Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world”.
Fear is the prison of the mind in which the enemy has ensnared countless millions.
John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The hosts of Hell know that if they cannot defeat the Church with false doctrine or any other device in his war chest, then he must find a way to force us into inactivity.
The only way for satan to stop the Church is to intimidate us into ceasing to be the Church! We cannot be defeated if we don’t self-destruct from the inside! Fear paralyzes, but love moves us to action. The French philosopher Montaigne once wrote, “There is no passion so contagious as that of fear”.
Fear will cause us to:
-Isolate ourselves from our source of strength (The body of Christ)
-Resist any change because we may lose what we have grown secure in
-Cause us to mistrust leadership and our pastor.
-Distract us from our focus as the aggressors against the kingdom of this world and cause us to go on the defensive.
-Stop us from attempting to reach out to souls that are dying because we may get hurt.
-Run every time we hear the wind blow or the toothless false lions in our lives roar.
“Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.”
-Samuel Johnson
God in his wisdom has given us the antidote for this poison called fear…
1 John 4:17-18
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
God is love and where he is, there is no place for fear!! Time spent in God’s presence causes us to love God.
The love of God will cause us to:
-Love one another
-Love our Church
-Love our Pastor
-Be aggressive in reaching out for souls
-Attack the works of the enemy anywhere we see them
-Hate false doctrine
-Hate sin
-Love people of every background, culture or creed
With the love of God comes:
-Peace that passeth understanding (Phillipians 4:7)
-Joy unspeakable (Psalms 30:5, 1Peter 1:8)
-Safety (Psalms 144:2, Proverbs 18:10)
-Confidence (Hebrews 3:14, 1 John 5:14)
God provides us all of the tools that we need to defeat the enemy. We must overcome Satans’ fear with Gods’ love.