Friday, October 29, 2010

The Purpose of Fear

We know that God is NOT the author of fear. Consider these scriptures...
'For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"' [Romans 8:15
'For God has not given us a spirit of timidity—fearfulness, cowardice—but of power and love and discipline. [2 Timothy 1:7]
'There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.' [1 John 4:18]
'"Now a word was brought to me stealthily, and my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 'Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; unobserved, they perish forever. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom.'" [Job 4:12-21]
'When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.' [Proverbs 3:24-26]
I find Job's description so accurate—everyone can relate to the feelings he describes so well! We clearly see from these passages that fear is a spirit, and NOT from God!
So what, then, is the purpose of fear?
Natural reasoning tells us that fear is good—it warns us of impending trouble, or of situations that may be dangerous.
But this is not based on the Word. We are told, from Genesis to Revelation, that it is God Who desires to guide us, to lead us into all the truth, to show us things to come. Fear is not our guide, or our teacher.
Faith vs. Fear
We have seen, in many articles on this blog, that faith is God's MO—His way of accomplishing things—and Jesus told us plainly that faith is how we are to operate in the earth, too.
If faith is the assurance—the substance, real being, actual existence—of things hoped for, the conviction of things NOT SEEN, it stands to reason that fear is faith's evil twin. It is the assurance, the substance, of darkness—of anything that is directly opposite of God's Word.
'"For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me."' [Job 3:25]
'What the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.' [Proverbs 10:24]
Faith or fear, both spiritual forces, cause resultant effects in the natural world. Faith in the promises of God bring those to pass in our lives—so, too, does fear bring what we fear to pass.
Therefore, if fear is a spirit not from God and brings the object of our fear to pass in our lives, it stands to reason that fear is Satan's MO. As described in Job, fear comes and whispers lies to us...if we react in fear, it will befall us.
Fear is Satan's way of bringing evil into our lives, just as faith brings God's promises to pass.
So What Do We Do?
If we can truly grasp the nature and purpose of fear, we can resist it! If we know and understand that it's soles purpose is to bring destruction into our lives, we can stand against it in the power of the Name of Jesus and His Blood.
We've got lots of great Scriptures to help us...
'You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.' [1 John 4:4]
'For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.' [1 John 5:4]
'For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.' [Romans 5:17]
'But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.' [Romans 8:37]
'But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.' [2 Corinthians 2:14]
'And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.' [Revelation 12:11]
We are called to reign in life, walk by faith, and overcome the evil one. That is our calling. And while Satan has his own agenda—to prove that he is greater than the God within—we can and should overcome him.
In the words of David Crosby, don't give in an inch to fear!