We walk in the power to overcome all of the power of the enemy! What keeps us from realizing this power sometimes is fear. We need to walk in this power daily to drive out fear and the schemes of the enemy to make us impotent. The second aspect Paul speaks about is that God has given us a spirit of love. God is love and we need to show that love to a lost and dying world. We cannot be both fear and love because the bible tells us:
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. 1John 4:18 (KJV)
Fear is designed to torment you beloved. It is meant to mute the spirit of love you are supposed to walk in. In saps your power as you give your power over to the fear. Instead of God being in control, the fear controls you. It cannot be; we must cast out the fear and be made perfect in His love.
The final aspect is that we have been given a spirit of a
sound mind. This runs completely contrary to fear. The definition of a phobia
is that the fear is irrational. It comes from an unstable mind. Now, there are
completely legitimate fears. We should be afraid of a burning building for
instance. Those fears exist within a sound mind. It is when we start having
irrational fears that drive us away from God and His plans for us that we start
allowing the enemy a foothold in our lives. It is that foothold that becomes a
stronghold; a form of bondage. Paul wrote about this spiritual warfare we are
constantly engaged in when he wrote his second letter to the church at
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Corinthians 10:3-5
One of the enemy's favorite weapons against us is fear. It sets itself up in our mind against the knowledge of God and can become a devastating stronghold if it goes unchallenged. But we have weapons too beloved. We have prayer and praise. We have the word of God which breaks the shackles in our lives. The word tells us that we have not received a spirit of fear from God. The word tells us that we have been given a spirit of power through the Holy Spirit, that His perfect love must cast out all fear and that we have a sound mind to wage a spiritual war against the schemes of the enemy. We need to take captive these irrational thoughts of fear, which are disobedient to Christ; and make them obedient. The enemy sets up fear against the knowledge of God and we must demolish that argument and live in the spirit of power, love and a sound mind.
Anthony Wade August 19, 2008
