- Mar 24, 2011
- 4,762
- 1,399
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
Have you ever noticed that fear is the main product being peddled on the news channels today? The newscasters breathlessly expound on all of the evil being done on the other side of the political spectrum. They warn us that the other side is coming to take away our rights, destroy our families, to bankrupt our nation. They work us up into fear induced mania and then comes the solution; get them out of office! Do everything you can to make sure none of their candidates can win an election. Our hope, they say, is in our political process. Is this really how things work? Is this really what we should be afraid of?
Did you know that the bible says God chooses our leaders?
Daniel 2:21
He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
That means that God appointed both Barack Obama and Donald Trump to be president. I hope that didn’t give any of you heart palpitations. Whoever your preferred candidate or party is, God actually elects our leaders, so that means that God puts people in office we don’t like. Not only that but He demands we pray for them!
1 Timothy 2:1-3
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior
Wow, huh? Turns out that our fear is giving us a distorted idea of how reality works, and that if we pray for our leaders that we don’t like God will bring peace and quiet to our lives, enabling us to live in godliness and holiness, which is the very thing we are looking for in the first place. The scripture says this is a good thing and pleases God our Savior. Amen and amen! Why would we be doing anything else?
Do you see how fear distorts everything? Why are we afraid? Because we don’t believe God is really in control. We see this out of control world and we don’t see how God could be in it. Yet, the bible says He is in complete control of it.
There is a Christian song that has been playing on the radio lately and one of the lyrics is, fear is a liar. This is true. Fear sells us the lie that our hope is in favorable situations and circumstances. The bible tells us our hope is in the Lord.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
We have such incredible promises from the Lord in this scripture. This scripture tells us that God is with us, but fear tells us God is far away. How can we find rest and security in the nearness of God if we don’t believe it’s really true? The answer is we can’t. We either believe His word or we are calling God a liar. I don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?
This is why Jesus came to Earth, not only to die for our sins, but to be with us. That is the meaning of one of His names, Immanuel; God with us. Jesus came and defeated death and sin and through faith in Him He turns us into new people. The bible says all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the Father and Jesus Christ. Everything we could ever possibly need, especially our eternal lives, God has provided. Yet fear would have us believe God doesn’t care and that He isn’t really paying attention to our needs. The bible says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother; Jesus!
The devil is always using fear to separate us from God. Fear tells us that God is always angry with us and we’ll never be good enough. The bible tells us that Jesus died for us because God loves us and that Jesus is good enough and so God accepts us through our faith in Him. We don’t have to work for acceptance because we are already accepted through Jesus. Nothing we could ever do can earn Gods favor, and it’s futility and stupidity to try because we already have Gods favor if we have a saving relationship with Him.
The scripture makes it clear in 1st Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind:
Gods Spirit, the Holy Spirit, gives us power and love and a stable mind. When you feel powerless, unloved, and confused and unstable, rebuke those lies! God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear! Realize the awesome help you have through the Holy Spirit! Here is the key to defeating fear:
2 Corinthians 2:5
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
Since fear is a lie, how do you defeat a lie? With the truth! When we have these thoughts that try to steal our peace and security, we need to cast them down with the word of God. Wouldn’t you like to shut up the devil? Look at how Jesus did it in Matthew 4:
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Did you notice anything about these passages? When Jesus used scripture, the devil shut up. He didn’t reply back with a sarcastic comment, or try to convince him another way..he shut up and then moved to the next temptation. When he ran out of temptations he took off with nothing left to say. I think it’s not only because he was outmatched, but also because he was getting smacked around in the spirit. Look at what the scripture says in Hebrews 4:10
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is powerful and penetrates to the deepest part of us. I wonder what it does to the devil? I bet it doesn’t feel very good! The word of God is the Sword of the Spirit and we use it offensively to defeat every lie of the enemy. Next time the enemy lies to you instead of arguing with him, use the word of God to shut him up. God has given us spiritual defenses and weapons to protect us:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
The devil has wiles, he is tricky and slippery, so we need to put on the armor of God. Each piece of the armor protects us from his attacks. When we wear the breastplate of Christs righteousness, the devil can’t lie to you any longer about not being good enough. We already know we’re not good enough which is why we wear Christs righteousness. When you put on the helmet of salvation the devil lie to you by giving you false hope because we know our only hope is in Jesus Christ. When we take up the shield of faith we can repel every fiery dart of the devil.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction
The only one we should fear is God, not men or the devil. Our fear of God is one borne of respect, awe and subjection before all of who He is and the incredible things He can do. The scripture tells us that He is fearful in praises, working wonders. We also know that His wrath will come upon an unbelieving world one day. Paul put it this way; knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. We are forgiven but we have a responsibility to tell others about Christ so that they can be free and have eternal life. People without Christ are afraid and we can minister to them by letting them know there is a sovereign God who created them, and who has this world in the palm of His hand. We can show them that the only thing they need fear is the judgment of God, and that there is good news about that!
In conclusion, fear is a liar who robs our joy, peace and strength. The fear comes in when we believe the lie and forget the truth that God revealed to us. As a friend of mine said, the power of the lie is in believing it. Please pray and ask God what areas of your life you are not trusting Him out of fear. Then, study the bible and drink in His precious promises and cast down every lie that says otherwise.
Did you know that the bible says God chooses our leaders?
Daniel 2:21
He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
That means that God appointed both Barack Obama and Donald Trump to be president. I hope that didn’t give any of you heart palpitations. Whoever your preferred candidate or party is, God actually elects our leaders, so that means that God puts people in office we don’t like. Not only that but He demands we pray for them!
1 Timothy 2:1-3
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior
Wow, huh? Turns out that our fear is giving us a distorted idea of how reality works, and that if we pray for our leaders that we don’t like God will bring peace and quiet to our lives, enabling us to live in godliness and holiness, which is the very thing we are looking for in the first place. The scripture says this is a good thing and pleases God our Savior. Amen and amen! Why would we be doing anything else?
Do you see how fear distorts everything? Why are we afraid? Because we don’t believe God is really in control. We see this out of control world and we don’t see how God could be in it. Yet, the bible says He is in complete control of it.
There is a Christian song that has been playing on the radio lately and one of the lyrics is, fear is a liar. This is true. Fear sells us the lie that our hope is in favorable situations and circumstances. The bible tells us our hope is in the Lord.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
We have such incredible promises from the Lord in this scripture. This scripture tells us that God is with us, but fear tells us God is far away. How can we find rest and security in the nearness of God if we don’t believe it’s really true? The answer is we can’t. We either believe His word or we are calling God a liar. I don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?
This is why Jesus came to Earth, not only to die for our sins, but to be with us. That is the meaning of one of His names, Immanuel; God with us. Jesus came and defeated death and sin and through faith in Him He turns us into new people. The bible says all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the Father and Jesus Christ. Everything we could ever possibly need, especially our eternal lives, God has provided. Yet fear would have us believe God doesn’t care and that He isn’t really paying attention to our needs. The bible says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother; Jesus!
The devil is always using fear to separate us from God. Fear tells us that God is always angry with us and we’ll never be good enough. The bible tells us that Jesus died for us because God loves us and that Jesus is good enough and so God accepts us through our faith in Him. We don’t have to work for acceptance because we are already accepted through Jesus. Nothing we could ever do can earn Gods favor, and it’s futility and stupidity to try because we already have Gods favor if we have a saving relationship with Him.
The scripture makes it clear in 1st Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind:
Gods Spirit, the Holy Spirit, gives us power and love and a stable mind. When you feel powerless, unloved, and confused and unstable, rebuke those lies! God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear! Realize the awesome help you have through the Holy Spirit! Here is the key to defeating fear:
2 Corinthians 2:5
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
Since fear is a lie, how do you defeat a lie? With the truth! When we have these thoughts that try to steal our peace and security, we need to cast them down with the word of God. Wouldn’t you like to shut up the devil? Look at how Jesus did it in Matthew 4:
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Did you notice anything about these passages? When Jesus used scripture, the devil shut up. He didn’t reply back with a sarcastic comment, or try to convince him another way..he shut up and then moved to the next temptation. When he ran out of temptations he took off with nothing left to say. I think it’s not only because he was outmatched, but also because he was getting smacked around in the spirit. Look at what the scripture says in Hebrews 4:10
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is powerful and penetrates to the deepest part of us. I wonder what it does to the devil? I bet it doesn’t feel very good! The word of God is the Sword of the Spirit and we use it offensively to defeat every lie of the enemy. Next time the enemy lies to you instead of arguing with him, use the word of God to shut him up. God has given us spiritual defenses and weapons to protect us:
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
The devil has wiles, he is tricky and slippery, so we need to put on the armor of God. Each piece of the armor protects us from his attacks. When we wear the breastplate of Christs righteousness, the devil can’t lie to you any longer about not being good enough. We already know we’re not good enough which is why we wear Christs righteousness. When you put on the helmet of salvation the devil lie to you by giving you false hope because we know our only hope is in Jesus Christ. When we take up the shield of faith we can repel every fiery dart of the devil.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction
The only one we should fear is God, not men or the devil. Our fear of God is one borne of respect, awe and subjection before all of who He is and the incredible things He can do. The scripture tells us that He is fearful in praises, working wonders. We also know that His wrath will come upon an unbelieving world one day. Paul put it this way; knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. We are forgiven but we have a responsibility to tell others about Christ so that they can be free and have eternal life. People without Christ are afraid and we can minister to them by letting them know there is a sovereign God who created them, and who has this world in the palm of His hand. We can show them that the only thing they need fear is the judgment of God, and that there is good news about that!
In conclusion, fear is a liar who robs our joy, peace and strength. The fear comes in when we believe the lie and forget the truth that God revealed to us. As a friend of mine said, the power of the lie is in believing it. Please pray and ask God what areas of your life you are not trusting Him out of fear. Then, study the bible and drink in His precious promises and cast down every lie that says otherwise.
