Spirit of Fear

II Timothy 1:7

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I know that I have spoken on the subject of fear a decent amount, but I felt compelled to share this message. We have so many new people within our congregation that needs to hear this message and we have a lot of old people in our congregation that needs to hear this subject often.

I KNOW without a doubt if you can grasp this truth in your spirit, it can change your life and the life of your family!

There are more than 100 different kinds of fear. These fears can be irrational, but since fear is of the devil, it does not have to be rational. I saw a list of phobias that some people have that I want to share with you, I don’t think I can pronounce them all. Here are just a few of them:

➢ Acrophobia – fear of heights

➢ Claustrophobia – fear of enclosed places

➢ Agoraphobia – fear of outdoors and open spaces (affects 2 million Americans)

➢ Anthropophobia – fear of people

➢ Cynophobia – fear of dogs

➢ Kleptophobia – fear of thieves

➢ Aquaphobia – fear of water

➢ Brontophobia – fear of thunderstorms

➢ Dentophobia – fear of dentists

➢ Skiaphobia – fear of shadows

➢ Cardiophobia – fear of heart disease

➢ Triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13

➢ Arachibutyrophobia – fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of the mouth

➢ Amaxophobia – fear of riding in vehicles

➢ Anuptaphobia – fear of staying single

➢ Hematophobia – fear of the sight of blood

➢ Peniaphobia – fear of poverty

➢ Tropophobia – fear of changes

➢ Gephyrophobia – fear of crossing bridges

➢ Ablutophobia – fear of washing or bathing

➢ Agliophobia – fear of pain

➢ Ambulophobia – fear of walking

➢ Anablephobia – fear of looking up

➢ Barophobia – fear of gravity

➢ Pantaphobia – the morbid dread of everything

This is just a few of the fears that there are on earth today. Some of these phobias seem ridiculous, while others are very real. However, if you are suffering from one of these fears we know that they did not come from God. Our text makes it very clear that God did not give us a Spirit of Fear.

Fear of the Lord mentioned in scripture is reverence, awe, wonder, love!! Not trembling scared although being overwhelmed with the wonder, awe, love and reverence will often make us tremble as we enter into His presence!

Psychologists tell us that Thanatophobia, the fear of death, is the root of all the other fears. If you have a spirit of fear, you did not get it from God. It is very important to know that this morning.

Fear opens the door to the devil and fear is connected to the lack of power, lack of love, and mental problems. The spirit of fear cannot be dealt with on a physical or natural level, it must be dealt with supernaturally. The devil would like to trick us into thinking that fear is nothing more then an emotion. The emotion of fear is just a manifestation of the spirit of fear.

The Word of God breaks the spirit of fear. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When faith comes, fear goes. There is faith, power, love and mental soundness found in the Word of God.

Hebrews 2:14–15 (NKJV)

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

You see we can be held in bondage by sin as well as by the world and the snares of the enemy and the flesh! One of the many chains of bondage that the Devil has us chained up in is FEAR! FEAR TO STEP OUT IN OBEDIENCE, FEAR TO WALK OUT AND TRUST GOD, FEAR TO SPEAK UP, FEAR TO TEACH, FEAR TO PREACH, FEAR TO PRAISE, FEAR TO GENUINELY LET GO AND WORSHIP, FEAR TO PRAY OUT LOAD

WE ARE AFRAID OF WHAT OTHERS MAY SAY OR THINK, OR TALK ABOUT!!! THIS IS ALL A SNARE OF THE DEVIL!

The Blood of Jesus has delivered us from the power and the control of the devil, which includes all fear.

Psalm 23:1 NKJV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Is the Lord your Shepherd- Your leader, your protector? Are you following Him? If so you need not fear!!

Remember Psychologists even tell us that the root to all fear is the fear of death and Jesus tells us in His Word that we are delivered from the fear of death, which really means all fear known to mankind.

We have been delivered from fear, so when fear comes to try to sink its teeth in you, you need to stop putting up with it and rebuke it in the Name of Jesus.

How do I get rid of fear in my life?

I. Walk in Faith!

I wish every question were that easy to answer. It is very simple. You get rid of fear in your life by replacing it with faith.

When faith comes, fear goes! Fear leaves when faith comes! FAITH AND FEAR CANNOT WORK TOGETHER, ONE WILL ALWAYS OVER RULE OR OVER POWER THE OTHER!

Paul tells us in Hebrews that it is actually impossible to please Him without faith. MUCH OF GODS WILL (CONDITIONAL WILL) DEPENDS ON HIS PEOPLE WALKING IN OBEDIENCE BY FAITH! Everything He does depends on your faith. God works by faith. Just as God works by faith, the devil works by fear. There are 365 times in the Bible where we are told “fear not.” ENOUGH TO READ A NEW ONE EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK EACH YEAR- THATS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS!

Jesus said over and over again, “fear not, only believe.” How do we get overtaken by faith instead of fear?

2 Corinthians 4:13 (NKJV)

13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,

If we truly believe, then our speaking has to line up with our believing. The Apostle Paul is quoting David in

Psalm 116:10; “I believed, therefore have I spoken.”

There can be no doubt that David had a spirit of faith. The man killed a giant with a slingshot and one stone. He killed a lion, a bear and more then 10,000 Philistines. Case closed! The man had faith. However, we see that even David had to overcome the spirit of fear in his life. A man of such faith even had to overcome fear. No one is exempt from this awful, foul spirit of fear that robs us of every bit of faith that we have. IT WILL KEEP US TREMBLING BEFORE THE GIANTS BEFORE US, IT WILL KEEP US FROM MARCHING FOURTH AND USING THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS GOD HAS GIVEN US TO ADVANCE HIS KINGDOM AND IT WILL BLIND US TO THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND MAKE US ONLY SEE FEAR IN CHANGE, FINANCES, ETC…!!! NO FAITH, NO TRUST NO OBEDIENCE TO GOD!

David wrote in Psalm 34:4

Psalm 27:1–5 NKJV

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. 4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

DEVIL AND DEMONS, SPIRIT OF FEAR GRIPPING YOU TODAY LISTEN TO THE WORLD OF THE LORD (READ ABOVE AGAIN!

David had a spirit of faith, but he still had to overcome the enemy of fear. He refused to allow fear to become a part of his life. He realized that fear not only opens the door to the devil, it will also PARALYSE you from moving with God’s plan for your life.

David’s speaking lined up with his believing. He was confident in the Lord’s ability to see him through and closed the door to fear.

In order to get rid of fear we must replace the fear with faith, we must also:

II. BELIVE GOD!

NOTICE I DIDN’T SAY BELIVE IN GOD BUT TO BELIEVE GOD!!! DIFFERENCE

It is an easy thing to “believe in God.” It is another thing entirely to “believe God.” The former is an affirmation of faith. The latter is faith itself. There are many souls who “believe in God” and yet whose hearts have turned away from the living God.

Believing God is more than just knowing he is real or that the Bible is his book.  It’s reading the words in that Bible and living life based upon them. OBEDIENCE BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE GOD!! NOT JUST BELIEVE IN HIM!

It’s accepting what God says about our sin, believing he is holy and we are not.

It’s relying on the fact he will forgive us, that he can make us completely clean. CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST

It’s walking a new way, knowing I am a new creation in Christ.

It’s facing challenges with faith, trusting Christ will help me overcome them.

It’s letting his word take root deep inside me, producing fruit in how I live.

Believing in God can be the beginning of our relationship with him; believing him is how it grows.  It’s how we see our need for Christ and how we follow him daily thereafter.

It’s how we can move on from the past and fear because we believe his blood has covered and defeated it!

And, it’s how we can face the future with faith because we believe what he says about it.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to have faith and fear at the same time! You know that!

In Mark 5, when the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus, she got healed. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you whole.” If her faith made her whole, why do you think it is any different today? Your faith will make you whole.

At the time the woman was healed, Jesus was on the way to the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, to pray for his daughter, who was dying. When Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has made you whole,” Jairus’ servants came from his house saying, “Don’t trouble Jesus any longer. Your daughter is already dead.” When Jesus heard them say this to Jairus, He gave him some vital information. He says, “Fear not, only believe!” No other information to go on, just don’t fear.

There is a fight to have faith. At that moment, Jairus could have believed the bad report, been overcome with fear, and gave up on his miracle. But Jesus said, “Let me tell you what to do in this situation, fear not, only believe.” This is absolutely amazing. Jairus chose to believe the Lord’s report and not man’s. The daughter being dead was real and it was an accurate report, but he would not believe it because the word of Jesus said something different.

Some of you have received a bad report. You now have to choose what report you are going to believe. Well, it is not that easy Pastor. You really don’t understand. Oh, I fully understand. You are letting the spirit of fear control you because you are worrying about the outcome. Proverbs 4: God’s words are health to our flesh and strength to our bones, they are life to us!

If Jesus says something in His Word, it is accomplished! I choose to believe His reports, not mans. Fear not, only believe. Only one option no matter what the circumstances and that option is believing in what Jesus says.

➢ Fear has several companions and relatives: doubt, anxiety, stress, insecurity, rejection, depression, fear of betrayal, fear of openness, vulnerability, failure, inadequacy, fear of judgement, worry and GOSSIP!!. All these emotions stem from the root of fear.

It is impossible to have the spirit of faith and spirit of fear at the same time. When you have a spirit of faith, you don’t have a spirit of fear. When you are in faith, there is no room for fear. That means there is no room for doubt, there is no room for anxiety, there is no room for stress, there is no room for worry. If you want to be rid of the stress and worry in your life, then you have to rebuke the spirit of fear. Because fear is at the root of every bit of it. Fear comes from the devil, not from God. Fear never comes from God. The devil is a fear devil.

There will be a fight in the worst of your circumstances. I am not saying that this easy, it is a fight, but you must make up your mind that you will win because your trust is in Him, not you. There comes a moment in every person’s life where they must choose if they are going to be full of fear or believe God.

Jesus grabbed Jairus right in the middle of his choice and gave him a word. We must in prayer and in Bible Study go immediately to THE WORD in the moments when FEAR TRIES TO GRIP HOLD OF US!

Jesus will give you a word right in the middle of your crisis too. He knows what others are telling you; He knows the doubts that are flooding your mind and the way the devil is attacking you. Jesus hears and sees what is going on in your life right now and this morning, He is interrupting you and is saying; “I’d like to interrupt the fear and doubt and give you a word from heaven. Fear not, only believe.” That is the word that He has for you today. Fear not, only believe. Don’t let fear rule your life any longer. Make a choice to believe.

Jairus’ relatives and friends were already planning his daughter’s funeral when Jesus told them, “Get out! It’s not over. She’s not dead; she’s just sleeping.” The devil is telling some of you this morning that it’s over, but Jesus is saying it is not all over, it has just been delayed for a little while. Jesus is on the inside of you and we need to take the authority that He has given us and begin to rebuke the spirit of fear off our lives. Jesus is getting ready to breathe new life into some dead things. Jesus said to fear not to Jairus and He is telling you the same thing today. Stop fearing! Stop worrying! Stop stressing! Stop doubting! Stop the anxiety! Put your trust in Jesus, He will see you through!