Fear, A Matter of Spiritual Warfare

2Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

One of the greatest weapons the enemy wields against us is fear. There are literally hundreds of different types of phobias, which represent specific irrational fears. There are approximately 6.3 million American adults who live under some form of specific fear. 5.3 million American adults suffer from social fears and 3.2 million American adults suffer from spatial fears, such as crowded places. This does not even take into consideration those who do not seek help for their fears, or those below 18 years of age and those above 54 years of age. The statistics are overwhelming, if not frightening.

This is not a new phenomenon either. The bible tells us that many of the great biblical figures God used dealt with their own fears as well. In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he specifically addresses this problem and within it are several truths to consider. The first truth is that God did not give us a spirit of fear. Well, if it did not come from God and so many suffer from it; where did it come from?

The enemy. The enemy will use fear to separate you from God, to make you doubt God's protection and provision and to keep you from being effective in the ministry. Do not feel alone beloved; the enemy has tried this on many before you. Look at what Moses said when God called him:

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" Exodus 4:1

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." Exodus 4:10

But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." Exodus 4:13

I think it is safe to say that Moses was afraid. He was first afraid that he was not worthy of the task God had for him. Then he was afraid people would not believe him. After that he was afraid that he was deficient somehow and after God answered all these fears, he still begged God to send someone else! We can fall into the same patterns of fear in our walks as well. God may have called us for something that we think is too big for us. Maybe we feel deficient or unworthy. Perhaps we also are afraid of how people will react to us as Christians doing God's work. That is why the enemy uses fear so much; because it keeps us from fulfilling what God wants us to do.

Moses was also not alone. When God called Gideon his response was:

"But Lord , " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." Judges 6: 15

And when God called Jeremiah his response was:

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." Jeremiah 1:6

Perhaps you are afraid that you are ill-prepared, too young or too weak but God always knows better. His answers to these biblical figures are the same for us today in our fear:

And God said, "I will be with you. Exodus 3:12

The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." Exodus 4:11-12

The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judges 6:16

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 1:7-8

God will be with you. He will teach you what to say. He will help you strike down the enemies in your life. He will rescue you. He has not given you a spirit of fear. That is of the enemy. It is not enough however to know that God has not given you a spirit of fear. Paul exhorts us to remember what spirit God has given us because it will specifically defeat the fear in your life.

First, God has given you a spirit of power. We walk under the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus specifically promised this:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

We have power because we have authority. Jesus told His disciples what authority they walked in:

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. Luke 10:19

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 Corinth:

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