Fear can have only a natural source, but its source can also be demonic. In my book Five Movements: Winning the Battle for your Prophetic Gift, I write about Satan’s triangular trap of fear, sin and deception. The bottom line is that fear weakens our resolve and we become weakened in our battle against sin. And demonic fear is dipped in the poison of deception that will lead us astray.
But whatever the source of your fear, God provides us with two solutions of how to deal with it.
The first one is that He asks us to trust in Him. We can see that clearly in Joshua 1, when God speaks to Joshua:
“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5-9)
God tells us that He is trustworthy, and God’s declaration of His trustworthiness is in fact the one message that permeates the whole Bible. You can read about it on nearly every page in the Bible, as God declares His trustworthiness to us and to His people in diverse circumstances.
But often we find that as God removes one fear, we only end up replacing it with many others! For example, you might fear that you don’t get a promotion at work, but when you finally get it, you will begin to fear the impact of the promotion on your family, or that you find yourself unable to do the job and succeed.
A while ago, I was waiting for some good news. I feared that the thing I hoped for would never happen. And when it did, my wife began to fear about the consequences of the good news on our family life. Suddenly, the original fear began to look minuscule, as the good news released new fear into our life!
Thankfully, Jesus has given us an amazing insight about fear management. First, He asks us not to fear. Second, if we keep on living in fear, He says,
“Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
In essence, Jesus is saying that if you after all His promises still want to fear something, you should fear God. In that sense, God should be our greatest fear.
Do you fear being judged by people? Do you fear being attacked by Satan? All these fears fade into insignificance when we ponder that one day we will have to meet the assessment of the living God. But if we fear Him most, then we won’t have anything to fear.
Proverbs 1:7 declares, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”
Because God is good and loving, fearing God will in fact set us free from all fear. It will give us the ability to begin to discern the root of our fears clearly, so that we won’t be so easily played by the devil. If you fear, let God be your greatest fear!
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