Overcoming Fear

Faith is the opposite of Fear
I pray that Our Heavenly Father shines His light upon you. Dearest Father I am humbled that you have trusted me to share Your Word today. I pray that the message you have given me falls on fertile ground. I pray that the Holy Spirit breathes through me so that I may help your people know how much you love them. I pray that we go forth today with the courage, the faith, to live without fear because of your love. Dearest Father you are always faithful this I know and I thank you for your mercy and love.
I can’t imagine anyone waking up and not knowing how much Our Lord loves them. How Faithful He is to them. Yet I was once one of those people and so I know what a terrifying place that is to be.
I used to believe it was me against the world. I prayed but hadn’t taken the time to know and have a relationship with Jesus. Instead I tried to fix everything myself because I was afraid and I thought I only had myself to count on. I failed miserably. But then one day I felt God. In some ways it was like I remembered Him. He hadn’t forgotten about me. He was right there all the time I just needed to have faith, to open my eyes to see and to trust Him.
Before continuing, I have to tell you, that after receiving this message from the Holy Spirit I had to go into deep prayer. I wanted to walk back, soften this message that I am about to share. But God said this is a battle for souls. This is serious and people need to awaken to the truth and know what is required of them to have eternal life. When God speaks I listen – so here it goes.
Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is the evidence of a lack of faith in God because you doubt that God can be trusted with what you’re worried about. Apostle John explained,
There is no fear in love; but perfect love drives out fear: because fear has to do with punishment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)
A major issue with a spirit of fear is that fear is something God will punish. That is what the Apostle John is telling us in this verse. And ultimately fear is going to be punished with the second death in the lake of fire.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the vial, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
Notice that it was God who said these words in this order in Verse 8. God listed “the fearful” first, ahead of murderers and idolaters. Fear heads the list as it is the opposite of faithfulness to God. To have a spirit of fear at the end of our lives is before God just as bad as being a murderer or a whoremonger or an idolater.
Let’s consider the differences between the categories of people who will be destroyed in the lake of fire. All the other categories of condemned people involve sins where they did something wrong, something evil. But “the fearful” will be destroyed because they didn’t do something. The fearful didn’t cast out Satan’s spirit of fear. They didn’t confront that spirit of fear and deal with it.
As believers we MUST overcome the Spirit of Fear if we are to receive God’s promise of eternal life.
My good friend Kim told me a story about her time serving as a US Marine in Iraq. She was required to keep her equipment ready for combat at all times. One day her gun became covered in sand and a member of her unit said he would help her clean it. Kim replied she would do it and told him the truth was she would never fire that weapon and could not kill another human being. The other marine asked her if someone was pointing a gun at you and it is you or him what would you do? She said I would call on my God. WOW at a time when her life was on the line she would put her faith in God, not herself not her gun, not anyone, but God.
Do we fear those who threaten us in some way, or do we call on God to curse those who threaten our lives?
Our world today is filled with stress and anxiety and fear. We have wars and threats of war in multiple places around the globe. In our own community we have one stolen vehicle or a car case after another, and shootings and stabbings seem common place. We have kids that are abused and raped by those that should protect them. We have people who commit suicide because of things that other people say about them in social media. People are changing addresses and arming themselves because they fear being attacked. My own family wants me to move away from Rochester because they are fearful of what is coming.
Let’s have a look at what the Bible tells us about this subject.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
God does not give any person a spirit of fear. A spirit of fear is not something that emanates from God. What emanates from God is actually the opposite of a spirit of fear. We should first of all recognize that “a spirit of fear” is not a spirit of power, and it is not a spirit of love, and it is not a spirit of a sound logical mind.
There is nothing good or logical about a spirit of fear. The Greek word translated as “fear” in this verse is “deilia”, and it means: cowardice, timidity. A timid spirit has not come from God, and neither is a timid spirit accepted by God.
A spirit of fear, timidity, insecurity and cowardice comes from Satan. Satan rules through fear. Satan is the one who instills a spirit of fear in the people he seeks to control. And the most common fear Satan has installed in virtually all human beings is the fear of death. Satan readily acknowledged this fact to God in the Old Testament.
In speaking to God about Job, Satan revealed how he seeks to influence human beings. Satan assumes that all human beings will do anything to save their lives, including cursing God.
And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face. (Job 2:4-5)
Is Satan’s statement true for you and for me? Or have we been released from slavery?
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
When it says in Verse 14 that Satan “had the power of death” this can create a wrong impression. Satan does not have the power over life and death and that’s not what Paul meant.
What Satan has power over is instilling the fear of death into every human being’s mind, as Paul also spelled out in the next verse. That’s all Satan can do … influence our minds to be motivated by the fear of death. But the actual power over life and death is always, without exception, in the hands of Almighty God.
The fear of death is a powerful form of slavery. Satan actually counts on us to be willing to do anything, just to save our lives. That is the premise on which all his attacks on us are based.
Let me make this clear:
We must obey all of God’s commandments, yes. But obeying all of God’s commandments is not enough. We must also overcome the fear of death which Satan has instilled in virtually all of humanity. So if we keep all of God’s commandments, but we also still have a spirit of fear, then that is not acceptable to God.
This is something many people do not understand correctly.
That’s what Jesus Christ was speaking about in Matthew 16.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. (Matthew 16:25)
“Seeking to save our lives” is a reference to the fear of death.
Being prepared to lose our lives “for the sake of Jesus Christ” refers to overcoming the fear of death and fear in every area of our lives where Satan may try to threaten us. Not just some of our fears all of our fears. We need to realize that fears never achieve anything positive. Therefore we must eliminate them from our lives.
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Revelation 2:10-11)
What if we don’t overcome that fear; what if we are not “faithful unto death” … will we also receive “a crown of life”?
Scripture tells us Death is the enemy which we are not to fear.
You can hold on to Jesus or you can hold onto that negative medical report, a challenging financial situation or hurtful relationship. Fear or doubt has no place in a believer’s life. Whatever awaits me is the future and I’m facing it with Jesus.
Rejecting the spirit of fear is also what David spoke about when he said:
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those that diligently seek Him. (Heb 11:6)
Real faith is the greatest evidence that we have rejected Satan’s spirit of fear. People who don’t have faith are still controlled by the spirit of the fear of death. When we in our lives exercise real faith, we are showing God that we have rejected Satan’s trademark spirit of fear. It is the exercise of real faith that reveals that our minds have indeed accepted a new way of thinking and functioning. The fear of death or anything is no longer the foundation for how we think and reason. In simple terms: the old way of thinking is not based on faith, and the new way of thinking is based on faith in God.
Appearing boldly on our knees before God, when we are looking for God’s help in our lives, is likewise an expression of faith.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
“Boldly” here refers to “confidently”. It is not just a case of: do we pray? It is really a case of: do we pray confidently? Are we confident that our prayers are in agreement with God’s will? Are we confident that God will hear us and answer our requests for help? If so, then that represents a new way of using our minds.
Someone who still has a spirit of fear can pray, but that person will not be praying confidently. When we repented and rejected Satan’s spirit of fear, and changed over to a new way of thinking from a totally different foundation, God said to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (see Hebrews 13:5).
That’s a clear statement. It is not vague or ambiguous. The next verse says:
So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:6)
A mind that still has a spirit of fear has not been converted or turned to God.
Repent you therefore, and be converted (turned to God), that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19)
Repent means: we have to change the way we use our minds by casting out the spirit of fear and turning to faith trusting in God.
Be converted means: God then gives us His holy spirit, and we thereby become a changed person, whose thought processes have a new and different foundation.
The most significant part of repentance is casting that spirit of fear out of our minds. If we don’t do that, then we cannot change the way we think. But this is something we need to learn. It takes experience and testing to learn to cast out that spirit of fear.
It was in one my darkest hours that God gave me this verse and I began to hear and see Him in everything.
“Give me a sign of your goodness that my enemies may see it and be put to shame for you O Lord have helped me and comforted me.” (Psalm 86:17)
A few years ago I was under attack and some people were trying to intimidate me. I relied on this verse and confidentially called out to God for help. I trusted God. I knew He heard my prayer. I never opened a single piece of mail that individual sent. I had faith that God would handle this battle for me and He did. I was victorious. It was only because I had been tested and had experience casting out the spirit of fear that I was able to pray confidently. That doesn’t mean my life has been easy. I have been paralyzed. I have had cancer. I have had people try and kill me and have almost died numerous times. Each time I called on God and He answered.
The Truth is God is always faithful. With God there is never a moment You are forgotten. You are not hopeless or helpless. Though you have been broken. You are not defenseless. God hears your whisper underneath your breathe, when you have nothing left and think you can’t go on. God will rescue you. In the midst of your hardest battle, He will never stop trying to reach you.
In Exodus 3:13-14 Moses asked God what he should say His name is if the Israelites ask. In most English versions of the Bible we read that God said to Moses, I am who I am. In the Hebrew version of Exodus God said to Moses Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.
In the translation from Hebrew to English sometimes the richness of what God is saying is not fully revealed.
The Hebrew Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh is often translated as I am who I am
BUT it can also be translated to mean
I will become what I choose to become
I will be what I will be
I create what I create
I am the Existing One
I will be what tomorrow demands.
The last translations offers a bit more insight and maybe comfort. God is always whatever you need Him to be. So do not live in fear now or in the future as God is faithful and will be whatever you need Him to be.
He will make a way in your desert.
He will create streams your wasteland. (Isiah 43:19)
He bring the sunrise to your long night.
He will bring fire to your cold winter.
Not because we deserve it but because God loves us and He is faithful to us – and He commands us not to live in fear.
For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13)
This is God’s promise.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord I will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:29-31)
This is God’s promise.
Have faith in his promises and let go of the illusion you are in control.
The Devil is the father of fear, but God is the master of the future.
The Devil is the warlock of worry, but Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
The Devil is the architect of anxiety, but the Holy Spirit is the bringer of comfort.
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. (Isaiah 41:10)
Think of all our trials as tests that examine how much of the spirit of fear is still left in our lives. During that process the more we eliminate that spirit of fear, the more our faith in God will grow. And the more we eliminate the spirit of fear, the more all our thought processes will be based on a completely new foundation – a foundation of faith not fear.
If after receiving God’s holy spirit we do not complete the process of casting the spirit of fear out of our minds, then we are “wicked servants”. That sounds harsh, but it is true.
The Apostle Peter explained that God gives His holy spirit to those who obey God (See Acts 5:32).
So here is my point:
From baptism onwards one of our most important responsibilities is to work towards completely eliminating the spirit of fear from our lives. That is what all our tests are focused on.
Let’s look again at Psalm 23:4.
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
This refers to having no fears in the face of death. This is an expression of trusting God completely and unconditionally. It doesn’t matter what will happen; we trust God, that God will take care of us. This is the ultimate rejection of the fear of death.
That is what the Stephen did.
And while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60)
This was Stephen putting Psalm 23:4 into practice. He had cast that spirit of fear totally and absolutely out of his mind. He kneeled down before God without fear of what his murderers would do to him. And he was brutally killed.
Recall the incident where Jesus and His disciples were on a ship and a severe storm threatened to sink the ship. When the fearful disciples woke Jesus up, He said to them:
… Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. (Matthew 8:26)
When someone is fearful, it is obvious that the person only has “little faith”. It always comes back to expelling that spirit of the fear of death from our minds. Now the point we should acknowledge here is that in our own eyes our fears for our lives are very legitimate.
We believe that it is “perfectly normal” for us to fear for our lives in such circumstances. And our feelings here are correct … it is indeed “perfectly normal” to fear for our lives in such dangerous circumstances. It is normal because Satan’s spirit of fear is “perfectly normal” for all human beings.
Being “perfectly normal” is not the same as “being right”. A spirit of fear is never “right”, even if to us it is “normal”.
“While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to the ruler, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.” But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; just believe and she will be healed.” (Luke 8:49-50)
Don’t stop believing things will change. Don’t stop believing that God can get you to where you need to be. Don’t stop having faith in the dreams that He put in you. Don’t quit pursuing His will just because you face a challenge on your way to where God has promised you.
The enemy will entice you to walk in fear and stop believing God in one area, then, he will pursue to stop you from believing God in another. The result will be that you begin to quit in your prayers and in your faith. Yet, in contrast, when you stand and believe in Him, even with faith the size of a mustard seed, you can believe God for more and more. Nothing is ever dead in the hands of God. What pertains to you will live. Don’t quit believing He will do what He said.
The person that has not learned that every wind that blows can be used as a gentle breeze that guides us toward heaven has certainly not mastered the art of living by faith. In fact the only thing that helps no one is a dead calm. Every wind, whether from the north, south, east or west, may help us toward that blessed port. So seek only this: to stay well out to sea and then have no fear of the stormy winds.
With a nod to Pastor Carl there is always a song. Do It Again by Elevation Worship
Walking around these walls
I thought by now they’d fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle’s won
For You have never failed me yet
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence
You’ve never failed me yet
Jesus You’re still enough
Keep me within Your love
Your promise still stands
I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe I’ll see You do it again
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence
You’ve never failed me yet
And I never will forget
Father, Thank You for encouraging us today. Whatever is challenging our faith right now, we will not stop believing and trusting You. We Thank You for who You have been and who You are in our lives. Help us to continue to stand on Your word. We pray that the fear inside would flee and we have the courage to say to the enemy “I will not fear, but I will only believe.” In Jesus name. In Jesus name. I pray Amen.
Note. This is from the sermon first delivered by Melissa Mahler acting on the invitation of the Holy Spirit and Pastor Carl Parris at Free Deliverance Church in Rochester, NY on September 8, 2024.