“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18.
Fear can hang over a person like a funeral shroud. When we get saved, Christ relieves us of these fears and replaces them with joy and confidence. Our spiritual life can lapse when Satan challenges us with old fears, however, and we often accept his deceptions. If this happens to you, your life becomes dominated by worry and fear: fear that everything is falling apart, that terrible things are going to happen, that people are against you, that you are losing your mind, etc. You gear most of your praying and thinking toward your own sanity and survival.
The New Testament uses two words for fear, delia which is cowardice or timidity; and phobos, defined as “a reaction to man’s encounter with force.” Kittle, N.T. Theological Dictionary. “A phobia is an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of an object or situation that poses little real danger but provokes anxiety and avoidance.” Mayo Clinic. Today, the sources of fear include
- Fear of people. We are afraid of people with whom we compare ourselves unfavorably, or who make us feel in adequate or inferior;
- Fear of ourselves. We can be afraid of ourselves in terms of how we may react to certain people or situations. We may be afraid that we will yield to temptation;
- Fear of the future. We may fear Calamity, Death, Disease, or Rejection;
- Fear of failure. We may be afraid of not measuring up to an ideal, or we may be controlled by perfectionism or be plagued by a poor self-image. The only fear that is justified is the fear of God. Oswald Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.”
Proper perception wins half the battle. You must regard fear as a spiritual enemy. It attacks the inward man (2 Corinthian 7:4-7) and it will enslave you in spiritual bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15). But it’s even worse than that. “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly (delois), unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:7-8.
How should you map your strategy against fear? The blood of Christ and the name of the Lord Jesus will triumph every time! “As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” Zechariah 9:11. And, because fear is not a tangible, physical enemy, deal with it as a matter of heart and soul. Fear is a spiritual enemy, and the Bible is kryptonite for fear. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.
The Word of God judges fear. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4. Reject any fear that undermines the Word of God! Challenge your fear with obedience to the Word of God. Focus on God rather than on yourself. Abraham counted on God’s performance. Paul relied on God’s power. Fear, anxiety, cowardice and timidity all meet their match in the Word of God! “Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1:8.