Fear is a spirit of death … and it wants to capture your heart, define your decisions, and control your emotions. At almost every point as I read the news this morning, fear was the motivating factor for me to click on the next story, respond, or let fear become the basis of my decisions. It’s driven by an attention economy, setting your heart in a certain direction (the algorithm) to generate income for those who traffic in fear.
It’s a trap. Fear wants your heart.
Don’t make the mistake of listening to those who speak fear instead of faith!
With the ubiquitous presence of news sources telling us the negatives of our world, the relentless drumbeat of cynical political opinionators, the ongoing reign of terrorists across the Middle East and Africa, the killing of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria, drug wars, missing planes, and environmental disasters, there is a sense of fear that has gripped our world. You see it in the headlines and faces of people around the world.
The Bible calls it a "spirit of fear."
Paul wrote, “You have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Luke also describes for us the spirit of the last days. “And men’s hearts will fail them from fear, and the expectation of those things that will come to pass" (Luke 21:26).
Fear is the expectation that what you think will happen will come to pass…Faith is the expectation that what you think will happen will come to pass. Same definition – different sources.
How do we defeat fear?
We make the presence of God, the Word of God, and the life of Christ our source for decision-making, thought life, and wisdom. Our power source for upbeat life and thinking as men of God is, “Christ in us the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi wrote, “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair, whatever is pure, whatever is acceptable, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—keep thinking about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Why did he make a strong imperative to think on the positive characteristics of God and His kingdom? Because we are surrounded by and hit by a daily barrage of negative impressions- so many wars, tragedies, and calamities – if we’re not diligent, we will think of nothing else…and the result is a spirit of fear. We are negative by nature – but faith is a characteristic of the Kingdom of God.
Paul tells us to "renew" our minds – to fill our hearts with God’s presence. That is the only antidote for a world in chaos. The Prince of Peace must be the center of our lives and the source of our faith.
Faith is not the absence of war, but the presence of God in the middle of the war.
Fear is a normal reaction, an emotion, but cannot be the center of our thinking, the inducer of our will. Faith is not the denial of what we observe, but the realization that
God is sovereign in all things. And our trust is in Him.
