Winning Against Fear

One of the main themes that god has been bringing up over and over again in my mind over the last few months is the subject of fear. It is when you really think about it the opposite of faith, and it really is the biggest hindrance to a life lived pleasing to God.

Hebrews 11:6 HCSB

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

If fear is the opposite of faith then when you are without faith you are functioning in some type of fear. So for example if we have a month or months where finances are spread thin and we know that we are going to be short on money, then we have two options, we can either trust and pray in faith for God to provide for those needs or we can respond in fear and worry and actually not please God at all because when we worry or fear we are actually not trusting in God at all.

Fear is something we all have to fight against, but some of us are paralyzed by fear, you have fear that hinders you greatly in your Christian life, you have stunled from obedience many times because of your fear.

You can be fearing what man thinks, you can be fearful of some activity or commandment that God has given to you because of fear. You can be fearing what will happen in the future, and it is incredibly difficult to deal with.

FEAR stumbles people

So what is your greatest assurance if you are a person who struggles with fear?

Its right here in this passage.

Isaiah 41:10 HCSB

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.

There is no more powerful promise that God could speak to His people, He is telling His people: It IS MY OBJECTIVE TO HELP YOU CONQUER YOUR FEAR. HE commands them to fear not.

So it is essential that we learn to fear not, or else it will stumble you in your Christian life. “Courage is a special kind of knowledge, the knowledge of knowing how to fear, what ought to be fear, and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.”

So courage comes from a special kind of knowledge

Thats what I want to share with you tonight that special kind of knowledge that is essential if you desire to walk in freedom from fear. So what knowledge is that?

So many times people wonder if I have fear then what does that mean? Does that mean that I am some kind of coward or in rebellion to God?

The answer is absolutely not

There are two kinds of fear.

CONSTRUCTIVE FEAR

DESTRUCTIVE FEAR

There is a rational fear, and there is an irrational fear. So let’s explain these types of fear and look at where we find these in scripture.

CONSTRUCTIVE FEAR- How is fear a constructive thing?

Well there is two kinds of constructive fear:

1. The fear of God

2. The practical fear that God wired into us to protect us

So where do you get this constructive fear of the Lord

Proverbs 1:7 HCSB

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

So notice the fear of the Lord is called the beginning of knowledge. So if you want the correct balance on fear you need the knowledge of God. This knowledge of God or wisdom of God that he says here fools despise, is where you get the balance of all the truths we will see here.

So without that personal relationship with Him, that understanding of the fear of the Lord you cannot have that.

Proverbs 8:13 HCSB

To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

Proverbs

So the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, that is probably the first pieces of great knowledge that God gives to us, if you know Him personally your going to hate what He hates and your going to love what He loves.

You will have His heart on these issues. This is the beneficial fear, it gives you wisdom in life.

PRACTICAL FEAR- that God gives to every man whether they have the fear of God or not, it is a practical fear that is beneficial to you because it cautions you from doing that which will bring you harm.

Probably the best example of this is when you walk up to a cliff, I don’t know how many of you have been on top of a mountain, but when I was a boy my mother and father and I went to stone mountain in Georgia, my mom is terrified of heights, and so as we made our ascent and started getting higher and higher she became more and more worrisome.

As we got higher and higher mom began to get nervous we were close to the edge in the group of people we were with and it got to the point where she was so overcome with fear that she had to walk down the mountain and she took me with her,she just could not handle the thought of being on the edge of that steep incline with her child.

Now if you are up there and looking down would it be smart to run as fast as you could up to the edge? NO why not? because of this practical fear that God placed within us we know when something is dangerous and it causes us to use caution right?

It is the result of wisdom and experience. but how about a child?

(St. Augustine)

Another type of this kind of fear, is the kind where you walk out of the hospital and you enter the parking garage and it is the wee hours of the morning and there are no other cars in the parking garage but you see this one person standing at the end of the parking gagrage in the darkness and they are looking at you.

You say to yourself wisdom and experience will say to you, get in your car quickly. Because the hair on the back of your neck will stand up.

If you dont have that fear your being foolish because you know what the potential is there for someone to mug you, or harm you in some way.

Now the opposite is DESTRUCTIVE FEAR:

Rational Destructive fear

Its rational its thought out, its over real issues but its based on faulty thinking.

EXAMPLE:

Jesus addressed destructive fear when He spoke about worry.

Matthew 6:25 HCSB

“This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

The answer to that is yes it is, but we are not to worry about these things, because He is our provider. He then goes on to tell His disciples if you will seek me first, I will provide for all of these issues.

This is a destructive fear but its over rational things right? Food clothing housing.. these are rational fears. What happens if I lose my job, what am I going to do?

But He says you need to trust in me and not in yourself.

2. IRRATIONAL FEAR

These fears are based more on feeling, and irrationality. Now there are people who have these crazy ideas that the CIA is following them , and the FBI has a helicopter overhead and everyone is after them. It is not rational at all, and you have met people like this.

Who have fears not based on rational thinking, its just a feeling that someone has, and there can be many phsycological issues that go one in issues like that.

Proverbs 28:1 HCSB

The wicked flee when no one is pursuing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Proverbs

I think at least for myself that I have dealt wiith irrational fears more than the other types of fear. This idea of a fear being driven by feeling. You know when you grow up and everything goes wrong and people wound you and they hurt you, and they break trust, or they stab you in the back if that is left un dealt with it can leave you walking around thinking that everyone will at some point try to do you harm.

One thing a child learns from a broken home is that nothing lasts. The thing you thought was good only lasted a short while and then on to the next thing, and the next and the next.,and they begin to believe there is noi such thing as stability.

No my mother and many single mothers face the difficulty of trying to care for thier children through something difficult like a divorce and it is not easy to do at all. But the kids learn a lie that nothing good ever lasts.

At the same time the people in the relaitonship develop these types of fears because they are wounded by their spouse and they feel that no one will ever treat them right and if they ever enter into another relationship the next person will just hurt them like the last person and so the cycle is viscious.

This is a real issue that people struggle with

2 Timothy 1:7 HCSB

For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

Now paul addresses another aspect of this irrational fear. it is a spirit of fear, some fear is demonic, because satan uses fear, it is one of his weapons. He uses fear as a tool he uses against the children of God.

Hebrews 2:14 NKJV

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,

The medical field has identified 530 phobias that people can have.

How do you win your battle against your fears?

Develop your love relationship with the Lord

1 John

1 John 4:18–19 HCSB

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us.

The word used for fear here is the Greek word Phobus its where we get our word phobia, HE SAYS THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE. He cant say it any cleaer than that. That is the basis of your freedom, we need to be confident of HIs love. John also says in his first epislte “we have known and believed the love that God has toward us.” So a person might know about Gods love but he has to belive it in his heart.

Luke 12:32 HCSB

Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

It is your fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom, He wants to give to you more than you are willing to recieve. But do you believe that? That is critical.

FEAR GOD

The fear of God has to be in a higher place, and higher priority than the fear of men, circumstances, than the fear of.... you fil in the blank. Whatever your fear is, you have to fear God more. This is JEsus perscription for fear.

Jesus’ disciples were about to go out and they were going to begin to preach the gospel and Jesus warned them, your gonna be persecuted, beaten and put to death, just like me.

Matthew 10:28 HCSB

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus makes it clear that if you fear men and what they are going to to do to you, then your not going to to do what He asks you to do which means you dont fear Him. Jesus syas I have to be first.

Deuteronomy 10:12 HCSB

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?

Deuteronomy 10:2

Investigate Your Fears

This is a normal thing for parents is it not?

Your laying in bed in the middle of the night and all of a sudden you hear crying you get up to check on the kid and what do they say, I see a shadow.... but the only way they stop being afraid of that shadow is if you investigate it in front of them and show them what the shadow really is.

This helps you rationally think through your fears. When people say to me, I just cant get on airplanes. I mean I have this fear of flying, have you ever investigated how many people die in airplane crashes?

versus car crashes?

Isaiah 1:18 HCSB

“Come, let us discuss this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.

Isaiah

Why does God say lets discuss this? Because God wants you to reason through things in your mind. Were not called to check our brains at the door of the church, God wants you to think through this.

2 Corinthians 7:5–7 HCSB

In fact, when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. Instead, we were troubled in every way: conflicts on the outside, fears inside. But God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

Paul the apostle he was fearful about what was going on in the church, so he sent Titus because he was fearful about what was going on in the church, but when Titus came back he said it was a comfort to his heart because after he investigated, he saw it was all good.

So investigate your fears, find out the information that you need, its the special knowledge that brings the comfort that you need.

Trust the Loving Protecting Hand of the Lord

Now fear or courage comes down to a choice, thats the entire Christian life is a choice, so in every place where you stumble you have a choice am I going to continue to be fearful over this thing or am I going to trust God?

So Christians get angry sometimes when you tell them, “look you just gotta trust the Lord” oh ok thanks preacher thats simple enough..

but that really is the answer am I going to trust what I feel what I dont know or what I do know, and what I know is the truth.

Hebrews 13:5–6 HCSB

Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Hebrews 13:5–6 HCSB

Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

You see he can only kill the body but he cannot kill the soul, so if God is your helper, if He will never leave you nor forsake you, that is what you need to trust and believe in.

Isaiah 41:10 HCSB

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.

He says dont be afraid for I am with you, DEMONS FLEE WHEN I SPEAK, THE DEAD COME TO LIFE AT THE SOUND OF MY VOICE, THE STORMS STOP RAGING WHEN I TELL THEM TO, I HUNG THE SUN IN THE SKY AND I CAUSE YOUR HEART TO BEAT.

I CAN TURN WATER INTO WINE, AND NOT ENOUGH INTO MORE THAN ENOUGH, I AM THE ONE WHO CAN HEAL THE BODY, I AM THE ONE WHO CAN SET FREE THE MIND.

THIS IS THE ONE WHO SAYS I AM WITH YOU!!!!!

DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR I AM YOUR GOD

This is personal, He is not just a God, He is not just one among many He is the one and only god of HEaven and Earth and more than that if your a Christian he says I AM YOURS!!!

But not only do you have a relationship with him, not only does He promise that even if you cant feel Him He is there with you, He also promises something else.

I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU, I WILL HELP YOU!!!

STRENGTHEN=to seize,keep hold of; grow or make strong, give courage to

So when fears try to overtake you GOD SAYS LISTEN WHEN THINGS GET ROUGH I AM GOING TO GRAB YOU AND PULL YOU IN CLOSE TO ME AND HOLD TIGHT TO YOU, IM GONNA MAKE YOU STROGN AND GIVE YOU COURAGE!!

If you will believe that I will, and I will help you through whatever trials may be on you.

“I WILL HOLD ON TO YOU WITH MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND”

Why righteous?

he wants you to know when things are bad that He is both in control and He is always righteous in what He allows in your life.

RIGHT HAND= POWER, MIGHT, AND AUTHORITY