10) FEAR is one of the most effective weapons of Satan! Every man lives in some kind of fear. Every Christian lives in some kind of fear, the question is, in what kind of fear and how deep and powerful fear he lives. Also, whether that fear governs his Christian life and keeps him in a paralysis or whether it has a frequent or just an occasional influence upon his life and deeds. On one side, it is a great evil if we have fear. On the other side, it is the same great evil, if we don’t have fear! How can we explain this? What fear we are talking about here? There are two types of fear, one comes from evil and causes evil, ruin, paralysis, death. The other fear brings blessings, wisdom, knowledge, joy and life. Let us look closer at these two types of fears and understand what they mean for us, what they cause and how to deal with them.
On one side, it is a great evil to have fear, which brings inability, paralysis, suffering, affliction, anger, torment, illness and finally death. This fear comes from the devil and its task is to keep us from our salvation at all costs; so believers, after their redemption, remain, or are kept, in the state of weakness, indecision, lukewarmness, even satisfaction with their paralyzed state, inability to make decisions or take definite and positive steps toward the Lord so He might deliver them from this devilish spirit of fear.
On the other hand, it is equally great evil not to have fear! Both sides cause the same evil and thus they are judged in the Word of God and believers are warned about these two spiritual states. Our inability to discern these two types of fear is also the root of failure and idleness on our way of salvation. What does it mean in our Christian life “not to have fear”? Why is it considered as evil, even a great evil?
Not to have fear here means “not to fear God“, not to have fear of His Word, Commandments, Judgments, His Ways or His Will (Rom. 3:10-18/ 2Cor. 7:1/ Eph. 5:21 / Phil. 2:12/ Acts 2:43/ 1Thes. 5:23, etc.). On the other hand, fear before the Lord means a recognition and appreciation of His Glory, His Majesty, His Holiness, His Truthfulness, His Grace, His Power, His Judgments, etc. Hence, if we “do not fear God”, then we acknowledge nothing from the above and do not recognize any Glory, Majesty, Holiness, Truthfulness, Grace or other Virtues, which He has not only in Himself, but also toward us. The main characteristic of this fear of the Lord is humility, meekness, softness, willingness to learn, gentleness, forbearance, mercy and, of course, wisdom and knowledge – at least, their beginnings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Ps. 111:10/ Pr. 1:7). There is therefore a very important task in our life, which is to discern and understand what kind of fear or uncertainty exists in us and influences us and why.
Whenever we fear the devil and listen to his reasons, warnings, threats, deceptions or temptations or lies regarding the consequences of our planned actions or desires, we live and walk in evil and are sinning, even though unconsciously. Why? Because we may be unaware that all such thoughts of fear, devil’s reasons, warnings, threats, lies, etc., are not only false, they are total stupidities, which have no basis, they are his fabrications. And when we receive and allow ourselves to be led by such stupid thoughts, then we sin. “The thought of foolishness is sin;” (Pr. 24:9) whether we have that thought in us or we receive it from others, believe it and follow it. This fact of the devil’s fear is actually only the first point of his goal. The second goal is to dishonor God because God is and should be honored in His believers. When believers are fearful, do not live by the Spirit of God, they dishonor God. Furthermore, a fearful believer cannot even love God because in true love, there is no fear.
We may define fear also as distrust, suspiciousness, lack of faith or love. The true love casts out of our soul all fear (1Jn. 4:18). Furthermore, love also means trust. We cannot love anyone in whom we have no trust, suspicion and in whom we have no basic or at least a sufficient faith. We cannot tell anybody: I love you, but I don’t trust you. Equally, we cannot say: I love the Lord, but I do not entirely trust Him, I am not completely sure about Him, I fear that this or that He will not do for me, will not hear me; I have great worries that that this or that will never happen, I fear whether I will be able to do what He wants, I do not even have assurance about my future, I do not know how everything will turn out…. Fear is the opposite of trust and certainty! When we trust, then we do not fear (Is. 12:2/ Ps. 27:1). When Adam fell into sin, he began to fear and began to live in fear. We inherited this fear and it became a part of our character. Often it is quite recognizable when some people are fearful since their childhood. I also believe that there exist spirits of fear, whom Satan sends out to come “upon us” and bring us into fear. Such spirits then “double” our fear, which we already may have in our character. The good news is that all these “external” spirits of fear may be cast out of us and it may take but a moment. But our character cannot be cast out of us, therefore, its change and cleansing takes much longer time.
Whenever we, therefore, find out or see that fear stands in our way to do something, say something, go somewhere, etc., it should immediately be presented before the Lord, confess to Him and ask Him to strengthen us in spirit, or deliver us from it. He may also show us clearly that the fear has no justification, no meaning and no logic except to hold us for fools. The Lord always knows what should be done and we must trust Him. We may also find out from time to time or even see that we are ignoring or violating His Word, and that without any qualms of our conscience, or we behave haughtily, arrogantly towards the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We may also be in situations where we walk by our pride and have no fear from the rebukes of the Holy Spirit. Here, we should come before the Lord and repent to Him from the evil that we have no fear before Him. The Lord will then show to us both kinds of fear, and He will put us into the right relationship with the first as well as the second type of fear.
* * *
To be continued next week
brother Hanola
…