Three Weapons Against Fear Series

Title: Fear vs. Faith - 7

“Three Weapons Against Fear”

Text: II Timothy 1:7

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”

President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn't dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on.

We have discovered over the past few years that fear is a stronghold in many people’s lives. It seems as though just when I think I have preached everything there is to preach on fear, more information just bombards my minute mind.

We only have a few weeks left of this year and my goal throughout the remainder of this year is bring home the fact that God wants us to be free from the spirit of fear in our lives. There are three weapons that I want to share with you in our attack against fear.

I. MAKE A QUALITY DECISION

In order to break free from fear, we must first make a quality decision to do it. That may seem obvious to some; however, it is precisely where many people miss it. They never come to a point in their life that they say, “This is it. I will not live another day under this yoke of bondage. This ends here and now.”

Hebrews 13:5-6; “For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

As I was in study this week I found a passage in Psalm where David says in:

Psalm 118:6; “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me?”

Did you see what David said in that Psalm? Hundreds of years earlier David makes the same declaration that Paul did. I will not fear! We know by this statement that he knew that fearing or not fearing involved an act of the will.

Many believers are setting around waiting for God’s power to strike them like a bolt of lightning so they can be free of fear. Others are waiting for some mystical force to rise up inside them. All the time, God is just waiting for someone who is willing to take the first step and that is the step of choosing. You are the one who has to make a choice. You have to choose if you will trust God or let fear of circumstances and man dominate you. It is your choice. It is entirely up to you.

You got into fear by an act of your will, whether you realize it or not, and you will only get out of fear in the same way. Receiving fear and getting rid of fear both require your cooperation and your will. You choose to accept or reject fear the moment you are attacked by it. Fear does not have the right to usurp authority over a human being who has made the decision to live above fear. Once you have made the decision to live with fear no longer, it cannot reenter your life without an act of your will authorizing it to do so. How do you authorize fear? You give it authority in your life by listening to and pondering on devilish words of doubt and unbelief. You cannot allow words in your mind that cause you to be fearful. You will be attacked by fear from time to time but it is what you do with that attack that determines what your outcome will be!

I have begun to condition myself to immediately shut out words or images that the devil might use to attempt to produce fear in me. I have chosen to rid my life of fear, and I have chosen to stay free from fear in every avenue of my life. It is important for you to understand that freedom begins with an act of your will; you must make a decision to live free from fear. It is your choice.

Let’s look again at the verse that we have been talking about: Psalm 118:6; “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do to me?”

Notice what prompted David to say, “I will not fear.” It was the fact that the Lord was on his side. If you could truly believe that statement about the Lord then you would never fear again.

Try to remember a situation in which you responded with fear. Now, ask yourself a question: If you truly believed God was on your side, would you have handled that situation the way you did? Would you have allowed fear to grip your life? No way! There is not a chance. When you believe that God is on your side, you are calm, confident and relaxed. Just knowing that God has your back at all times is a liberating fact. However, you may be one of those people that wonder if God is really on your side at all. If you are saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, then the answer is definitely, absolutely yes. He is on your side. There is no one on the face of the earth that will defend you with the same conviction that Jesus defends you. He will watch over you better than any parent can, better then any Pastor can. Jesus Christ is the One that truly matters in your life. The Apostle Paul said in: