The Believer’s Only Enemy
For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind. -- II Timothy 1: 7
If fear does not
originate from the true God, then it must come from another source. That other source
is the god of this world.
In whom the
god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them. -- II Corinthians 4: 4
The thief
cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: – John 10: 10a
In it’s least common
denominator, fear is the believer’s only enemy. Fear is believing, but it is
believing in reverse and brings negative results. If you fear something enough,
it will come to pass.
For the
thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is
come unto me. – Job 3: 25
Fear is sand in the
machinery of life. It has been my experience that when you have fear in one
area of your life, it permeates into other areas. There is only one thing that
will take the fear out of your life and that is an accurate knowledge and
application of the Word of God in your life.
For this
cause we also, since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be
filled [pleroo –
to capacity] with the knowledge of his will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding. – Colossians 1: 9
Spiritual knowledge
always supercedes natural knowledge. God wants you to be filled with the
spiritual knowledge of His Will which is His Word. That is the only thing that
will set you free from fear. Fear destroys more people’s lives than anything
else. Again, fear is believing and believing is a law. You receive what you
believe. God exhorts us time and time again to seek out His truths. This is
God’s Will for man.
Who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the [accurate] knowledge of the truth. – I Timothy 2: 4
The only thing that
will change a man or a woman is God’s Word. They must be born again of God’s
Spirit and renew their mind to God’s Word and then apply God’s
Word. Let me show you a real life example of how the Word of God can
drastically change a person from being filled with fear to being a bold and
fearless person filled with the power of the Holy Spirit in manifestation.
When Jesus Christ
appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, where were they? Now
remember, it was not yet available to be born again since the day of Pentecost
had not yet come. The disciples were body and soul, but no spirit.
Then the
same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled, for fear of the Jews. – John 21: 19
These disciples
included Peter. They were afraid of the Jews and therefore were in hiding. What
happened to Peter only 50 days later after he became born again and
filled with the power of the Holy Spirit? It is remarkable. Let’s go to Acts
chapter two (2) to see the amazing change that took place. We’ll begin in verse
14 which was after the original outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost.
But Peter,
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of
Judea, and all ye that dwell at
Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: -- Acts 2: 14
Only fifty days before
this, Peter and the disciples were behind closed doors for fear of the Jews.
What changed Peter into a fearless, confident person? He was born again of
God’s Spirit and was now a man of body, soul, and spirit. Peter studied Jesus
Christ very much and when he was born again, he was ready to teach and lead.
This was actually the very first sermon delivered in the Christian Church and
it ended in verse 40 of Acts chapter 2.
This is quite an
amazing change in a person in only 50 days – it was supernatural in nature. I
too experienced this change when I first got involved in God’s Word. I immersed
myself in the study of God’s Word and in fellowships and Bible classes. I
became such a different person that people hardly knew me. I went from being depressed,
withdrawn and full of fear to a vibrant person full of confidence and
believing. Where do we get positive believing?
So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10: 17
The more we study God’s
Word, the more our believing builds and becomes stronger. This was the very
first Scripture I hung on my wall when I first got involved in God’s Word in
1974. I used to wake up every morning and Romans 10: 17 is the first thing I
read. It is just so simple and so powerful and so very important.
Now we are talking
about the believer’s only enemy and that is fear. We must learn not to treat
the effects of fear, but to remove the cause. There are two types of believing,
as mentioned before: 1) positive and 2) negative. We either have faith or fear.
[For an in-depth
study of this subject, you should study The
Law of Believing, Parts 1, 2 and 3.]
In this teaching, we are focusing specifically on the subject of fear.
There are only two (2) CAUSES of fear: IGNORANCE
or WRONG TEACHING.
Wherefore putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of
another. -- Ephesians 4: 25
WRONG TEACHING is
another cause of fear. Let me use a very simple example here that everyone can
identify with. Let’s say you misbehaved when you were a child and many times,
refused to go to sleep at night. Your parents put the thought in your head that
if you got out of bed, the boogie man, in the closet, would come out and get
you. This was effective in putting fear in you, wasn’t it? We were too young to
know that this was a trick and probably believed it. So we stayed in bed out of
fear that was clearly due to wrong teaching.
This type of teaching
happens often in religious circles. We are taught wrongly that the true God
kills people. The Bible says that God is all light and in Him is no darkness at
all. So how can the true God kill people? He does not. This, again, is clearly
wrong teaching and puts fear in many people. There are many similar examples in
the religious arena. Stick just to the Word and nothing but the Word.
This then is
the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all. – I John 1: 5
At this point, I should
clear up something regarding the usage of language. The Old English used in the
Bible can cause problems in some areas if not understood. Some words that were
used when the Bible were written can have different meanings today. Let’s study
the following verse to clear this up once and for all. This pertains especially
to our subject.
Servants,
obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness
of heart, fearing [respecting] God. – Colossians 3: 22
The fear of God as
written in Old English means ‘The respect or reverence for God’. This
misunderstanding causes many problems to this day. When the Bible mentions the
term ‘fear of God’, it DOES NOT mean that we are to be afraid of God. It
denotes respect.
When do we give place
to fear? When we look at circumstances and conditions with the five senses
instead of looking to God’s Word. We all remember the record of Peter walking
on the water and what eventually happened. This is a perfect example.
And Peter
answered him [Jesus
Christ] and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come
unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of
the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind
boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
– Matthew 14: 28 – 30
There is a great lesson
here regarding believing in this record. Peter was doing fine until his senses
kicked in. Notice the use of the word ‘saw’ in verse 30 indicating that Peter
was now focusing on his five senses. When the adversary is roaring, he cannot
bite. But if his roaring freezes you in your tracks due to fear, then he can
attack. Do you understand this? Peter saw the boisterous wind and he became
afraid. He wasn’t now believing and he started to sink. That is why we must
learn to go to God and His Word for our guidance and not to man. We must study
by our own free will.
Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. -- II Timothy 2: 15
I have often said that
if God created life, don’t you think He knows how to live it? The Bible is
God’s instruction to us as to how to live the best, most abundant life possible
– it’s God’s blueprint for living.
Now unto him
[God] that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, -- Ephesians 3: 20
That’s just one of the
promises we can look forward to. When we study, we show ourselves approved unto
God and God will protect us from fear. There is not one benefit to having fear
in your life. Fear and caution are two different things.
See then
that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time,
because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5: 15, 16
‘Circumspectly’ means
to walk very wisely with precision and attention to detail – not with fear but
with wisdom.
There is no
fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love. – I John 4: 18
This is talking about
the love of God. A person who still has fear is not made perfect in the love of
God. What is a concise definition of the love of God?
For this is
the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not
grievous [oppressive]. – I John 5: 2, 3
You can see how God
ties all this together in such a simple manner. If we have fear, it is because
we have not mastered the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. How
do we do this? By keeping His commandments which is His Word. How do we do
this? BY STUDYING AND APPLYING THE WORD OF GOD.
We study, learn and apply the Word – We acquire
the love of God – We get rid of fear.
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY
TO GET SET FREE FROM FEAR. I should mention, at this point, that even though
you are set free, the enemy will go to no end to try and get you to believe
that you still have fear. If you feel fearful for no reason, and you know God
wants you to get that task done, do what you think you fear. You will find out that after
you begin to take action, those thoughts of fear will just seem to disappear.
You should remember this. The enemy does not play by the rules. You need to
resist him and he will flee from you. At times, thoughts of fear still try to
enter my mind pertaining to a task I need to get done. Even if it’s something
I’ve done many times, the adversary will try to hinder me. Don’t let him stop
you from doing God’s Will. God expects you to handle a certain amount of
tribulation.
Remember, fear is
negative believing and brings negative results. The Word of God studied and
applied will teach you how to perfect the love of God which, in turn, will
drive the fear out of your life.
What shall
we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? -- Romans 8: 31
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~