Dealing with Fear
If you have been diagnosed with a serious illness or are experiencing alarming symptoms in your body, it is very important that you learn to deal with fear. The devil will try to get you into fear over what the doctor or your body tells you. You must deal with fear. Do not entertain it. Trying to operate in both faith and fear is like trying to run your car in first gear and reverse at the same time. You won’t get far.
Fear is not of God. God wants you to be free from fear.
Luke 1:74:
That he would grant unto us [through part of Christ’s work], that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
You are delivered from fear! “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear...” (Romans 8:15). Through death Jesus destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15).
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect is love” (1 John 4:18). So part of overcoming fear must be acknowledging the presence of your loving Father. “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...” (Psalm 46:1-2). “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Proverbs 1:33). “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:13). “Fear not, for I am with thee…” (Isaiah 43:5).
This is further amplified in Psalm 91. The following belongs to the man who “dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High” and “abides under the shadow of the Almighty” and says of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust:” “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Here God tells you that you do not have to fear sickness if you abide in Him, even if 11,000 people around you have just dropped dead from it.
In other words, you have heard that cancer has killed millions of people. Say that the doctor tells you that you will probably have cancer because it runs in your family. You can confidently state that you do not have to have cancer, let alone die from it, because you abide in the secret place of the Most High.
This may run contrary to what your Christian friends will do. Some of them may panic and think that they need to hold an all-night emergency prayer meeting for you. You don’t have to panic, even if you are diagnosed with a fatal illness. Even if thousands have just fallen from the same thing, you do not have to fall.
Satan loves to work you over about supposedly faith-filled Christians who died because of the same condition you have. Don’t let that distract you. You can never really know someone else’s heart or someone else’s situation, and you will probably be in for a few surprises when you get to glory. You can still receive your healing, just as you could still get saved even if thousands of people around you go to hell.
“Do not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken” (Proverbs 3:25-26). “In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear...” (Isaiah 54:14). Note that sickness is the oppression of the devil (Acts 10:38).
Fear, like faith, will change your circumstances. “The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him” (Proverbs 10:24). What you say and believe in your heart will come to pass. Jesus did not say that this principle only applies toward positive things!
Jesus contrasted faith and fear: “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). “Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26). Jesus told Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole” (Mark 5:36).
When one of God’s angels visited someone in the Bible, the angel would often say, “Fear not” (Genesis 21:17, Daniel 10:12, Daniel 10:17-19, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 28:5, Luke 1:13, Luke 1:30, Luke 2:10).
It is vital that you dwell on things that will encourage you in your faith (the Word, testimonies of people who got healed of fatal illnesses by faith, etc.) instead on those things that would encourage fear (finding out how horribly Uncle John suffered before he died, ignorant books by promoters of unbelief, etc.).
The Spirit of Fear?
2 Timothy 1:7:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
The fear discussed here is not fright but rather timidity or cowardice, as you can verify by looking up the word fear used here in a concordance. It is not the Greek word phobos, the kind of frightening fear that most people think of when they first see the word fear.
Thus, this verse cannot be used to “prove” that the phobos kind of fear is a spirit. However, there certainly are spirits out there that will try to intimidate you and get you into fear. You have authority over them. But at least technically, there is a difference between saying that fear is a spirit and that there are spirits that will try to get you into fear. If you struggle with timidity, rather than trying to cast out a spirit of timidity, it would be better to pray for BOLDNESS (Acts 4:29-33), which is the opposite of timidity. If you get boldness, timidity leaves!
Another way that you could look at this verse is that it’s about the Holy Spirit, who does not promote timidity but rather power, love and (literally) self-control. (“Sound mind” here means self-control. This verse is not about having a healthy brain; see Verses Incorrectly Cited as Healing Scriptures.)
What Paul is really saying is that God has not given us a cowardly attitude. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). You can do a good job working yourself into fear without any help from the devil if your mind is not renewed with the Word of God. Jesus did not tell Peter or the others to rebuke a spirit of fear; he told them to believe instead of fearing. Faith is the antidote to fear. Trying harder not to fear is not the antidote. You don’t overcome sin by trying harder not to sin; you overcome sin by believing God’s Word, which in particular, tells you that you have victory over sin now. Rather than rebuking a spirit of sin, you believe in the victory over the flesh that Christ has already granted you (Romans 6:14, Romans 8:12, Galatians 5:24). Likewise, you don’t beat fear by trying not to fear, but rather by hearing God’s Word and letting it build your faith.
More Proof That Fear Is Not a Spirit
If fear of the “frightening” kind were always a spirit, Paul needed to get deliverance! He spoke of “fears within:”
2 Corinthians 7:5:
For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
Would anyone who preaches that fear is a spirit like to take this to its logical conclusion and say that Paul had one or more spirits of fear within himself?
Circumstances alone will tempt you to get into fear, and you’ll have to deal with it. Your mind can give you enough reasons to fear (when it’s not renewed with the Word) without any demon having to bring you fear.
It is clear that Paul did not try to “cast a spirit of fear” out of himself to solve the problem.
If fear (phobos) is always an evil spirit, we’re all in trouble, because we’re all told to fear (the same word phobos) the Lord!
The Greek word forms are used for fear, love, power and self-control. If fear is a spirit, this verse must also “prove” that power is a spirit, love is a spirit and self-control is a spirit, which are obviously not true.
Fear Is a Choice
John 14:27:
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You can let your heart be afraid, or you can “let not your heart be afraid.” The language here makes it clear that it is your choice. You never have to fear. The Bible is full of commands to “Fear not.” If it weren’t your choice, and you couldn’t do anything about it, God would be unjust to command you not to fear! Therefore, you CAN choose not to fear.
This does not mean that you will not feel fear, any more than you will not feel anger or jealousy at times. Because of your flesh and the devil, you will feel these things and many more. But it is up to you whether you resist them and reject them or give in to them. It is not sin to be tempted to sin, and it is not sin to feel like sinning. It is only sin to actually sin!
Fear Requires Faith!
In a sense, fear is faith running in the wrong direction. If you are in fear, you are afraid because you believe something! You believe the wrong thing, but you still believe something. Most likely, you believe that something awful will come to pass when you have no proof that it will. If you are in strong fear, you have proven that you can operate in strong faith! You are going not by circumstances, but by what you believe your circumstances will be in the future. If you can do such a good job of acting on what you believe, even without natural proof, just turn it around and start treating God’s Word the same way that you treated the bad report that got you into fear.
How many times have you lost a good night’s sleep over something that never really happened? I’ve done it more than once. The problem was that I let contrary circumstances become more real to me than God’s promises.
If you can believe that something bad will happen even though you can’t prove it in the natural, surely you can believe that something good will happen instead, even though you can’t prove it in the natural. Everyone believes something. What you believe will determine what you say, and what you say will determine what you receive. It works in both directions. Stop using this principle against yourself, and start using it for yourself!
The Best Way to Beat Fear
God has already given you all things pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). All things are yours (1 Corinthians 3:21-22). You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10) and God has promised to take care of you (Philippians 4:19, Psalm 23). If you believe this, there is no basis for fear. All fear is rooted in ignorance or unbelief of something that God said. If you are in fear in any area, there is guaranteed to be Scripture that covers your situation. If you would believe that Scripture, you would no longer fear. You would replace your faith in the devil and the world with faith in God. God has provided all you need to triumph in Christ in every situation (2 Corinthians 2:14). You will find your answer in His Word. Please note that it’s not a case of praying on and on. It’s a case of finding out what God says and choosing to believe that instead of something else.
Rather than just trying not to fear, which is really trying not to believe something, find out what to believe and believe that instead! You can’t believe God’s Word and believe that you’re going to fail at the same time.
Mind Control
Too many Christians think that they can’t help all the negative thoughts that swirl through their heads. The Bible is clear that you CAN control ALL of them. We are told explicitly what to think about and what not to think about. That is PROOF that YOU CHOOSE what you think about!
Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
The above is NOT a suggestion that you might try if you want a happier life. It is a COMMAND for all Christians. That is different from good advice from a self-help guru. God not only wants you to think about positive things; He COMMANDS you to do it!
But what do many Christians think about all day? The news! Did you know that the news outlets DELIBERATELY emphasize negative things to grab your attention? It was proved a long time ago that negative news gets more attention and cranks up ratings more than positive news. (I majored in broadcasting in college; the adage was, “If it bleeds, it leads.”) Why do they do that? Because it WORKS! People gravitate toward the negative. That’s why so many internet ads say, “Hotels hate this,” “Power companies hate this,” and so on. It’s more appealing “click bait” for most people because it’s negative. Also, why do ad agencies hire beautiful models to promote cars, toilet paper, batteries, paint, or whatever else has nothing to do with the owner’s looks? Because it WORKS! “Sex sells” was another broadcasting school adage, with the follow-up that it even works on people who complain about it because they’ll still sneak peaks at the gorgeous women who soothingly tout the advantages of a certain brand of men’s hand razors. Just get that brand and all the pretty women will suddenly start chasing you down! Those ads WORK because most people are carnal!
If we really took God’s command seriously, we would not spend all that time clicking through one negative news story after another. And we would do a much better job staying out of fear, because we wouldn’t be afraid that life as we know it will end in ten years due to global warming (as the United Nations people were saying many decades ago, by the way, but I guess THIS TIME, no matter what the count of such times is now, you’re supposed to ignore their track record and believe them!), while recession lurks just around the corner, while you might be the next victim of gun violence if you step outside your house, while your job will probably be replaced by a robot or by someone overseas within the next year or two, while just about everything you eat or wear causes cancer, while the government is unraveling by spending all its energy fighting within its ranks rather than running the country, while your government pension will probably be partly unfunded by the time you need it, while new killer diseases are being discovered…you get the idea. If you steadied your mind on the WORD, you’d just laugh all that stuff off, knowing that even if any of this happened and it really did affect a lot of people, God would still take care of YOUR needs and keep YOU healthy no matter what!
I realize that from a media perspective, you might not get a lot of website hits with headlines like, “NOBODY Killed in School Shootings for the Last Three Months,” “Economy Looks Good for the Foreseeable Future,” “Police Becoming More Effective in Rounding Up Crooks; Urban Areas Safer,” and so on. But we are to renew our minds to avoid conformity to the world (Romans 12:2), not rot our minds by synchronizing our thoughts with the world’s way of thinking.
I am convinced that if Christians would take a hard look at their media viewing habits and start making some drastic changes to avoid picking up worldly attitudes, they’d find that their Christian walks would become easier, living fear-free would become easier and living out the Word would become easier. If all you see all day is shows and movies showing people fornicating, murdering, cursing, and so on, it will be hard for you to think positively! Don’t be fooled – bad company ruins good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). “Oh, I don’t hang out with fornicators, killers or sewer-mouths; I know better.” DO YOU? If you let them into your house through your TV, you ARE hanging around them. Now THAT is a sobering thought!
Good Fear
The Greek word phobos (think of the English word phobia) refers to traditional fear as opposed to cowardice. Yet there is a POSITIVE kind of fear (phobos) that will keep you out of the NEGATIVE kind of fear (phobos) – the fear (phobos) of the Lord!
I did a count of the biblical uses of the word fear and found that 43% of the time, it was something positive (almost always the fear of the Lord, but occasionally a deep respect for someone).
So “fear” in and of itself is not necessarily negative – it’s just that you need to fear the Lord instead of fearing the devil, fearing cancer, fearing demons, fearing Alzheimer’s, and so on.
Mental Diet Advice
If you keep the Word in your thoughts, fear has to leave. You will always gravitate toward what you dwell on. If you dwell on negative junk, you will inevitably be pulled into fear and negativity when you face challenges. If you abide in the Word, you set yourself up for a joy-filled (though not challenge-free) Christian adventure! Because FEAR has so much to do with your thoughts, beating fear is about getting your thought life under control and setting your mind on God and His Word. When you really know what God has said, you realize that there is NO REASON that you should ever fear anything or anyone. When you walk in the fear of the Lord, the fear of anything else will dissipate.