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PROGRAM D-7363
How many times do you say or think, “I’m afraid.” Fear is common to all of us; it is often our first response to anything unknown, anything that comes out-of-the-blue, anything that seems to threaten us. “I’m afraid.” I’m convinced the enemy of our soul uses this weapon of fear on us more than any other because we’re all vulnerable to fear and he seems to know just where to shoot those flaming arrows of fear at us.
I’m sure you know this, as I do, that God has never and will never give us a spirit of fear. Paul wrote to young Timothy: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). That doesn’t mean that all fear is harmful; some fears keep us safe, and certainly we should have a reverential fear of God. But a spirit of fear is never from God—an abiding, gnawing, debilitating fear is not how God deals with us.
So, if our fear is not from God, where is it from? From our enemy, from our past, from other people—you name it. But it’s not from God, so we can stand against it, rebuke it, refuse it, tell it we will not be brought under its power and by faith believe that since this fear is not from God, we don’t have to put up with it.
Now, I can tell you that it will take faith and time to come up against some fears that have been harbored in your heart for a long time. If you’re like me, there’s probably certain types of fear or certain times when fear gets to you easily. But remember, God does not want you and me to be saddled with a spirit of fear. It’s a miserable way to live, it steals our joy, which robs our strength, and as believers born from above and part of God’s family, we simply don’t have to live in fear.
So, next time you start to say, “I’m afraid,” stop yourself and quote Isaiah 41:10:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”