Fear is a spirit. You think it's an emotion, but it's actually a spirit. Listen to Job 4:12-16 describe it perfectly:
'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...'
2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of timidity—fearfulness, cowardice, fear—but of power, love and discipline. Hallelujah! Our reborn spirit is one of power, love and discipline!!
Think about this...if fear is a spirit, what is it's purpose? To deceive us into stopping or changing our direction. Why? Because wherever that spirit is standing to bring fear and dread is the the edge of your promised land.
Remember the giants in Numbers 13? Right at the edge of fulfilled blessing! And the spies said '...we became like grasshoppers in our OWN sight, and so we were in their sight.' Not the other way around! They became afraid and felt small and defenseless—and that's how the giants saw them! They demonstrated Proverbs 23:7...'For as he thinks within himself, so is he.'
Isn't that true in every situation? How we think and talk about ourselves shapes the way others see us? Doesn't every sales and success program focus on changing the inner image to create new and better circumstances?
A Clue
Look at it this way...it's a clue.
Wherever fear manifests itself in you life, you know you're on the brink of fulfilled blessing in that area. God has already blessed you—spirits of fear are there to deceive you into believing otherwise, to keep you from walking in the fullness of abundant life.
Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may PROVE what the will of God is, that which is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT. If we are deceived we cannot prove how wonderful His will is, and that is the whole point.
So, if you're afraid of money issues, know for a certainty that you are already rich...if you're afraid of public speaking, know that you will have tremendous success in speaking. If you're afraid you're not going to get your healing, know for sure that you are already healed and that the spirit of fear is trying to make you believe otherwise.
Because faith, or belief, is how we access the things freely given to use by God.
This is the first in a series of articles on fear...
