Faith Conquers Fear

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

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

Let us pray…

Let me tell you a story. One day a man decides to clean his roof gutter. It was filled with leaves and dirt and it was blocking the drainage. So he puts up his ladder, climbs up and start to clear out the dirt from the gutter when suddenly the ladder was shaking and so the man grips tightly to the gutter for support. He is filled with fear as his mind is flooded with thoughts about the ladder giving way, a few seconds later, his feet slips from the ladder and he accidentally pushes the ladder away and he now finds himself hanging with his hands tightly gripped to the gutter. He cries out for help! Help! His fear now escalates, he looks to the side and no one is there to help him so he looks up to the skies and cries out LORD, help! Tulong Lord, Help! When suddenly a voice from heaven declares LET GO! The guy thinks… huh? Let go? This is completely ridiculous! If I let go, I will surely die! Then again, the same voice says LET GO of your fears! I’m with you! What LORD? Let go, where are you? I don't see you, do you even know what I’m going through right now? My hands are hurting, I can’t take it anymore! If I let go, I’m surely going to die. And again, the Lord answers him - Do Not Fear… For I am with you…

And then, in a desperate plea.. In a heightened state of fear. The man cries out: Mommy, help me! Mama asan ka!

Look to your neighbor and say let go of your fears. Let go of your worries.

You know the bible mentions FEAR around 300-400 times BUT it mentions faith/trust/believe 1,000 times. Let that sink in.

Faith overcomes Fear and Fear is there to test our Faith!

You see there are two major types of FEAR in the bible.

Reverential Fear

Proverbs 9:10

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

Proverbs 14:27

"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death."

This type of fear does not call us to be AFRAID of GOD, or TAKOT, Terror fealing of terror but to look to him with deep reverence, respect, and awe toward the power and holiness of God, which leads to wisdom and blessing.

The Problem sometimes is that We try to bring God down to our level. We treat Him like a friend and diminish GOD to a mortal being.

We need to replace that with Awe, say AWE or PAGHANGA. It’s recognizing God’s majesty and power. As A.W. Tozer calls It: astonished reverence in GOD.

Reverential Fear

It is seeing God as the infinite, sovereign, mountain-moving power who created everything, and realizing He is infinitely above us.

So the reverential fear of GOD leads us to worship and surrender. Because we only bow down to a mighty King - who has all power, glory, honor and authority. Did you notice that when you worship the LORD, when you’re whole being just revers and honors God, you are suddenly brought into a place of peace and surrender right. That’s the feeling of being in the security and covering of the LORD. Fear of the LORD does that.

The reverential fear of GOD leads us to worship and surrender

Psalm 111:10

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding."

The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of Wisdom - Wisdom in knowing that we take refuge in the LORD, It’s recognizing that the all-powerful God is for you! He loves you, He has a covenant with you, and He sent Jesus to pay the price for you. Therefore, you delight to fear His name (Nehemiah 1:11). It is a joyful, secure fear.

God delightfully grants wisdom to the humble. He guides their steps away from destruction.

Proverbs 14:27

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

This reverential FEAR guides our choices, directs our path, instructs our next steps. Helps us in our decisions that turn us away from destruction and death.

The Spirit of Fear

NOW - The opposite of the fear of the LORD is terror, anxiety, paralyzing dread. That's THE SECOND TYPE OF FEAR. This fear is a destructive force that operates in opposition to God's purpose for us. This spirit is working to derail us from achieving our purpose in life!