Last night I was listening to a minister on Daystar TV who was telling about how so many people are bound by fear in so many areas. Fear of relationships, flying, failure, storms, being alone, public speaking and so many others you would have to see the list yourself. A phobia is defined in Webster’s New World College Dictionary as “an irrational, excessive, and persistent fear of some particular thing or situation”. I did a “Google” search on phobia and did not take the time to count all of the listed types of phobias because there must have been over a thousand. If I had tried to count them, I am afraid I would have missed some. Many Christians I know seem to express fears as openly as those I know who do not claim to be Christians and who do not attend any church. With all of the deliverance ministries around the country and other ministers teaching about overcoming fear, it seems that Christians should be some of the strongest emotional people in our society, yet thousands of ministers walk away from spiritual callings each year and others go to counseling. The reason so many people who try to get set free of fear and are unable to be is because they do not know their enemy, fear; so their efforts are like a boxer who is shadow boxing. The shadow boxer jumps around with good form, dodging and ducking back and forth making great swings, but he is not hitting anything because there is nothing to hit.
First, we must determine just what fear is if we expect to fight it and win the victory. Every minister that I have heard through the years talks about fear as if it is a gripping emotion, but it is not! Fear is not an emotion and fear is not from the devil! It can cause a lot of severe emotions in us, but fear is not an emotion. That is very important because as Christians we have a physical body, a soul (mental and emotional) and Spirit. So, if fear is not an emotion in our soul, what is it?
The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Spirit of fear tells us that fear is a spirit, and it certainly is not God’s Spirit; therefore, it is the devil! Fear is not an emotion, and fear is not from the devil; fear is the devil! Any time you get above being anxious to start becoming fearful, the devil is making his presence known to you to try to terrorize you so much that you will be unable to find God’s presence or will. As long as he can keep you in terror, he will have the advantage in the circumstances and as Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The devil will not stop tormenting you in these circumstances until he has your life, or until you turn with all your heart to the Lord for help, or God in His mercy intervenes.
Now a couple questions that need to be answered are: 1) How is the devil able to attack us Christians in specific areas to terrorize us? and 2) How do we get free or escape from his attack? The two answers are naturally tied together, but for clarity I will try to answer them separately. First, when we violate or reject any of God’s Word or Will we are giving satan the advantage in our life. The devil has no power, for all power and authority has been given to Jesus, Matthew 28:18. But when we reject God’s Word, we give satan control in the circumstances. For example, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 states that we forgive others lest we give satan the advantage. Ephesians 4:26-27 says to be angry and sin not……neither give place to the devil. In Matthew 6:15, Jesus says that if we do not forgive others, then neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us. Therefore, if you have rejected any of God’s Word or God’s Will for you to teach a class, to work with the youth or elderly, to preach fulltime, or whatever call from God you have rejected, you will not be in a very good position to fight the devil since you are out of fellowship with God. You must make sure that your heart is right with God before you start trying to fight the devil because in James 4:7 the Scripture states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he (the devil) will flee from you.” So then, the first step is to submit your whole heart to God and His Will for you—even if it means making several lifestyle changes! You cannot fight off the devil’s attacks, only God can!
Another consideration is your phobia or area the devil is attacking probably is one in which you do not know God’s promises or you may not be accepting the promises you know into your heart to faith. Hebrews 4:1 states, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” If you must fear, fear missing God’s great and precious promises that He wants so much for us to receive and enjoy. He even double sealed His promises to assure us that He will back them up if we will only do our part as stated in Hebrews 6:17-18, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise (you and I) the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” God spoke the promises which should have been enough, but then He swore by an oath not to break the promises. We must study God’s promises for health, prosperity, protection, our life mates, or for whatever your area of concern for which the devil is attacking you. The reason it is so important for us to know and accept into our hearts God’s Word for these areas is because our doubt is what opens the door for the devil to attack us! When we have a serious problem and we doubt that God will heal us, provide for us, or protect us, our doubt gives the devil the advantage in the situation because we do not have God’s provision available through faith to us because of our doubt. Hebrews 6:12 states, “That ye be not slothful (lazy), but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” We must hear the promises from God and accept them into our hearts to faith for the promises to be activated for us in our problem. If we do not know the promises or reject them, we will be giving satan the advantage. Doubt opens us up to the killer—fear (satan). Don’t wait until you have a serious problem, seek the Lord for His promises in the good times and the bad times will not be so bad. Just knowing the words of God’s promises is not the final answer, we must trust God enough to receive the words of His promises into our heart to faith because Hebrews 11:6 states, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Jesus says in John 6:63 that His Words are Spirit; therefore, we must receive His Words (His Spirit the Living Word) into our hearts for us to receive the work of grace in us to bring peace in our hearts as He provides the victory and makes the devil flee.
Solution: Start seeking through the Scriptures for all of God’s promises for your areas of concern. Pray and ask God to help you receive them to faith into your heart for the grace that will bring you peace in the storm. Let any fear be a red flag to let you know the devil is present and immediately ask yourself, “What is it about God that I doubt?” Submit to God by praying to get the doubt cleared up, resist the devil and he will flee, James 4:7.
If you have time, look at my videos, “Our Faith Overcomes the World,” “Hearing God Speak,” “Faith Process,” and “Deliverance Prayer.”
Have a good day, God Bless You!
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