I want to encourage you with these words from II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The truth espoused in this scripture is not merely a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. Of course, you can take it or leave it. However, if you want to be a victorious Christian—and I am sure you do—this truth needs to get down into your spirit and scream loudly and clearly against the fears of tomorrow when they rise up! It needs to scream loudly within you when you hear reports about how bad the economy is, how things may never be the same, and so many other evil reports. We, the Body of Christ, need to get this scripture in us now more than ever before. We need to be ever ready to stand against fear. We must always remember that fear is not our friend; it is decidedly our enemy! It is not for us but against us!
When you understand this truth, you are on your way to developing your faith. This is the case because faith and fear are at the opposite side of the spectrum. Fear and faith are mutually exclusive; they cannot exist together. So when you refuse fear, you open the door to faith. And you are assured of victory in every area where you let faith in. On the contrary, when fear rules your life, it opens you up to the control of the enemy and subjects you his evil intentions. That’s one reason that the enemy wants nothing more than to trap and keep you in fear. That fear keeps you from stepping out in faith into God’s plan for life. It will steal your destiny. Don’t let that happen!
There is no such thing as good fear. A little fear is never good, never from God, and should never be allowed to control your life. God reminds us over and over again in the Word to fear not. When the admonishment to fear not appears in the Bible, it is usually accompanied by the very important assurance that God is with you! It logically follows that when God is with you, the prospect of fear is utterly ridiculous! In essence, you should neither accept nor tolerate fear in your life. If you have any type of fear—for example of bugs, people, circumstances, or anything—God wants you to know that it did not come from Him. God is love, and perfect love casts out fear, so there is no fear in or from God.
II Timothy 1:7 also informs us that our Father has given us power to overcome fear. We have power to cast it down in Jesus’ Name, power to say no to it, to confront it in any form, and deny its control over our lives. You can boldly and confidently say to fear: You will no longer hinder me from going into my Promised Land. You will no longer influence my decisions in life. You can resist fear in the Name of Jesus, and it will leave you. In fact, if you do not resist fear, it will remain with you, not merely to influence you but ultimately to control you. But you have the power to put it out of your life.
We also learn from II Timothy 1:7 that God has given us love instead of fear. Like faith and fear, love and fear cannot coexist. Love flows out from God and opposes fear. In fact, God is love (I John 4:8). Therefore, there is no fear in God, not even a little bit, and neither should we allow it in us. We should allow love and faith, as opposed to fear, to characterize the words that regularly proceed from our mouths. Words tainted with fear and doubt can deter us from the will of God. Numbers 13 and 14 illustrate a case in point. In this story, a particular group of Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land even though God was willing to take them there. They spoke words of fear that brazenly countered God’s will to take them into the Promised Land. Specifically, they spoke that they would not be able to take the land, and they consequently missed out on God’s provision. Do not let fear force you to miss out on God’s blessing.
The Apostle Paul concludes II Timothy 1:7 by saying that we have a sound mind. This means we are to be at peace even when fear is all around us. We are to look to Him to protect us, to keep us, to sustain us, and be there for us when we are afraid. David told us exactly what to do with fear, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (Psalms 56:3). David had plenty of opportunities to fear, but he did not take any of them. Even when surrounded by powerful enemies, like Goliath and King Saul, David trusted God. As such, he is an example to us! When fear grips you like it has gripped the world, remember to trust God to keep you. Remember that He is bigger than fear.
I have one last scripture: “...greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
This is a scripture, along with the previous one and so many others, you can say over and over again whenever fear comes on or against you. Saying these scriptures repeatedly will help you develop strong faith and trust in God’s ability as well as remember that God is for you. And that will keep you from yielding to fear.
Finally, it behooves you to know that feeling afraid is not the same as being afraid. In essence, you are not afraid because you feel afraid but rather because you act afraid. You let that feeling of fear influence your actions—that is, keep you from following the will of God for your life at any given time. Don’t let fear rob you! Determine to obey God, no matter how you feel and fear not!
God bless you as you continue to hear and heed His Voice!
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