive outlook. Think positive. Every time you encounter a negative thought counter it with the Word of God.
Coming to the key verse for this evening 2Tim1:7. God knew from the beginning the one thing that would snare men was fear and repeatedly He assured them deliverance in this area. God did not give us a spirit of fear. It entered man because of the first sin of disobedience.
But because of what Christ did on the cross for our salvation we can claim the things God intended us to have
The Spirit Of Power
Luke 10:19 “See I have given authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you”
The Spirit Of Love – God is love. It was this love that caused him to sacrifice His Son for our salvation. This love is a powerful force.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love”
The Spirit Of A Sound Mind /Self-Discipline – Once fear has gone out of us, our minds will be in union with God and will be at rest. So often we say: “my mind is clouded; I cant think”. The battle with fear is a battle of the mind and once the mind is sound we can see through the ploys and tactics of the evil one and challenge these with the Word of God.
2 Corinthians 2:11 “so that we are not outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs”
The best example that we have in the Bible of a fearless man is David – the anointed one of God. I realised that in all these three talks that I have given here – praise, kindness and now on fearlessness, David stands out tall. He was rich in all these areas throughout his life
Read 1 Samuel 17 – David and Goliath
V10-11 When Goliath spoke, Saul & all Israel who heard his words were dismayed and frightened.
V24 When Goliath spoke again the same words and David who was present, heard these words. The Israelites fled when they saw Goliath and were filled with fear.
When David protested Goliath’s challenge, Eli-ab, his eldest brother was angry and criticised him. The story progresses and David makes a bold confession – .
Yes, when you are being tormented by this spirit of fear – boldly make this declaration and aloud – In the name of Jesus, I command you spirit of fear to depart from life. Never again shall you torment me.
As I conclude I leave you with a verse which gives me a lot of strength when I am in fear…
Isaiah 41:10 – I have chosen you and not cast you off
Do not fear, for I am with you
Do not be afraid, for I am your God
I will strengthen you; I will help you
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand
DO NOT FEAR, JESUS IS NEAR
Amen.