Book 4 of Musings Fear

Being afraid of what people can do to us, or of anything else, will prove to be a snare.

If we are living in the wisdom and power of Jesus Christ we have no need to live in fear.

I wonder how many times the Lord said to people "Do not fear." It is clear the Lord Jesus does not want us to live in fear.

One of the first things Christ says to us is when we are praying about something we fear will happen is,"Do not fear."

There is no question but that life on earth is filled with fear dread, apprehension of all sorts. Fear cripples us, and sometimes has a bad effect on our mental health and sometimes our physical health.

Christ is our safety, our shield, our strong Rock of protection.

There is a prayer I have found helpful. Maybe it will be useful to you.

There are times when it seems like our whole house is filled with apprehension. There is apprehension when we wake up and apprehension when we lay down to go to sleep. It is a kind of nameless dread.

I have found that by going to the Lord and asking Him to cleanse our house of all spirits of fear and dread, that there usually is a lifting of the darkness.

In fact, there is a prayerful way to handle physical symptoms of one sort or another. Let us say we have a pain in our stomach. We imagine we have stomach cancer, or ulcers, or who knows what. And we worry about it.

The best thing to do is to forget what might be the source of the problem and deal with the pain itself. Ask the Lord to lift the pain. Also tell the Lord if there is something you are doing that is causing the pain, such as drinking too much coffee, or living under too much stress, to guide you to more healthful living.

Always ask the Lord if you should go to the doctor. If there really is cancer, or bleeding ulcers, or some other source of stomach pain, then watch the Lord closely and He will guide you. Even in this instance He will give you assurance, and the medical condition will work for your good in some manner.

When we are serving the Lord, all things are working together for our good.

The Lord does not want us to worry or fret about anything.

It is difficult in America at this time (March 14, 2003) to not worry or fret. It seems like our culture is in upheaval. Not only is there the prospect of war, but there are economic problems, and an abundance of crime and murder. Immorality is increasing on every hand.

We simply have to pray without ceasing that God will lift the worry and fretting from us.

We never are to fear what man can do to us.

Do you remember how afraid Jacob was when Esau was coming to meet him?

Jacob "prayed through." Do you know what it means to pray through? Have you had that experience?

Perhaps the younger generation has never heard of "praying through."

What you do is pray until you know God has heard you.

How do you know if God has heard you?

You will know. You just can't pray about that particular problem any more. There is no prayer there, maybe a praise, or song, or great peace. But the prayer is over and the burden has lifted

John said if we know He hears us we know we have the answer.

I have been praying for many years. I can tell when God has heard me. I have learned that once I know God has heard me, the answer is certain.

This is how you handle fear. You take it to the Lord as soon as possible. You pray until you know God has heard you. After you do this a few times, and see that the prayer always is answered, you will gain confidence.

Why don't you right now make a list of the things that are troubling you. Take them to the Lord one at a time and pray until you know God has heard you.

This is how we are to live. This is why Paul told us to pray without ceasing. We continually are to be lifting up to the Lord the problems that are troubling us.

I don't know about you, but there is hardly a day goes by that there is not some dread attacking my mind. I keep praying, praying, praying. One by one the path opens. The way is made clear. The problems are solved.

We handle fear by bringing out into the open what it is that is troubling us. You know, when we are serving the Lord, death itself holds not terror. If we are serving the Lord, to die is to enter a higher plane of living.

If we are living in Jesus we already have come to Mount Zion in the heavenlies. We have come to the innumerable company of angels and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect.

When we die our body will be left here to await the Day of Resurrection, but we will remain where we are now-in Mount Zion. This is what Jesus meant by saying "He who lives and believes in me shall never die."

As we keep pressing into Jesus our place in Mount Zion becomes more real to us. When we die we will continue in the life we already have in Christ. So what is there to fear?

Satan loves the dark. He loves to keep nameless fears in our subconscious so we never can enjoy the peace and assurance that we should be experiencing.

We handle this by bringing up these fears, looking at them, and then taking them to the Lord.

I had a fear once of going insane. I finally said to the Lord: "All right. So they are going to drag me out of the house in front of the neighbors in a straitjacket. Then I am going to be put in an institution and watch television all day with the other inmates.

"Fine. I can do this and praise the Lord. There is no problem here."

In other words, you look at the fear, whatever it is. Then you take it to the Lord and gain His peace and assurance that you will be fine.

Your biopsy comes out positive. Your child comes down with a dreadful disease. You lose your job. So many happenings can terrify us. Our once sunny environment becomes filled with grim forebodings.

Above the clouds, the Lord is still on the throne. It is but a brief trial of our faith. We can overcome the fear by praying about every fear, bringing each one to the Lord until we have peace.

There do come dark hours in our Christian discipleship. All of us are living in situations that are contrived so as to bring out what is in our character. We are not put into this world to have fun but to accomplish God's will in our personality, in preparation for the true world of the future. The Lord always is in control of every detail.

We have to learn to endure hardness, and just keep pressing forward in the Lord. The testing will be completed soon enough.

In all of our Job-like trials there are many opportunities for fear to gain the upper hand over us. We must not give in to the fear. It is not coming from the Lord but from the enemy. Jesus is always giving us peace and assurance no matter what the situation is.

There is nothing people can do to harm us. They cannot take our peace unless we allow them to do so. Should we be subject to war, or even physical torture, the Lord will still be with us. He has brought His people through every kind of pain and disaster for thousands of years. They have survived and now are singing praises to the Lamb.

We also shall survive. One day we too will be singing praises to the Lamb in that glorious world where He brings those who are faithful to Him.

Fear and faith cannot dwell together in our heart. To permit fear to conquer us always leads us into a trap. What we fear finally happens to us. We bring defeat on ourselves because we are afraid of being defeated.

I don't know why the fearful are the first class of people in the Lake of Fire. Perhaps it is because when we are willing to live in a fearful manner we are testifying that God is unable to deliver us.

It is certain the Israelites were driven back into the wilderness to die there, just because they were afraid of the enemy. Instead of rejoicing in the promises of God, being confident that He was bringing them to joy and peace, they permitted fear to take hold of them. As a result they were grumbling and complaining instead of rejoicing in their always-victorious Lord.

Let us learn from the Israelites. Let us refuse to accept the darkness and the fear, for they may cause us to grumble and complain against the Lord. Satan continually endeavors to keep us in an uneasy, fearful state. We can overcome fear by praying without ceasing. In the meanwhile we are to fortify ourselves with the many promises in the Bible that guarantee protection in the day of trouble for those who are serving the Lord.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. (Proverbs 29:25)