God's Word on
THE SPIRIT OF FEAR
by: Pastor Max Solbrekken
"For I the LORD thy God will hold
thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." (Isaiah 41:13)
MY
PEACE I GIVE TO US - LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED
Jesus said, "Peace I leave
with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid." (John 14:27)
THE
WORD OF GOD STATES: “Fear thou not, for I am with thee.”
Since God does not give
anyone the spirit of fear, it is evident that fear comes from Satan, and Satan
is the ENEMY of God. Satan is also
the enemy of man.
When Jesus' powerful blood
sweeps over our souls, fear must leave immediately! There is no room for
Satanic bondage of any kind in the life of a Christian.
"Fear thou not; for I
am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help
thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10)
A marvelous story of faith has come to us from the Second World War:
In the Battle of Britain, the German Luftwaffe
rained down about thirty-five thousand bombs upon London during nightly air
raids, causing terrifying fear and tremendous destruction and mayhem in large
parts of the city.
For months, as sirens wailed out warnings of
approaching German bombers, the general population automatically hurried toward
the nearest Air Raid Shelter! People learned to look after one another during
the nightly raids and the ’morning after’ walk abouts and clean-ups.
After a terrible night of bombardment, an elderly
woman was not seen in a certain neighborhood for several days. Her neighbors
assumed that she had either been killed by the falling bombs or that she had
gone to the countryside to escape the danger, disruption of life and incessant
noise.
Sometime later, a neighbor spotted the elderly
woman walking down the street and articulated his happiness that she was alive
and well.
"It’s nice to see you back", he said. "I have not been away", she replied.
"Where
have you been?" he asked.
"I’ve been at home", said the woman. "What
have you been doing at home during the air raids?” inquired the neighbor. "Sleeping", she answered. "How could
you sleep with all the noise and explosions?" he asked.
"Oh", she replied, "I was reading my
Bible and found in Psalms 121: 4 where it declares that God doesn’t slumber nor
sleep, so I thought there was no point in both of us staying awake."
The Bible says: ”Fear thou
not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen
thee; yea, I will help thee; yea. I will uphold thee with with the right
hand of My righteousness.” (Isaiah 41: 10)
WHAT
IS FEAR? AND WHAT DOES FEAR DO TO US?
“Fear thou not; for I am
with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness."
(Isaiah 41:10]
Fear is a corrupting,
constricting and crippling agent! Fear corrupts us. Fear consumes the thoughts and controls the
mind. Fear is divisive, demeaning and destructive! It creates a divided heart
which brings only condemnation and confusion.
When we allow fear in our
minds and in our hearts, we are not allowing the Lord to give us the peace that
he promises us in the scriptures.
The Holy Scriptures
declare: ”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:
17-18)
The Bible states,
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths."
FEAR
DESTROYS THE PERFECT LOVE THAT GOD GIVES US
Fear destroys the perfect
love that God gives us by the unbelief it breeds in our hearts! When we put our full trust in the Lord, we
give him our troubles and our fears. We
are released from fear through the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we walk with Him,
read the Word of God and pray, he gives us perfect peace.
The Bible says, "Say
to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance,
even God with a recompense: he will come and save you." (Isaiah 35:4)
It constricts the flow of
the Holy Spirit and reduces the fruit that faith produces! Its crippling effect
erodes the peace and joy that results from receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and
Saviour.
Why? Fear hampers the
normal functions of the Gifts of the Spirit, making victims and spiritual
cripples of servants and emissaries of our Lord.
The Bible states: ”But let
him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the
sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall
receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his
ways.” (James 1: 7-8)
FEAR
IS THE UNIVERSAL ENEMY
Fear is demeaning because
it makes you think, say and do things that makes you look foolish, puts you
outside the will of God and is out of character with Christian living! It is
destructive because it destroys your confidence in God and His Word and therefore
your fellowship with Him.
The Bible confirms: ”For
if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do
those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3: 20-22)
What is the underlying
cause of condemnation? Plain and simple: Sin. And what is the antidote or solution
for the serious problem of sin? The answer in a nutshell, is the Blood of
Jesus.
WHAT
CAN WASH AWAY MY SIN?
The Bible says: ”If we
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sins. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all sins.”
(1 John 1: 7,9)
When the
sin is cleansed away, condemnation leaves and faith leaps to the forefront!
Then, miracles occur as God answers prayer in response to sincere faith-filled
petitions coming from a clean heart!
Fear brings trepidation,
torment and terror! It is an enemy, but fear can be neutralized, beaten and
vanquished. The Bible
states: ”God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and power and a
sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Since God does not give
anyone the spirit of fear, it is evident that fear comes from Satan, Satan who
is the Enemy of God. Satan is the enemy of man.
The Holy Scriptures
declare: “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:
17-18)
Jesus said: The thief
(Satan) cometh not but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I am come that
ye may have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.” (John 10: 10). Former alcoholic and drug addict, James Payne, wrote a Gospel song titled
John 3: 16. Here are the lyrics:
"Alone one night at the end of my rope
In a hotel in Nashville praying for hope
In my hand was a Bible I had read as a child
On the table was the bottle that was driving me wild
I poured the whiskey into the glass
Praying that somehow I could forget my past
Then I remembered how Jesus had died on the tree
I poured out the whiskey and fell down on my knees
The night old Jack Daniels met John 3:16
God’s Word broke the chains that he had over me
I traded Tennessee whiskey for Calvary’s tree
The night Ol’ Jack Daniels met John 3: 16
That is the exact reaction of the spirit of fear
meeting the blood of Jesus.
When Jesus' powerful blood
sweeps over our souls, fear must leave immediately! There is no room for
Satanic bondage of any kind in the life of a Christian.
The Blessed Holy Spirit
makes us free from sin, free from guilt and free from fear. And He keeps us
free for God’s glory.
US President Roosevelt
stated: "The only thing to fear is fear itself."
In many cases that is
true. Because fear is a spirit, when it digs its deceptive tentacles into a
victim, raw fear often proves to be far worse than the object of the fear.
In Middle East folk lore
there is story of a great warrior who meets a mythical rider called Death,
carrying a gigantic scythe! Addressing him, the warrior says: “I have just come
from a battle where I left 5,000 men dead.
Where have you been and
where are going?” Replying, the mystical rider says: “I have just left the area
to which you are heading." Inquiringly, the warrior asks: ”How many dead will I find
there?” Death answers: “The plague killed 5,000."
The next week, the great
warrior again meets the mythical rider on the windswept desert. He hails the
scythe - carrier with a shout: “You lied to me. The plague left 50,000 dead. You told me that you had killed only 5,000!”
Death replies: “I told you the truth. 5,000 perished from the plague. The
rest died of fear!"
An old adage says: “Cowards
die a thousand times before their death. The valiant tastes of death but once!’
Without doubt, fear is a real enemy and robber. The Bible character Job, after
having been attacked by Satan, confessed: “The thing which I greatly feared
is come upon me.” (Job 3: 25)
DO
NOT BE AFRAID – CALL UPON GOD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
When things go wrong and
it appears that the bottom has dropped out of everything, that is not the time
to become afraid or to panic.
God’s Word says: ”And
call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
Me.” (Psalms 50: 15) Jesus said: ”Come unto me all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you life.” (Matthew 11: 28)
Max Solbrekken World Mission Box 44220 RPO Garside Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6. Email: [email protected]; comehometojesus.ca; Facebook; Youtube; Donations can be made by e-Transfer; Make your donation to [email protected]; May God bless you. Amen.
