Fear-Don’t Live With It
Why should I
pray when I can worry? Most people don’t pray so they must worry.
Why worry when you can pray! If we prayed believing God’s Word we
would not worry. A believer can live without fear and worry.
Matthew 10:26-31
The world around
us builds fear. The psychology prevalent in our society today is
fear.
From Sin,
Sickness and the Saviour in the book
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus page 114: The
context is why people do not go to God when they are sick.
“The devil goes
around trying to scare you, to put fear in you. Fear is that thing
that keeps us from going to God time and time again for our
deliverance. It is fear of community, fear of what people may say,
fear of what somebody else may say that
is rooted down within. And you might as well get honest about it
sooner or later, the basis is always fear.
If I am afraid that I will not be delivered then I will not go to
get healed. If I am afraid that nothing can be done for me any more
then I will not go.”
Psalm 34:4 I
sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my
fears.
Whoever has eyes
to see and ears to hear is aware that our times are in a crisis of
confusion.
Jeremiah 49:24
Isaiah
The world is
loaded with fear. Wars and rumors of war.
The skyrocketing
cost of just basically living today. Read the papers. Watch the
news. They are trying to keep us in touch with world fear.
Trying to get us to fear their fear.
Mankind as a
whole is experiencing a crisis of confusion. Manifestations of
Satan’s conspiracy of fear abound around us. For most people, the
future is a question mark.
But we do not
have to fear the world’s fears. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,
or that we should be stupid about them. However,
wouldn’t you rather live being comforted by what God’s Word
says, than live with the fear the adversary has the world gripped
in?
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man
bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth
his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
There is
basically only one thing that ever defeats the believer—Fear! Fear
is the believer’s only enemy. I hate fear! Fear is always wrong. [having
a healthy respect for something is different.] Fear has ruined more
Christian lives than any other thing.
Don’t be tricked
by fear. Don’t fall for the snare of fear. Fear stops us from acting
on the promises of God.
I Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour:
A lion roars to
freeze his prey. If the prey keeps moving and doesn’t stop for fear,
he can escape. We have been bought with a price, don’t let the roar
of the adversary freeze you into stopping what God wants done in
your life.
I Peter 3:12-15
Our times are no
different than Isaiah, Jeremiah or Peter’s. Fear is still prevalent
in our society. We need to recognize that fear is an enemy, an enemy
of believing, an enemy that stops us from doing the will of God.
Believing is a law. When we act on the promise of God, we receive
the benefit of that promise.
Romans
21 And being
fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to
perform.
Be like Abraham,
not like Job in believing.
Job
When we have
fear, we cannot believe God and receive an answer to prayer.
Mark
23 For verily I
say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his
heart, but shall believe that those things which he
saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I
say unto you, What things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
This is the law
of believing. It does not say, “maybe”,
“perhaps” or even “sometimes.” It states that anyone who believes
God’s Word will be blessed. Positive believing, literally acting on
what God’s Word says, believing God, gives you the fulfillment of
the promises of God in your life.
But if a person
believes the lies of the devil, he is going to be full of fear and
thus reap the corresponding results, by taking no action.
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God.
Anxiety or thankfulness?
Let your request be made known to God.
We confess what
God says in His word. We believe God’s promises on the subject
prayed for, and fears disappear.
Psalm 139:8
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art
there: if I make my bed in hell [
The Lord is with
us. We must expect to be safe.
Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinketh
in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith
he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
Whatever we
are believing is how we are going to be
living. Fear stops believing. It kills action. It stops you from
trusting God and His promises. We need to change our thinking
patterns any place that we find ourselves not thinking what the Word
says about a specific situation.
Mark
36 As soon as
Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith
unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not
afraid, only believe.
Jesus Christ
immediately tried to alleviate the fear in this situation that a
statement like that would bring. Doubt and fear are not normal. You
do not have to learn to live with your fears.
The gospel John
has a chapter that illustrates how one can have victory over and
from fear.
John 14:1-4
Jesus borrowed
these statements from the marriage ceremony. After living with the
bride’s family, the groom would leave his wife
there and go to his father’s
house and prepare a room there for himself and his now wife of a
year.
John 14: 5-31
Nothing but the
power of the holy spirit in the living
Word in an individual takes the fear out of him. It gives you the
boldness, the enthusiasm, the dynamics to stand up for the integrity
and the greatness of God’s Word.
Don’t let the
world get to you. Allow the Word of God to dwell in you
richly instead.
The world gets
what it deserves.
II Peter 3:7-13
God has rescued
us out from among this present world.
Colossians
So we can enjoy
His benefits now and for all eternity.
Isaiah
26:3 Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:
because he trusteth in thee.
4 Trust ye in
the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
We can rest in
perfect peace when our minds are stayed on God, for we trust His
Word.
Job 35:10
But none saith,
Where is God my maker, who giveth songs
in the night;
We can call to
remembrance our “song in the night.”
Look at what
David in Psalm 3 writes. This is a Psalm that David wrote concerning
his fleeing before his son Absalom.
Psalm 3:1-8
Let’s explore
what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4.
Proverbs 4:18-23
Is this the
attitude toward God’s Word that is hidden in your heart?
Jeremiah
Have no fear God
will take care of you.
Philippians
With all the
family of God in our times, we are persuaded that God can and does
supply all our need, and that He is able to fulfill this promise:
Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us.
We have entered
the 21st century and despite the conspiracy of darkness
surrounding us, we can look forward to the greatest days of our
lives as we continue to claim the promises of our God, holding forth
the Word of life and rejoicing in the light of it.
Psalm 90:10
The days of our years are threescore
years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
yet is their strength labour and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
12 So teach us
to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalm 149:5
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let
them sing aloud upon their beds.
It’s still God
in Christ in you, the hope of glory.
II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.
We have not
received a spirit of fear, of cowardice, of timidity. This word
comes from fearful, with a final root meaning “to dread.” Life has
some unexpected turns, ask Simon of Cyrene.
We march on unafraid.
Luke 1:5-30
Gabriel had to
first deal with the person’s fear, before moving to the business at
hand, which was God’s business.
Some teach we
are to be afraid of God, that fearing God is to be afraid of Him, be
in dread of Him. If we are to be afraid of God why is Gabriel
telling Zacharias and Mary not to fear.
If fear in these
verses is the dread kind, how do you explain verse 74?
Luke 1:74
That he would grant unto us, that we
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear,
We are to serve
God without fear. Quite a contradiction if we are to be afraid of
God. There is more than one definition of fear. We are to love God
with our whole mind, heart soul and strength. We are to show Him the
proper respect, the proper reverence He is due. We are not to be in
fear of Him. How can you come boldly to the throne of His grace if
you are afraid of Him?
Hebrews
Godly fear—fear
of God. Show respect, awe, reverence for God, your Father that is
due Him.
I John
19 We love him,
because he first loved us.
God is love.
When we manifest His love, fear leaves.
John
Fear builds
unbelief. Unbelief is not believing, not
taking the necessary action to act literally on what God has
promised in His Word.
Fear which
culminates in unbelief is due either to wrong teaching or ignorance.
Fears, whether from ignorance or wrong teaching, are always encasing
and always enslaving and they always defeat us because when we have
fear in our lives, we cannot act positively on the promises of God
that are in His Word.
John 20:19 Then
the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the
doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and
saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Was anything for
God getting done? They were locked in a room.
Acts 2:1-4, 14,
22, 23
That takes some
boldness! What changed Peter? How did he get so bold?
The external proof that there had been a change
on the inside. The power of the holy
spirit in the living Word in Peter’s life took the fear out
of him.
Acts 3:12-14,
No fear. Work
for the Lord is getting accomplished now.
Today we can
live without fear. We believe that the power from the Holy Spirit is
within us giving us the boldness, the enthusiasm, the dynamics to
stand up for the integrity and the greatness of God’s Word.
Luke
Fear cause
them to send the Lord Jesus Christ away.
Hebrews 11:23 By
faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,
because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of
the king’s commandment.
No fear! Even in
the face of Pharaoh’s direct order!
Hebrews 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage.
We have already
been pardoned from the devil’s biggest and best punch, death. So we
can live with a “God first, fear gone” attitude.
Hebrews 13:6 So
that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me.
Psalm
The future is
looking up. It’s as good as the promises of God.