THE AURA OF FEAR
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of POWER, and of LOVE, and of a SOUND MIND.
2 Timothy 2:20 If any man therefore PURGE HIMSELF FROM THESE, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for THE MASTER’S USE, and prepared unto every good work.
Numbers 13, 10 spies in fear, see giants, and become grasshoppers in our own sight.
Today, I ponder the Aura of Fear, being whipped.
In 1974, I began teaching school in Lee County, Virginia.
My first year I had 44 kids, all day long, without a break.
There was a smart blond boy in my seventh grade class.
He would never look me in the eyes.
He was always down and withdrawn.
I noticed his little sister on the play ground.
She never looked up.
They were very timid, never made a sound. I made home visits.
I went to their house, I noted before I got out of my Mustang, their dog had his tail tucked between his legs and the dog would not look up, like I was going to whip him. I petted the little dog, and went in the house.
The Mom would not look me in the eyes, her head hung very low.
They had a beautiful house, nice car, ... then I met the dad, I understood.
The dad was very loud and controlling, and no one was allowed to speak, unless they were spoken to.
I then started calling this my ’WHIPPED DOG SYNDROME."
This little family walked never looking up, never smiling, never happy, ---
they appeared to have a whipped attitude.
Before they started, they were whipped, no confidence, no trust, negative driven, pushed, jerked, punished, criticized but never praised.
Listen, I have seen this "WHIPPED" attitude often in the church.
I have often heard we can’t...,
I am afraid to try...,
What will someone think...,
I dread tomorrow...,
Do I have to...,
I am a failure...,
We’ve never done it that way before..,
Everybody disappointments me ---
Let’s sing the anthem ... Gloom, despair, agony on end, deep dark depression, excessive misery, if it weren’t for bad luck, I would have no luck at all.
This is not right. You are not whipped unless you don’t try.
You are not whipped unless you quit.
Where is persistence? Where is faith and purpose?
Let’s address AURA.
Aura is a subtle, subjective sense; a distinctive atmosphere surrounding someone; energy field that is held to emanate from a living being.
To illustrate this point, it is said, a dog can sense --- smell fear.
If a dog attacks, to turn and run can make the dog even more aggressive.
Once last year, I was walking and a neighbor’s mean dog decided he was coming after me. I started to run, then thought, fat chance of me getting away. I turned and looked the dog eye to eye. The dog stopped. I would turn away and he came at me. So, I faced the dog and walked backward, and I "got away."
I think the aura of fear can go deeper than attitude, it can become possessive, exaggerated, overstated, and magnified in our daily walks.
This fear -- whipping the saints is a type of unbelief, doubt, distrust.
Stop here and define fear.
For the lazy’s,... Fear is an emotion, a feeling of panic, fright, to be afraid, expect harm, to expect the worst, alarm, DREAD, anxiety.
WHIPPING FEAR IS TO REPRESENT A PROBLEM AS GREATER THAN IT IS, AND GREATER THAN GOD AND HIS WORD.
We must purge, clear, remove the undesirable, and set us free from the traps of the aura of fear.
2 Timothy 2:20 If any man therefore PURGE HIMSELF FROM THESE, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for THE MASTER’S USE, and prepared unto every good work.
Most know, I live in the country.
We had 100 Rhode Island Reds (chickens). I would be gone away preaching and Linda had to feed the chickens.
Of the day, we would allow the chickens to run lose.
Linda watched Hitchcock’s "THE BIRDS" as a little girl.
Linda hates birds, chickens included, except in dumplings.
She started toward the chickens’ house to feed them. They saw her and ran toward her, they wanted food. Linda started running as fast as she could to get away from them. The chickens ran after her, not to get her, ... they wanted food.
She thought they were "OUT TO GET HER." The faster she ran, the faster they ran. She drops the bucket of feed, the chickens stopped to eat. But it was her running away, that drew the chickens.
Does our enemy ever use FEAR to get us to run, runaway, to run an avoid?
We must purge ourselves from fear.
Fear in the camp of God hurts and is destructive to the plan of God.
Numbers 13, 10 spies in fear, see giants, and become grasshoppers in our own sight.
What does fear do to our sight, our vision?
Fear overstates and magnifies the problems and reduces God and His word to be ineffective.
Fear brings God’s promises to naught.
We learn how to hide our fears and phobias, from the light of the word?
We pass fears and phobias from one generation to another generation.
The "mirror effect" of life birthed in fear hinders the work of God. Fear cripples.
FEAR BREEDS FEAR.
We need the Holy Spirit to purge excessive fear and worry out of the camp, else we will always birth negative notions.
Often Jesus dismissed the fearsome doubters before doing His work.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of POWER, and of LOVE, and of a SOUND MIND.
Now, after this verse, I can address fear as a spirit.
Fear can grow, where it gains control and power over the individual, this is what must be purged.
God gives us gifts --- POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND. A spirit of fear and dread is not of God.
Fear could show something?
1John 4:18 . (This is the most misquoted verse I know of, People say: Perfect love casts out (all) fear, that is not the Bible. The word ALL is not there.) 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.
Do we have a witness, that fear is torment? Pain? Anguish? Vexation?
Look up the definition of torment. It says persistent or reoccurring distress of body and mind.
Fear distorts & twists reality. Fear is explosive. Fear is noisy outburst. Fear is not constructive but rather destructive.
Would you pray and allow the Holy Spirit to expose fear in your life? Would you submit your fears into the hands of a Trustworthy God?
Little fears grow into big fears.
Search me, O, God ... Know my heart. Prepare me for greater service and purge fear out of my life.
As we ponder the aura of FEAR, being whipped.
We recall every person has a distinctive energy field that emanates from them.
It may be confidence, compassion, bitterness, fear, anger, the love of God, or etc.
Two weeks ago, I met my sister, Nina, in Elizabethtown, KY, at a Ryan’s Steakhouse. Everybody left the table but me.
A lady came up to me and said, "Are you a preacher?"
I never had on a suit, I never ever wear a tie.
I was in a shirt and bluejeans.
I said, "Yes, for over 20 years I have pastored."
She shared a serious prayer request, we prayed together.
I asked the lady, "How did you know?"
She replied, "I just knew."
Go to downtown Nashville, see the street people.
Maybe some church group has just taken them for a bath, fed them and gave them new clothes, but somehow you can sense the street people?
There was something different about Jesus.
He met the woman at the well, the woman knew there was something different about Jesus. His eyes looked at her different from the other men’s eyes.
O, that we develop an aura of love and the Holy Spirit. May others see Jesus in us. We don’t have to fear, God is with us.
We are His. His plan and purpose develops before our eyes.
Fear effectively destroys the word of God and the work of God.
Meet Martha. Martha is a good worker. She is a good house keeper.
Many know Martha as "THE WORRIED HOUSE KEEPER."
Martha was whipped before she started.
Ponder why?
Read Luke 10:41 Jesus said, MARTHA, MARTHA, YOU ARE WORRIED AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS.
What will the menu be? Are there any dust bunnies hopping around?
Where is my brother to carry out the garbage?
Sissy, why aren’t you helping me?
MARTHA’S FOCUS APPEARS TO BE "ON THINGS."
I am sure in Martha’s anger, she could justify her worry and fear.
Martha was missing the communion of having Jesus the Son of God, for things. Things.
Things are temporal.
There was nothing wrong with the preparation, it was her focus, she was worried. Worry is a type of fear. Fear is a type of doubt.
How many reading this ARE WORRIED & TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS? Well, you deserve an anxiety attack?
Where does the word come into action?
John 14:1 clearly says: 1. LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED.
The Literary tool of REPETITION is used as John 14: 27 says again:
LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED NEITHER LET IT BE AFRAID.
This is an imperative command.
We had a lady that blew up like dynamite every church activity we had.
She was good, a perfectionist.
But, we don’t have very many perfect people.
I would rather have bologna sandwiches and peace than 4 course dinners and war? This lady has been in and out of 5 churches and a big part of the time is not faithful anywhere, she is "worried and troubled about many things."
Why not focus on people and relationships?
Fear comes out of lack of trust.
Let me point how fear grows until we become paralyzed.
John 6:9 There is a serious problem --- hungry people.
Andrew sees a solution... There is a lad here, he has 5 barely biscuits ...
the solution?
Fear and doubt start --- 2 SMALL fishes.
Fear and doubt start to hide the solution,
SMALL. ---
FEAR GROWS UNTIL ANDREW DECLARES: BUT WHAT ARE THEY AMONG SO MANY? ? ?
Fear grew, the solution becomes SMALL, Andrew explains away the potential. Thank God, Jesus was there.
Jesus didn’t fear "THE LITTLENESS."
Jesus saw what is blessed always becomes enough.
Some of you have had a PEEK at victory, then a cloud came by and hid the Son.
Read Isaiah 26:3 backward... TRUST GOD --- STAYED MIND --- PERFECT PEACE.
My friend, why not trust God through this storm?
We fear failure?
Proverbs 14:4 address this: Where no oxen are, THE CRIB IS CLEAN: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
Quit looking for clean stalls. Manure is a side effect of work.
Just clean the stall often.
What is fear & failure? Hear this real life:
At 1)14 dropped out of 9th grade;
2)worked on a farm -- hated work;
3)16 lied about his age and joined the army -- hated the army and couldn’t wait to get out;
4)gets a job as blacksmith -- the job was hot and hard;
5)at 18 got a girl pregnant and had to marry her; got a job -- got fired;
6)came home one day-- his wife and child had given away all his furniture and she went home to her Mom;
7)got a good job with the rail road -- quit;
8)tried college and flunked out;
9)got job as salesman of insurance -- quit;
10)sold tires -- quit;
11)pumped gas -- quit;
12)at 62 started drawing Social Security of $105.00 a month.
Most would have quit --- this man started.
He rented a building and started a business in Corbin, Ky.
Who knows where Corbin is?
You might not know where Corbin is, but you know who this man is.
He got saved and prayed with an Assembly of God preacher, Waymon Rodgers.
One check, he gave a million dollars to Evangel Assembly of God in Louisville,
where Brother Rodgers pastored.
He gave a check for a million dollars to the college I attended in Tennessee.
His name, secret spices --- Harlan Sanders, Colonel Harlan Sanders.
His name has kept many chicken farmers in business.
I crossed into Canada at Detroit, first thing I saw was Colonel Sanders.
I have shaken his hand.
Fear never gripped the man. He found his place.
Almost every time I have heard of an angelic visitation, the angels say:
Fear not --- don’t be afraid.
Almost every time I hear Jesus speak, He is telling someone not to be afraid.
To the woman sick and weak with an issue of blood, she touches Him, He says: Fear not your faith has made you whole.
To the blind man with no disability check, Jesus says: Fear not, RECEIVE...
To Jairus that comes for his sick daughter, the negative news comes ... she is dead! Jesus says: Fear not, only believe.
When the storm waters were flooding the little boat,.. Boys, Fear not, Where is your faith?
To the dad of the lunatic son that had terrible seizures... Fear not, IF you can just believe, all things all possible.
Over and over, again and again... from Bible days until the present time Jesus says with all power and authority ... FEAR NOT, wait.
I ask all to consider, the pain and doubt of fear.
God has a plan for you ... FEAR NOT MY CHILD!
His servant,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
Enlarge my hands and pass this to others?
