Fear-the Poison of Shame
“ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV). Fear is one very phenomenon the enemy uses to kill God’s people. Anybody operating with the spirit of fear is already a dead person. They are dead because the Spirit of knowledge, power, love and a sound mind has departed. The spirit of fear is not from God, that’s why the Lord has warned us to “fear not” in everything we do.
One of the things that happen to a soul that has just been born again is that the person is given the spirit of power to withstand, to love the Lord with all his/her mind, and strength. He’s also given the power over everything concerning Satan. When you were born again you were given the authority and the power to overcome the devil and his demons. “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 KJV)
Unfortunately, any Christian who is not actively living a life of searching the Scriptures, studying the Word of God, praying and fasting has the tendency to backslide. They allow the devil to use his subtlety to beguile them until they lose their spiritual identity.
Representatives of the 12 tribes of Israel did it and it posed a big problem for Moses and the rest of the Israelites in their camp. “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Number 13: 30-33).
We must pray God to give us God-fearing leaders. They must be leaders who are constantly being spoken to by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, power and love, and sound minds. The spirit that rules leaders have the power to rule over the people they lead. In spite of the courage and the truth from Joshua and Caleb for the nay-sayers to be quiet and to come out of their fear mongering, they insisted on it. Their insistence caused a big problem in the minds of those who heard them and believed them. It caused a rebellion in the camp. “That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Number 14:1-3).
The spirit of fear is used by the enemy to retard progress, distract from the main goal, weaken and corrupt the mind and make people sin against God with their utterances, thoughts and deeds.
Fear makes you a coward. Cowards die many times before they’re physically dead: They die spiritually and their physical bodies are not able to live to the potential God has given them. Satan uses fear-stricken people to destroy others. From the abundance of the heart (mind), the mouth speaks. Fear in your heart will make you talk defeat into your soul and into your destiny. Note: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1KJV).
Let’s pray: Father, let Your Spirit be our guide that we be not victims of lies and demonic propagandas, in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
Today’s reading: Jeremiah 18-19; 2 Timothy 3
“Fear Not,” Says the Lord.
Rev Bassey Ekong, Dip Ed, BSc. Ed, B. Ed, M. Ed is an educator/teacher of science on the high school panel of the local board of education in the Ottawa-Carleton region. He’s a psychology of learning specialist. A scholar, always learning, a writer, teacher and trainer, adviser board of directors and pastor of the Light of the Nations ministry international, a non-denominational ministry with its headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.