Fear – an unpleasant emotion
caused by the anticipation or awareness of danger, pain or a threat; dread;
terror; cause to flight; cowardice; timidity
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic
clock used to represent a countdown to global catastrophe. It has been maintained since 1947 by The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board. The clock hangs on the wall in their office
at the University of Chicago. The
factors that influence the “time” on the clock are nuclear weapons,
climate-changing technologies, biotechnologies, cybertechnologies, and anything
else that can destroy our civilization. On January 26, 2017, the Doomsday Clock
was moved up by thirty seconds. These
scientists say we are now at 2 ½ minutes until midnight, or doomsday.
Few of us want to hear warnings
about catastrophes in our future. It
strikes fear in us. But even Jesus gave
warnings to His disciples about things that were coming on the earth. He said
that the powers of the heavens would be shaken, the sea and waves would roar,
there would be distress among the nations, tribulation, persecution and “men’s
hearts failing them for fear.” Then He said, “And when ye
shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled”. Jesus was telling His disciples not to fear
all these things.
Don’t be troubled? Don’t fear?
How can anyone face such overwhelming circumstances and
not be troubled or afraid? Why
did He tell them those things? To scare
them? Of course not! He told them so they could be prepared…and so
we can be prepared.
If
Jesus said not to be afraid, we need to take Him seriously that there is a way
to conquer fear. We can find our way through the Word of God and by taking a
closer look at the various types of fear.
Then we will see how Satan uses them to paralyze us and destroy our
faith in ways we may not have realized before. When we see how Satan uses fear
against us, we can be equipped.
Otherwise, fear will shut us down.
It will send us spinning in circles trying to fix things that only God
can fix. It will put our mind in a state
of such turmoil that we cannot think clearly.
Fear is a diversionary tactic of the devil to turn us away from our
faith and confidence in God. It paralyzes us from moving forward.
Let’s
look at some of the various characteristics of fear. One of those characteristics is called dread. Dread is an anxious anticipation of
evil. It isn’t terror, but rather an
inner darkness and sense of foreboding.
It reminds me of the darkness and eerie stillness just before a tornado
hits. Dread hangs over us like the lull
before the storm…even when there is no storm.
It gives us a continual sense of danger approaching. When dread rules, we don’t expect anything
good to happen. We see the negative in
every opportunity God sends instead of having confidence that He is working all
things for our good. We let dread lead
us down the path of defeat instead of victory.
Don’t
you think Satan must have tried to put dread in the hearts and minds of the
great men of faith? “Joseph, you will
never be free again. Just be content
that you have favor here in prison.”
“Peter, you missed your chance.
You denied the Lord. It’s over
now, and there is no turning back.” We
are not to live in a dream world and pretend our circumstances aren’t real, but
we can’t let fear convince us they are bigger than God.
Another
type of fear will “cause to flight”. It
is something that makes us run. That
happens to a lot of people when God asks them to step out in a new area. (Remember Jonah?) Or it may be a problem that
is bigger than we are, so we are faced with a challenge. We can accept the challenge, or we can
run. We can step out in faith to obey
the voice of the Holy Spirit, or we can retreat. This type of fear will bring up every
negative reason for us to turn away from the call.
Even
Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go?”
He brought up the fact that he wasn’t good at speaking and the people
wouldn’t believe him. Finally, he said,
“O, Lord, send somebody else!” (my paraphrase)
Fear
probably tried to tell David, “You can’t kill Goliath! Run while you have the chance.” “Peter, you can’t walk on water or preach a
sermon! Don’t do something foolish.” And
the enemy of our souls will call your name, too, and say, “you can’t (fill
in the blank).” Don’t listen to him. When you are reasoning out if you can do it
or not, don’t factor out God. If Satan
can trick us into listening to his voice and acting on it, he can snuff out our
faith, just like putting out the light of a candle. When God calls us to something or we face a
challenge, He says, “Fear not, I am with you.” What more do we need?
Cowardice
and timidity are fears that cause us to withdraw from life in the Spirit. This type of fear will immobilize us and
cause us to constantly pull back because we are afraid to make a move.
When
I was a little girl, I was afraid of monsters under my bed. Now, technically, I knew they weren’t there,
but I was afraid of the darkness and the unknown. It was an unfounded fear. When we get older, our fears change, but most
of them are still unfounded. They turn into
“what-ifs”. “What if I fail? What if I
heard God wrong? What if people reject
me or come against me? I might do the wrong thing, so I will just do nothing.”
Usually,
we know what God said, yet we keep questioning Him. But He doesn’t say anything else because He
has already told us what to do. If we
continue listening to this type of fear, it will hold us captive in
indecision. Then we will either
compromise by doing something that seems a little safer, or we will hesitate in
confusion and insecurity until the opportunity passes. Either way, fear has done its job. We cannot allow fear to intimidate us and rob
us of our relationship with God and our work in His kingdom. So, what are we to do?
In
Mark 4, Jesus taught the disciples a lesson in faith. They found themselves in
the middle of a terrible storm in the sea. The storm they were battling was
very real. It was very dangerous and
about to drown them all as the waves covered their boat. It wasn’t an imagined danger, but one they
were literally in the middle of. They
woke Jesus and asked Him, “Do you not care that we perish?” And He said, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked
the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of
man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!” (Matthew 8:23-27) The disciples were given a glimpse of His
power and authority, even over the wind.
They saw a little more clearly Who He was and what He could do. They were learning to have a little more
faith in every situation they encountered with Jesus. We can, too.
Why
are we
so fearful? Why do we have so little
faith? Faith comes from trusting Jesus,
and trusting Him comes from having a close relationship with Him. And we can’t
have a close relationship with Him if we don’t know Who He is, what He can do,
what He taught, and what He still teaches those who will listen. Faith will overcome fear. Faith will lead us on in the face of danger
and uncertainty.
When
fear overtakes us and crushes our faith, we need to realize what is happening
and overcome it. Romans 10:17 tells us
how. “So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God.” That is
simple enough, but it takes some initiative on our part. Be careful what you read, what you watch,
what you listen to, what you allow inside of you. If we are not careful, fear will set up a
blockade between us and Jesus. When that happens, it blocks the light and we
find ourselves groping in darkness.
Darkness brings fear and is full of lies. Light brings truth. Truth brings faith. Faith
eliminates fear.
The more we read
the Word of God and listen to the voice of God speaking to our spirits, the
stronger our faith will be. Hearing the
Word is the first step. But, the word
‘hear’ means more than just hearing with the physical ear. It means “a receiving of the message”. In other words, we have to take what our ears
hear and put it into practice day by day as situations present themselves to
us.
Here is a random
example. When we read Ephesians 4:26-27,
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither
give place to the devil”, then we need to use some self-control to keep from
sinning when we get angry. We also need
to make sure we have our anger resolved before the day ends so it won’t take
root in our spirits. It’s that
simple! Follow the instructions you read
in the Bible.
Fear comes from
hearing, believing, meditating on and acting on the words of the enemy. It comes with practice. Faith comes from hearing, believing,
meditating on, and acting on the living Word of God. It comes with practice.
It may sound
like a terrible struggle, but it’s really not.
Our part is simply to “let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly.”
(Colossians 3:16) It is a decision that
will build confidence and trust in Jesus and a faith strong enough to conquer
fear. If you don’t eat any food for a
few days, you will be weak. If you don’t
communicate with Jesus for a few days, you will be spiritually weak.
Remember, fear
pushes us with threats and lies. Faith
leads us gently with light and truth.
Jesus said, “Fear
not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.” We may see some perilous
times, but He will be with us, and He will give us the kingdom.
“Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”
“faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.”
(Additional Scriptures: Psalm 56:3; Luke 12:22-34; Psalm 46:1-10;
Ephesians 6:10-18)
