Today, with so much fear in the world that touches our lives, I am
nudged to share a chapter out of my Book, "Heaven Bound: A
Devotional", written during a time when fear was on a relentless
rampage with me.
At the end of the chapter, you will find "Points to Ponder" with
questions for you to mediate on regarding the chapter. This Book is
available from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
I hope you are blessed reading chapter 9 of "Heaven Bound"
Fear Not
The Holy One calls to me this morning. Fear has come calling
and has been tormenting me through the watches of the night.
The world news is providing a very effective backdrop of evidence
that evil is alive and well on planet Earth. Personal trials close to
home and in the lives of loved ones remind me that the war
producing the trials is everywhere.
As Christians, we are told over and over to not fear. Philippians
4:4 is one such command: “Do not be anxious about anything but
in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present
your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus.”
The Holy One calls, and I answer out of a fitful wrestle with the
dark lord of fear. I feel like a lone sailor frantically typing out an
SOS as waves are about to capsize my boat.
The conscious comfort of His presence and authority offers a
deep relief to my heart and mind. The Holy One reminds me how I
am like the disciples during one furious storm on the lake they were
crossing as Jesus was asleep in the boat. Matthew 8:25 says, “The
disciples went and woke Him saying, ‘Lord, save us!’ We are
going to drown.”
The Spirit speaks to me this morning like Jesus did to His disciples
that day, “You of little faith, why are you afraid?” When Holiness
puts it that way, the fear and tension melts away and the processing
can begin.
“Well,” I hesitate as my mind tries to explain my faithless
thoughts to the only One who can correct them. But before I pick
more words to justify the wretched sin, He gently reminds me of
what I already know, “Fear and faith cannot cohabitate. One
cancels out the other. The fear you have is sin, not just an
emotional response to the threats you hear in your mind.”
His words confirm the lessons of late regarding the need for
daily repentance and even a humbling foot washing by the Lord to
clean off the dust of the fallen world that clings to my feet.
Job was a man who experienced the deepest of trials during a
season in the permissive will of God. Satan accused him of being a
spoiled child who would curse God if his blessings were taken
away.
The Lord’s confidence in the man was challenged by the enemy of
Holiness, and Job was put to the test while Satan brought blow after
blow of hard adversity against him.
The account of Job holds many important lessons regarding
the sovereignty of God: His permissive will, His boundaries and
protection, His control over the adversary, and His ultimate love
and relationship with Job, the man.
The Holy One draws me back to this account to make an interesting
point regarding fear. As I read the beginning of Job’s life of
trials, Job 3:25 leaps out as a clue to the rest of his recorded
suffering.
“What I feared has come upon me, what I dreaded has
happened to me.”
Could it be that Satan’s attack followed a direct line of Job’s fears
right into his life and being? Could it be that our fears provide the
open door of access for the enemy of our soul to enter and bring the
trials we experience? If that is so, it is to our great advantage to do
as the Lord commands and “fear not.”
The enemy of our souls is an ancient foe who is aware of our sin
nature, the fall, and the fears it brings to the hearts of men. He is the
great deceiver, so if he can keep us trying in our flesh to overcome
fear, or worse yet succumb to it, then evil triumphs.
The Holy One reminds me that not only is fear a powerful
emotion, it is also sin. “You cannot get rid of fear just in the facing
of it. Fear, like any other sin, requires repentance.” It is important
and most interesting to get down to identifying fear as the sin that it
is.
I always equate sin with a strong emotion that has a flesh perk at
the end, but that is not so with fear. Fear erodes all peace,
confidence, and assurance of good things coming to pass. Fear
leaves me shaking and quaking and waiting for the next shoe to
drop. Fear seems to be the one sin that has no flesh appeal, and I
wonder, if that is so, then why do we fail to acknowledge or treat it
as sin?
Society has alternative ways to beat the cycle of fear bondage,
otherwise known as anxiety, rather than take the sin to the Lord for
removal. Doctors prescribe drugs, therapists suggest other assorted
escape mechanisms, but nothing man can offer really cures the
problem.
The Holy One again asks, “Why are you afraid?” I noticed that
He did not ask, “What are you afraid of?” The why and not the what
is the key. There can be an endless list of "whats" to the fear issue,
but the answer to why is simple: somewhere in the assessment of
the situation I face and wrestle, the storm got the better of me. I
failed to remember that the One who formed the clouds, the winds
and the rains, is with me in the boat.
He gently repeats His question, “Why are you afraid?” But then
He goes on to cut through the fear, “For I am always with you.”
The sense and power of His presence fills the room and my soul.
“Fear not” is the command, and clearly, I understand He is the
reason I can obey it.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Points To Ponder:
1. How do you define fear? Does it register to you as
being sin? Or does it seem more like wisdom. Reread
Philippians 4:4. Since fear is a God-given emotion,
why do you suppose it is then counted as sin? How
much does fear play a part in your life and decisions?
Are you willing to confess fear as sin in order to get
rid of it?
2. Look up Matthew 8:23–27 for your own encouragement.
Do you think to thank the Lord for being in
your boat and for His power to save you from the
storms in life? Can you recall a situation like the disciples?
faced in their storm where the Lord rescued you?
Will you offer a prayer of praise to Him now? If you
are in a storm at the moment, will you pray like the
disciples did and ask Him to save you?
3. Dealing with our sin weakness is part of being saved,
as one definition of being saved is to “be healed or
delivered out of a bad place.” The Lord is calling us
into a relationship whereby we talk to Him and relate
to Him. Healing is part of the privilege of relationship.
Confessing sin is the first step in deliverance and
ultimate healing. Does it occur to you that in your
weakness, God says He will be your strength?
4. Does this promise give you hope? Tell the Lord how
you feel. The Bible has many verses that address fear and
being afraid. Most begin with “Do not.” Look up
Isaiah 35:4. Then read Psalm 91. Each of these speak
the command “Do not,” but each offers reasons.
List some of the reasons we are commanded to not fear.
5. Read Matthew 28:18–20. Think about why He
would tell us in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe
all things I have commanded you and lo I am with
you always, even to the ends of the earth.” Do you
consider yourself as a strategic part of His plan for
the salvation of others? Are you willing to do your
strategic part? What if your strategic part is just to be
willing to allow Him to work through your life? Will
you ask Him to use you?
