Silence Your Fears

The bible is full of scriptures that speak about fear and the need to have courage. In many instances, when an angel appeared to saints, the first instruction would be, ‘fear not.’ The Jews are recorded as being quite fearful of God and ran away when he spoke to them out of the mountain. “and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die”” (Exodus 20:19). Moses also told them not to fear and said that God had come to test them, so that they would fear him. The type of fear which Moses spoke of was not the unpleasant emotion associated with being in danger. He spoke of reverential awe, respect and submission. This is one of the only times when we are told to have any type of fear and this is reserved for God.

Another time when the Jews were afraid, was when they were between Pharaoh and the Red Sea. This event would produce fear in almost anyone, as the situation seemed like certain death. I believe that God allowed these events to teach his people about faith and trust in him. God opened the sea to let the people go through and then closed the sea when Pharaoh and his army pursued (Exodus 14: 19-31). The outcome should also have produced in the people, a deep sense of trust and the fear of God. We are not sure how much the many signs and wonders done by God, helped to increase faith in the Jews. They cried and complained at the first sign of every major trial and they failed the final test of entering the promised land. After spying out the land, the ten spies spoke out their fears in the hearing of the people.

What the spies spoke invoked an extreme sense of fear in the people and caused them to rebel. Caleb and Joshua spoke faith and hope, but their voices were drowned out by the voices of fear. Isreal failed their assignment and an entire generation died in the wilderness, because of fear. Caleb and Joshua were the only ones to survive, because they had courage (Numbers 13). Fear originates from the devil as God did not give us the spirit of fear, but he gave us power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Whenever we have a negative thought, which creates an unpleasant emotion within us, we know that it is from the devil. It is one thing to feel fear, the mistake is to give it a voice. It is possible that Caleb and Joshua felt that same reservations that the other ten spies felt. The difference is that they did not give a voice to it.

When you feel fear, know that the devil is near and his agents are speaking. Instead of repeating the lies that they are whispering, bind the spirit of fear, resist the devil and he will run (James 4:7). We cannot stop the devil from projecting doubts and fears towards us, but we can use the shield of faith to block him. We can also rebuke him and speak a word of faith which contradicts his lies. The one thing that we should not do, is to repeat the lies. The devil is after our words and he whispers lies, in the hope that we will repeat them. He understands spiritual laws and since the bible says that whatever we decree will be established, that also includes lies associated with fear. All the devil needs is for us to speak from a place of fear, but let us guard our mouths and keep a watch over our words. Speak the word of God when you feel afraid and don’t succumb to the enemy.

“being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:6).

A.P.-Y.