Fear Not

The bible says not to Fear 365 times. One verse for every day of the year? Coincidence? I think not.

God delivered me from a spirit of Fear when I got saved. Before coming to Christ, I filled my eyes and ears with all sorts of tormenting things. I would watch every horror movie and would crave ghost stories, etc. That was since I was young!! My brother and I would watch video tapes of old horror movies almost every day. Sometimes twice a day!

Allow me to tell you what a spirit of Fear did to me. I could not go in my bathroom without the door being open..even slightly. I was afraid that I would see or hear something from the movies that I watched. I couldn’t even go in my basement to do laundry. Granted, we had one of those cement floor basements anyway…the kind that a lot of people are afraid of…but still. I would attempt to walk down the stairs and get caught on the third step, frozen in fear. My Grandparents couldn’t believe how terrified I was. It was crippling. I would refuse to stay alone in the house if no one was home and also would often run down the hallway if someone yelled out for me. I was very anxious. I was usually expecting something bad to happen and in a lot of cases, it would.

God is speaking to me right now as I am writing this and saying, “what are you meditating on?” I believe this is a word for all of us. What is your heart set on today? Is it that movie that you watched the other night? That cute guy/girl that you just met? Your lack of finances? Is it Fear?

The bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that “God has not given us a spirit of Fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.” Amen. God does not give what he isn’t. He is not fear. He is not anxious. He is not intimidated. He is POWER. He is LOVE. He has a SOUND MIND. Praise the Lord!

God delivered me from watching those movies and being involved in things like ghost hunts, etc. PRAISE GOD! I can’t tell you how much different I am now. I am a living testimony of God’s faithfulness. I live alone now (with my Dog) and do not own a horror movie or watch them. I can be alone and know that God is always with me, therefore I do not have to Fear. He has seated me in the heavenly places with him. (Ephesians 2:6) He has given me POWER to trample on snakes and scorpions. (Luke 10:19).

Of course there are familiar spirits that will try and come back into your life, as Fear did to me this past week. I had a couple of mice in my apartment and by the Grace of God they are gone! But this last week I was reminded and humbled by how God had brought me out of the pit of Fear. I had let myself become so overwhelmed by Fear again that I lost sleep, wouldn’t be home for more than I absolutely had to be and my priorities became out of whack. All because I had let Fear in. I rebuke every attack of Fear in Jesus’ name. Perfect love casts out ALL Fear. (1 John 4:18) I am reminded today just how gracious and awesome our God is. I praise him that he has delivered me from Fear. That he has delivered me from torment and anxiety. I am a child of God and I will activate my Faith, which is the opposite of Fear. I’ve heard it said that Fear is “False Evidence Appearing Real.” Rise up above the circumstances today that would try to weigh you down. Live today to the fullest because we are not promised tomorrow. The bible says that tomorrow will worry about itself. Today is a NEW day. A day to walk with God with our confidence and trust IN HIM. Our hope IN HIM. Our eyes set upon HIM. When I was dealing with the Fear this week, I knew that my eyes weren’t upon God…sure I was asking him to help me, but it’s like this analogy…a little girl is asking her Father to hold her hand and help her cross the bridge that has snapping alligators underneath it..just waiting to take her out with one bite. Her Father is helping her, but she is still looking down at them. Her Father says “Don’t look down! Keep your eyes on me…we will get through this.” But she is panicked and stricken with fear because although she is holding her Father’s hand, her gaze is fixed on those gators. She can’t move nearly as fast as she could if her eyes were ahead…fixed on her Father…

Trust God…he will do it. Whatever it is.