Becoming Fearless!

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”, II Timothy 1:7 NKJV. There is a lot of anxiety and fear in the atmosphere. It is in our city, surrounding communities, the world and even in our homes. God does not desire that we live in fear but we are to trust Him.

I will be quoting some excerpts from the book Strongman’s His Name…What’s His Game by Drs Jerry & Carol Robeson

“There are actually two different kinds of fear; positive and negative. Positive fear is a natural sort of protection that keeps us from hurting ourselves. We don’t stick our hands in a blazing fire because we know it will do permanent damage to our bodies. We could characterize this fear more as a deep respect. It would be a deep respect for the heat. I respect fire or electricity. I respect a dog or a snake. We don’t go by these things or animals because they will cause harm to us. So we stay away from them. We obey the laws of nature or in the natural, so we obey the laws.”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;”, Psalm 111:10 NKJV. I obey God’s commandments because I respect Him for who He is. A natural, positive fear can escalate to the point that a spirit of fear takes over if the individual does not understand what is going on. Only if I would stay away from the spirit of fear that has caused or is causing me harm. For example, an accident or great tragedy can be the trigger that causes a positive fear to balloon into negative fear; inspired and magnified by the strongman of fear. We know a spirit of fear is at work when our spiritual vitality is affected. Negative fear chokes out our faith, joy, peace, and love. It binds, paralyzes, and weakens the Christian and softens him up for the arrival of other spirits, such as infirmity band bondage. Medical science tells us that fear can cause many kinds of sickness. In reality, negative fear is the negative “faith” of the devil We believe what the devil says, more than God’s Word, when we allow fear to reign in our life. Fear is directly opposed to God’s Laws. When we fear we believe the devil instead of God.”

A Strongman is a mindset, fortified walls that have been built up and you have believed the lies of the enemy. A strongman, a strong mind, a stronghold. The spirit has a stronghold on your mind. For this reason, “But the cowardly (a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things: excessively afraid of danger or pain), unbelieving, abominable (detestable, unlawful or repulsive), murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”, Revelation 21:8 AMP. Cowardly is coupled with these acts and they will have their part in the lake of fire.

“Jesus pinpointed the disciples’ fear while they were battling the storm as a lack of faith. Matthew 8:26 NKJV) “But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” What were they afraid of? They thought they were going to drown. They didn’t comprehend that it was Jesus who had control over death. He is life! Isn’t it strange that the very thing most people fear the most, death, is what they will eventually receive because they are fearful, of “the second death”?

I don’t know what God has put in your hands or what He has told you to do but like Joyce Meyers said, “Do it afraid”. But Joshua comes in and says, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”, Joshua 1:9. We are not to be afraid.

Fear is an unpleasant and often strong emotion caused by a belief, anticipation, or awareness that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, a threat, dangerous, painful, or threatening. There is an uneasiness or anxiousness in my spirit.

Fear comes from many things such as:  – phobias, torment, horror, nightmares, scared, fretting, fear of death, spiders, mice, animals in general, being alone, witchcraft, heights, demons, being delivered, losing your salvation, disapproval, accusations, being wrong, spiritual gifts, responsibility, marriage, having children, pain, sickness, confrontation, cancer, driving, insanity, heart attack, the future, crowds, panic, fright, sudden fear, terror, dread, apprehension, causes of torment. Fear with others – suspicion, mistrust, abandonment, untrusting, fear of man, rejection, being hurt, judgment and authority. A trigger can bring on fear.

Triggers bring up an emotional response from an event that happened to us that we aren’t walking in freedom from it yet. It’s uncomfortable and we don’t want to go there. A trigger that is undealt with leads to the strongman of fear! Something happened in the past that has nothing to do with the person we are currently interacting with and we see our relationships through those lenses. This is a term that the world uses. The Bible calls it fear. Fear is a belief, fear is a mindset, and fear is a strongman that we have built up in our minds. If you have a trigger, it isn’t of God. If you have triggers how long will you walk in fear? Women of Wisdom and War? Sometimes we have to war and conquer those things in us before we can move forward.

If someone has offended us and we have not brought it to their attention that’s our fault. We should have mercy for others just as God has had it on us. Mercy is having compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power, compassionate treatment of those in distress. I choose to show kindness and love. True forgiveness in love in action. I treat you as if the offense never happened. Love remembers no wrong. If you have to keep bringing it up you have forgiven it, you haven’t healed from it yet and it is controlling you.

Fear within me – Worry, apprehension, nervousness, restlessness, uneasiness, tension, fretfulness, alarm, anguish, distress, grief, unwanted, disappointment, fear of things going wrong, doubt, anxiety, stress, making wrong decisions, failure, or darkness. Fear is the most general term and implies anxiety and usually loss of courage. Fear of the unknown leads to dread. It usually adds the idea of intense reluctance to face or meet a person or situation and suggests aversion as well as anxiety. I run from a person, I don’t want to be around them and I avoid them.

Fright implies the shock of sudden, startling fear or being awakened suddenly by something. An alarm suggests a sudden and intense awareness of immediate danger or view the situation with alarm. Panic implies unreasoning and overmastering fear causing hysterical activity. We can hear a bad report or the news causes widespread panic. Terror implies the most extreme degree of fear. Terror immobilizes you and you will not move from one place to the next. Trepidation adds to dread the implications of timidity, trembling, and hesitation.

The first appearance of fear in the human race came after Adam and Eve sinned. “So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself”, Genesis 3:10. Do you suppose there is a relationship between sin and fear? In many cases there is. The sinner has every right to be fearful because he is walking in disobedience to God. Whenever the destroyer wants to pick him off, it is open season. A natural fear is normal. An abnormal fear is of the devil and it’s time to give it back to him.

Fear is the opposite of love. John says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love”, I John 4:18. When Adam and Eve had perfect love, before they sinned, there was no fear of the animals or elements or even of God Himself. The Child of God, who obeys God’s Word, should never permit fear to take us prisoner. That means we have to give it access.

Especially when we are aware of the fact that fear is not from God. That means that you and I can refuse it in the Name of Jesus because whatever is not from God isn’t for us. The phrase, “Fear not,” is mentioned in one form or another 365 times in the Bible; one time for every day of the year. We do not have to put up with fear for even one day. Aa Christians, as a woman of wisdom and ware we should not walk around letting the enemy torment us. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. The Spirit in you is greater and it will raise up a standard.

When you become fearless the possibilities are limitless with what God will do in you and through you!

To be continued…