Fear vs. Faith – 6
“The Magnetic Force of Fear”
Job 3:25
In 1875, a fall fractured both of Trench’s knees, after which he never fully recovered his health, living in fear of paralysis. A lady sitting next to him at dinner noticed that the elderly cleric was agitated and muttering to himself, “It’s come at last; I can’t feel a thing; I’m paralysed.” She asked Trench what was wrong. “I’ve been pinching my leg for the last five minutes and I can’t feel a thing,” he replied. “I must be paralysed.” The lady coloured, saying, “It’s alright, your grace, it is my leg you have been pinching.”
Job is one of the most misinterpreted books of the Bible. We all have our own philosophy and opinion on how Job got so sick and lost all his children. We all excuse sickness in our life and loss in our lives just by the life of Job. Whatever the Lord’s will for my life is, that is what I am willing to endure. That is fine to say and each of us should want the Lord’s will in our lives, however, there are some things that are in Scripture that is God’s direct will for each and every believers life. When it comes to sickness, we say, “if it be your will, Lord.” His Word already says it is His will, so we don’t have to wonder if it is or not.
Some old-time, religious folks like to believe that God strikes us with calamity and sickness. We have been through this before, but God gives life, not death and sickness. We use the story of Job to prove that God is the One that allows sickness into our lives. In order for us to be healed, we have to first understand, that it is not God who makes us sick. I am going to prove you wrong when it comes to Job’s life and God allowing Job to be sick. The book of Job is a prime example of why we should get rid of fear in our lives. We should drive fear out of our lives because there is an unchanging spiritual principle that is still true today. “Fear becomes a magnet to attract the thing you dread the most.” One of the first times that we find this principle is in the book of Job.
I. WHAT I HAVE GREATLY FEARED . . .
Napolean Bonaparte once said, “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Michel de Montaigne said; “The man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.”
Job 3:25; “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” (KJV)
Job 3:25, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.” (NKJV)
Contrary to popular religious belief, the terrible things that happened to Job did not unexpectedly happen because the devil got permission from God to bring those things to pass in Job’s life. Job had been living for years in fear and dread of those things happening. In fact, one of the first things we are told about Job is that he was, “continually” offering sacrifices for his children. He was afraid they might have committed some awful sin.
Job 1:4-5; ¶ “And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”
Job was a man that was consumed with fear. By these two Scriptures we find that Job was afraid his children were going to curse God. He was also afraid that he was going to lose everything as a result. Job was offering sacrifices for his children just in case they were doing wrong. The Bible doesn’t say that they were doing anything wrong, but Job was so paranoid that he thought that he would cover it just in case. Let’s start reading where we left off and find out what else happens. First, we find that Job is making sacrifices on a continual basis even though he doesn’t need to because of his own fear.
Job 1:6-12; ¶ “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord”
Satan even knew that God had put a hedge about Job where nothing could enter. Job was untouchable, but something happened. God did not just choose one day to let Satan get Job. God actually says, “All that he has is in your power.” God does not just choose to put everything we have in Satan’s power, but that is what kind of God some of us think we have. That He will just give us up over to the devil. That is not the kind of God that we serve. Job’s fear caused God’s hedge of protection around him to be lifted. God did not lift the hedge; Job’s fear did. His fear became a magnet that attracted the very thing that he dreaded the most.
Job 3:25; “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”
Some of us are a little frazzled by this lesson because it is against some of the teaching that we have received. But once you understand the first few lessons of fear and faith and the two laws that are in effect, it is not to hard to understand. As you have seen, faith and the peaceful confidence that it brings activate the law of life in Christ Jesus. Under this law there is no disaster, no calamity and no harm.
Fear, on the other hand, activates the law of sin and death. When Job allowed a stronghold of fear to take root in his life, he was wide open to whatever the devil wanted to do to him, and God could not do anything about it. He was honour-bound to lift the hedge of protection from off Job. He had no choice! Why? This happened to Job because it was Job’s choice to live in fear rather than faith in the promises of God.
II. GOD RESPECTS OUR CHOICES
I found a perfect story that supports this point:
A dear friend in my home, suffering from a malignant form of grippe, (the dictionary says this is a modern day influenza) which began with a peculiar sensation in the eyes, asked me to pray with her. As I prayed, I felt a severe pain in my left hand, extending to my head, but I would not take my hands from her until I had the victory. The next day, riding down town, I felt the sensation she had described, in my eyes, and a voice, as clear to my inner consciousness as any I ever heard in my ears, said, “Suppose you should have the grippe; what would you do?” I replied, “I won’t suppose.” “Suppose you should; how would you write the next Illustrator?” “I won’t suppose.” “But just suppose.” “I won’t suppose.” So over and over the enemy thrust at me the dart of “just suppose,” and over and over I held up my shield of faith, “I won’t suppose.” At last I said the words with an emphasis, which sent the enemy flying. The pain ceased, and I did not have the grippe.
God will NEVER override your will. He always respects your choices. If that man would have chose to accept the symptoms of that disease, God would have had nothing to do with it, it would have been his choice. Now, I know no person in his or her right mind would ever choose to be sick, poor, or stricken by some tragedy. However, we do often choose to give heed to the devil’s words rather than God’s Word. And, as we have seen, Fear is the opposite of faith. It works the same way, just in the negative instead.
Just as the force of faith goes to work to bring about the good things God has promised, fear, when activated, goes to work to bring about the very thing in which you are fearful of. This is what happened to Job. Job was an upright and mature man. However, he had fear take root in his life.
How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. So, knowing how faith comes, how is it that fear comes? Fear comes in the same way that faith comes, only opposite of faith. Fear comes by hearing and hearing comes by the devil’s words. The only reason you have fear in your life is because you are listening to the wrong voice.
In fact, any principle in the Bible, which involves faith and its ability to bring good things into your life, will also apply to fear and its power to bring destruction to your life. Faith and fear are extreme opposites and always bring about opposite results. For example we are told in:
Romans 10:10; “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Heart belief, (real heart belief) and mouth confession of God’s Word always brings about the blessings of salvation. You can’t say if one person believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth that he is not saved. It is not possible. If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you are saved. Believe in the Greek also means obedient, that is important to note. In the same exact way, if you have fear in your heart and speak it out loud with your mouth, it brings about destruction. That is why fear is a magnet for the things of which you are afraid. When you operate in fear, the law of sin and death goes into motion to bring about the very object of your fear.
Job was afraid of losing his children, it happened. Job was afraid of getting sick, it happened. Job was afraid of losing his wealth, it happened. Everything that Job feared came upon him, because the principle of fear and death works the same way every single time. Job 3:25 says; “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”
Now is time to examine yourself. What is it that you are afraid of? What worries and anxieties occupy your thoughts? The Lord dealt with me about this very subject.
When I had my first girl, Hayley, I lived in fear. I was afraid that she would end up with some bum for a husband, some loser that can’t even support himself. You fathers know what I am talking about. That is one of the greatest reasons I never wanted a girl. I don’t want her to end up being at the mercy of some loser husband that she has to submit to.
I had to spend some serious time with the Lord to get rid of that fear in my life. Because I know that what I fear will come upon me. I rebuked that fear in the name of Jesus and haven’t had it since. Now, every time I pray for her at night or any other time of the day, I speak blessings over her life and blessings over her future husband and blessings over her decisions, and blessings over her marriage. I bathe my children in prayer and in blessing their lives. I am not going to give place to the devil in the future of my children. And you shouldn’t either.
It is time to get rid of that fear that has taken root in your heart. Make a firm decision tonight, right now, to uproot that spirit of fear that has plagued you for years. Purpose to remove it from your life and remove it from your household. Do not wait for that fear to manifest itself before you take action. Do it now in the name of Jesus!
