Fight the Fear

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment (2 Timothy 1:7 CSV).

How can I call myself a Christian and harbor fear? Can fear and faith co-exist? While “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and the Lord knows we could use a little wisdom in this country, fear of anything else is dangerous.

My Pentecostal and Charismatic friends used to spend an inordinate amount of time on the devil. They feared the devil. They would bind him and cast him out and rebuke him. They were always blaming the devil for any bad thing that happened. “My car quit. It’s just that old devil attacking me.”

Maybe it was the fact you hadn’t changed your oil since the Carter Administration.

Truthfully, a Christian should be wary of his adversary, but the enemy works largely by deception, either of the Christian himself or of those with whom we come in contact. There are a whole passel of people out there, many in church every Sunday, who are deluded and blinded by the prince of this world and his system. The deceived are pawns that the enemy uses to sidetrack us, and to create fear in us.

Resist fear. Fear feeds the devil.

“If you don’t stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (Isaiah 7:9)

If I could offer people one simple thought that will make their lives better, it would be that one: Stand firm in your faith. It doesn’t sound like all that much, but it is a first principle.

Faith is the only refuge against fear. Fear is the natural state, the natural reaction of the natural man. Fear deceives us. It causes us to over-react, to act in haste, to strike preemptively, to hurt someone else before they hurt us. Fear causes us to miss opportunities. Fear causes us to withdraw into ourselves instead of reaching out in love to others.

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand therefore...” (Ephesians 6:11-14a)

See, God has given us a spirit of power, love and good judgment. He has, or will if we ask, give us wisdom. We have all we need to overcome and to remain faithful despite all the stuff that comes against us day by day. You don’t believe it?

I am reminded of Yoda – and this is a rough quote from memory, “There is no try. There is only do or not do.”

You don’t try to believe. You don’t try to have faith. You just have faith, or you don’t. You just believe it, or you don’t. Stop letting fear rule your life. Stop living in disobedience to the leading of the Spirit. Stop doing wrong out of fear.

How many times have I told myself that my worry is just a function of being prudent and thoughtful? Wrong. Fretting is sin. It is disbelieving the goodness, the nearness, the truth of God. Worrying and being agitated and fearful inevitably cause harm.

I have this quote but I don’t have it referenced. It sounds like George MacDonald.

“The man who goes to church every Sunday, and yet trembles before Chance, is a Christian in name only, a Christian only because Christ has claimed him. He is not a Christian as having believed in Him.”

That’s a good summation.

You love the Lord and stand in awe of Him (i.e., fear Him) or you fear circumstances and chance, devils and democrats – but I repeat myself.

He ain’t called the ALL Mighty for nothing.

Don’t fear a “lesser god” – whatever name it goes by.

These things you fear are not gods at all. They are, at most, created beings. More often, they are merely the delusions of the darkness. Shine the light of God’s reality and love upon them and they either dissolve entirely or are shown for the minor annoyances that they are.

Fear not. Only believe.