"Fear is faith in the enemy."

[Tone]

This is what I read yesterday under another member's (@Saucy) avatar picture and it has been reverberating in my mind, ever since.

I read it and it suddenly struck me that this is exactly true in the context of spiritual warfare...or any kind of conflict really.

When we are afraid to walk in His blessings and will, it is because we are listening to the voice of the enemy...and we believe what sin, death, and darkness speaks to us...from the depths...over and above what He has Spoken.

We are confused as to what His blessings and will are, because this is the nature of the war that rages around us. His blessings and will are right in front of us and we really do know them, but we do not always believe.

Or do we always believe, either His Word or the words of darkness?

So, I began to wonder whether or not the darkness speaks, or is it just a garbled version of His True Voice?

Is it possible to have faith in a lie/darkness/death? Isn't faith reserved for His Word alone?

And then I pondered the verse about demons believing in His Word...and trembling:

James 2
"18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that— and shudder."

And I grew bothered over the thought that, often times (whenever we fear?), we tremble at the words (noise) of demons and darkness, but they tremble at His Word.

Anyways, I guess I am honing in on this subject (fear), because I have always struggled with it and I have the sense that it is really, well, on the way out.

My thoughts on this are not really clear on this right now, so please excuse any choppiness. But please do feel free to discuss the phrase in the topic. Thank you.

 

[Tone]

Found this interesting article:

https://www.christian-faith.com/fear-is-nothing-more-than-faith-in-the-devil/

 

[Francis Drake]

Absolutely true, but I got an official warning when I said this to someone.

 

[Tone]

Absolutely true, but I got an official warning when I said this to someone.

Oh yeah, the human powers that be may become uneasy if they understand that you understand this concept.


I was just thinking about how it related to the passage of Scripture in James, where he says he can show faith by his works. So I asked myself, "What are the works that show that you believe the enemy?" and it was not very long at all that, pretty much my whole life experience came up before me...all the things I did out of fear. So then I asked myself "Why?" and I responded, "Because it is all I have seen since I was brought into this world...the failure of those around me, borne of fear, so naturally I believed in this power I have seen."

 

[Tone]

So, I kept asking "Well, where did they [those who displayed the works of fear in my childhood] get their belief in fear?"...and, of course, I had to keep asking...all the way back to Adam and Eve.

What did they see that made them believe in the power of the enemy?

 

[bèlla]

I don’t attribute all manifestations of fear to evil. I think there’s many reasons we’re afraid which include personal experiences, upbringing, environment, associations, internal makeup, beliefs, mental health, and evil influences.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all answer and when you’ve ministered/assisted individuals with deeply held fears in the healing process and pulled back the layers. The root cause is rarely evil on its own.

Having done so on many occasions. The greatest combatant is truth. And helping the individual to move beyond the narrow confines they’re restricted to. That requires true belief on the assistant’s part. Platitudes and pep talks won’t do it. You need to know there’s hope beyond the obvious and guide them there.

You have to recalibrate their understanding of adversity and setbacks and demolish the tape in their head. So they aren’t repeating negative behavior patterns. The ideal is to show them how to weather challenges without assuming change or the goal they’re pursuing was wrong or too hard. Leading them to revert to a place of safety and stagnation.

Spiritual strongholds may play a part. But there’s usually a lot of practical stuff brewing in the background. You have to tackle both to move forward.

~Bella

 

[Tone]

Fear, like our diet, should be well-balanced...at least in this vale of tears...


*Maybe fear...is our diet...let's eat...

 

[Richard Mulcahy]

Fear, like our diet, should be well-balanced...at least in this vale of tears...


*Maybe fear...is our diet...let's eat...

Hi,

Found these for you...

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me: your rod and your staff comfort me.

Roman's 8: 38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

This is what I read yesterday under another member's (@Saucy) avatar picture and it has been reverberating in my mind, ever since.

I read it and it suddenly struck me that this is exactly true in the context of spiritual warfare...or any kind of conflict really.

When we are afraid to walk in His blessings and will, it is because we are listening to the voice of the enemy...and we believe what sin, death, and darkness speaks to us...from the depths...over and above what He has Spoken.

We are confused as to what His blessings and will are, because this is the nature of the war that rages around us. His blessings and will are right in front of us and we really do know them, but we do not always believe.

Or do we always believe, either His Word or the words of darkness?

So, I began to wonder whether or not the darkness speaks, or is it just a garbled version of His True Voice?

Is it possible to have faith in a lie/darkness/death? Isn't faith reserved for His Word alone?

And then I pondered the verse about demons believing in His Word...and trembling:

James 2
"18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that— and shudder."

And I grew bothered over the thought that, often times (whenever we fear?), we tremble at the words (noise) of demons and darkness, but they tremble at His Word.

Anyways, I guess I am honing in on this subject (fear), because I have always struggled with it and I have the sense that it is really, well, on the way out.

My thoughts on this are not really clear on this right now, so please excuse any choppiness. But please do feel free to discuss the phrase in the topic. Thank you.

And Love casts out all fear!
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.

 

[Tone]

And Love casts out all fear!
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.

And swallows it up! This is from another thread, but cool here too:

Favorite Movie Scenes (Videos)

 

[MrsFoundit]

Absolutely true, but I got an official warning when I said this to someone.

Several definitions of "faith" are in use, so you may have been misunderstood.

Faith | Definition of Faith by Lexico - link to Oxford Dictionary.

"1 - Complete trust or confidence in someone or something."

"2 - Strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof."

"2.1 - A system of religious belief." If this one is applied to a comment like "fear is faith in the enemy" it would look as if you meant to condemn a person (who feels fear) for practising Satanism as a religion, or were blaming a person for their suffering. Your post may have been read as if you meant to say that. To question the stated faith of a Christian on CF is against the rules.

"2.2 - A strongly held belief or theory." If this definition is used, in combination with an understanding of "the enemy" to mean "the liar", it comes over very differently. The statement "fear is faith in the enemy" then means "fear is caused by belief in a falsehood". A person only needs to research treatments for phobias and some theories about prejudice in society to see evidence to support this idea.

 

[faroukfarouk]

And Love casts out all fear!
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.

hi, @Maria Billingsley John - in his Gospel and in his Epistles - has so many heartening statements, doesn't he?