FREEDOM FROM FEAR

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

This write-up was written to deal with the problems of fear, as they affect the believer. The dangers associated with fear cannot be over-emphasized. The lives of many believers have known constant harassment and torment from Satan because of their ignorance of these deadly devices of our enemy. Some have had their faith completely weakened as a result of fear.

THE PROBLEM OF FEAR

There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

A close study of the Bible reveals the mind of God concerning the subject of fear. The word “FEAR NOT” OR “FEAR THOU NOT occurs three hundred and sixty-six times in the Bible.

As it were, God was saying, we must live without fear everyday of our life. There are three hundred and sixty five days in the year and for each day God says FEAR THOU NOT”. God wants every one of His children to be fearless even in the face of fearful situation.

ORIGIN OF FEAR

Fear is a spirit. It is not a spirit from God but of Satan. Fear originated from sin. We are told that when Adam sinned in the garden, fear caused him to hide himself from the presence of God. When Adam was asked his where about,

“Where art thou?” his answer was “I heard thy voice in the garden and I was AFRAID” (Genesis 3:9-10).

Fear came as a result of sin and disobedience. It was when Adam sinned, he began to be afraid.

On the other hand, things you hear and see can also generate fear in you.

BOLDNESS IS A GIFT

Boldness is a gift from God. When a person is born again and has been filled with the Holy Spirit, one of the gifts he receives is the spirit of boldness and power. God replaces the spirit of fear and cowardice with His own spirit, the spirit of boldness and power. The Bible says;

For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

Apostle Peter was a man who knew fear. Fear led him to deny Christ three times within a short space of time. But we are also told that this same Peter on the Day of Pentecost was transformed and empowered. After that, he was distinguished as a very bold and fearless man.

See what was later recorded of this fearful Peter in Acts 4:13.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus”. A true knowledge of Christ and His Word establishes boldness in the life of the believer.

Fear, most times arises as a result of what we hear and see. The story is told of the twelve spies Moses sent out to spy the land of Canaan. A large number of the spies returned with an evil report of fear and unbelief. They saw giants with their eyes and so were afraid-Fear.

They said, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sights as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:33).

The giants they saw caused them to be AFRAID. What giants are you facing in your life? You are already an overcomer in Christ. Speak to the giants to bow before you. Confess God’s ability to overcome. “But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the Word of faith, which we preach….” (Romans 10:8).

There is POWER in the Word in your mouth.

DANGERS OF FEAR

Fear is one of Satan’s strongest devices against Christians today. It is used by the devil to weaken believer’s faith and testimony and thus force him into bondage. Fear hinders the child of God from achieving and at the same time denies him of God’s blessings. Indeed, it robs the Christian of God’s best. It deprives him of the benefits and privileges that God has provided for him in Christ. Fear has the ability to render its victim completely useless. When the spirit of fear possesses a man, even his best friend or wife becomes an enemy. Fear, indeed is torment.

Friend, are you born again? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Then you ought not to live in fear anymore. You have received the spirit of sonship and not of fear. God has not given you the spirit of fear. The spirit you have received, is the spirit of boldness, of power and of a sound mind.

The spirit you have received of God is not a spirit of bondage but a spirit of adoption-Yes, the spirit of Christ. If you have known the forgiveness of sin, then you are delivered from the spirit of fear. One of the victories Christ won for you on the cross, (when He said “It is finished”), is your deliverance from the bondage and grip of fear and its consequences. Christ died to remove all the curses that resulted from sin.

Fear is one of the consequences of sin. May believers today have been hindered from making progress in their Christian faith because of fear. They are afraid to venture out for God. They are afraid of failure. It is a shame to see Christians who have Known Christ and are meant to fellowship with God live in constant fear and bondage. This can’t be of God.

You must know and appropriate what God has done for you in Christ. Christ has paid the price for your fear more than 2000 years ago. Why must you remain in fear perpetually?

“There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

To overcome fear, you must be bold and express faith in God’s ability and in His Word. Faith is agreeing with what God has said in His word and fear is the absence of faith. Thank God, Christ has set you free from the spirit of fear. Praise God! To be ignorant of this truth is to be in bondage.

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