Elder M. Edmunds
Co-Pastor of United Ordained Church
January 2002
As we continue our subject of “In the Grip of Fear,” my intent is not to exegete this entire Psalm, which has been written by David when he fled Saul and entered into Gath, the territory of the Philistines, and faced Achish.
However, my purpose today is to concentrate on these words, which spewed out of David’s mouth, “I am afraid.” For all of us have fears of some kind. Maybe you are afraid of losing your job, losing your finances, or losing a loved one that you have depended on for affection and acceptance. Or maybe you have fears about loneliness, fears about being accepted by others, fears about failure, fears about rejection, fears about your children, fears about your relationship or marriage, or fears of facing tomorrow. Whatever your fear maybe, you have uttered these words “I am afraid” at one time or another privately or publicly. For this feeling of fear has a powerful influence on how we think and act.
Many individuals, as stated the last time we dealt with this subject, either flee or fight, while others allow it to paralyse them and prevent them from moving forward to attain their goals and fulfil their purpose for living.
Touch your neighbour and ask, “How do you react when griped by fear?” For we all are vulnerable to fear, however it is important how we react or manage it when it grips our soul.
For if we react un-biblically and unbecoming allowing fear to conquer our soul, we will then isolate ourselves and withdraw ourselves emotionally, never enjoying the life God has given us through Christ Jesus. Discouragement and depression will set in, and death to our purpose, death to our promises, death to our dreams and visions, and finally death to our precious life will be the result.
But, if we properly manage this horrible, unreasoning, unjustified, and gut-wrenching feeling of fear, we than can meet our challenges and fulfil our purpose come hell or high water. We than can give birth to our dreams and visions and enjoy the life that God has provided and intended for us to have.
Touch somebody and say, “God wants you to live.”
Yes, God through Jesus Christ has given us life and He wants us to live free from the torment of fear. For He declared in Timothy 1:7, “I hath not given you the spirit of fear; but of power, love, and of sound mind.”
However, there is a force trying to prevent us from living that abundant life of joy, that abundant life of peace, that abundant life of freedom, that abundant life of courage, and that abundant life of prosperity, which has been made available, by tormenting us by the spirit of fear.
Yes, I called it a spirit. For fear is more than just a feeling that affects our soul and causes our body to tremble and shake uncontrollably when we our faced with the presence and power of a particular person or situation: it is a spirit.
Touch two people and tell them fear is a spirit.
I’m not talking about that normal, natural feeling of spilling a cup of coffee on your silk blouse or jacket designed by Mugler, Versace, or Armani. I’m not talking about that normal, natural feeling of tripping over a curb, an object, or groove within your pathway.
However, I’m talking about that feeling which causes a person to deny their faith in the midst of criticism.
I’m talking about that feeling which causes a person to lose sleep at night worrying if they are going to be accepted within their preferred or desired gathering. Or, lose sleep worrying if they have a job tomorrow.
I’m talking about that feeling which causes one to feel inadequate, threatened, or incapable of pursuing and achieving their predestined purpose and destiny.
I’m talking about fear. It is a spirit.
Its a tormenting spirit which influences and manipulates our nervus system, and causes us to feign ourselves mad when we are intimidated by a particular person or group of people, like our character David.
For David’s soul was gripped by this spirit, and he became panic-stricken when the servants of Achish begun to retell his life’s events on how he engaged Goliath, their former general of war, in a battle and triumphantly destroyed him with a rock and a sling shot.
This is found in 1 Samuel 22, 10 through the 15th verse for your personal reading. They reminded Achish, while David decapitated Goliath’s head, that the Israelites song and danced to the tone of, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
For I concur with God’s Word and declare to you my beloved brothers and sisters that, fear is a spirit. For what David was experiencing during this troubelsome and pressing time (like you and I do from time to time when we face certain situations or individuals that mean us harm), was not a normal, natural fear – such as the fear of spilling something or the fear of falling. He was experiencing a gripping, paralysing fear that tried to terrorize him, oppress him, discourage him, and distress him from being who he was really created to be. It was a spirit that opposed his purpose and his destiny.
You cannot allow anything that opposes your purpose and destiny to rule your life. What ever you are facing that is causing you to abnegate your responsibility, abort your purpose, or reach your desired goal, you must declare that, “I will not be intimidated, I will not bow, I will not give up or give in. For greater is He that is in me than he that is in this world… which is trying to conquer and destroy my soul.”
Touch your neighbour and tell them, “Don’t be intimidated, but be strong, be courageous, and be firm. For God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of sound mind.” Somebody give God a praise in this house.
Well, somebody is asking, “Brother preacher where did fear, which you call a spirit come from?” I’m glad you asked.
Romans 5:12 says, “Sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
When Adam disobeyed God and eat of the forbidden fruit which came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he made Satan his lord. I’m referring to our arch-enemy, Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Old Serpent, Beelzebub, or what my great-grandmother used to say – slew-foot. I’m referring to the one who never created anything.
He perverted the force of faith in Adam, due to Adam’s wilful disobedience, and it became fear, which has spread and affected us as well.
This is that which traumatized David’s soul. For David was governed by fear and not guided by faith: and he knew it. Therefore, he determined in his mind within our text, to break the grip of fear.
You ask how, by your:
1.Confession
2.Confronting
3.Focus or Concentration
For David confessed or identified his fear as an object or as a group of people. He said in the first stanza of Psalm 56,
“Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up [meaning trample me or devour me]; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou Most High.”
This would include Saul and those loyal to him, as well as the Philistines in Gath. In order to break the grip of fear, identify it. What is it, who is it, that has caused you to bend your knee and allow the spirit of fear to oppress your soul?
David did not deny his fear; he identified it and confessed it to God.
Ask yourself, “What am I really afraid of?” Break down the nature of your fear. Are you afraid of failure that will lead to criticism? Are you afraid of failure that will lead to rejection from someone you love or admire? Are you afraid that your weakness and inadequacies will be exposed? Are you afraid that others will withdraw from you or punish, misuse, or abuse you?
WHAT IS IT? IDENTIFY IT AND CONFESS IT TO YOURSELF AND TO GOD!
Secondly, face it. Rather than bow your knee, stand firm against it. Even if your knees our shaking, and your mouth is dry, and you feel as though you are about to fall down, keep saying, “Lord, strengthen me. This is what you told me to do.”
For He said in Exodus 14:13, “Fear not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”
“I’m going to stand therefore in the liberty in which He has set me free. For I determined that my life is not going to be ruled any longer by the spirit of fear.”
For fear can not be wished away or hoped away, it must be confronted and dealt with through God’s Word. People may criticize, reject, and persecute you. But don’t allow them to intimidate you. Face the problem, the terror, and the uncertainty by faith.
And finally, elevate your focus, concentrate on the promises of God when you are gripped by fear.
For the more you focus your eyes on the problem, the more fearful you become. Instead, keep your eyes and your mind on God. He is able to handle anything that we may ever have to face in this life.
For God has promised to strengthen us, to harden us to difficulties, to hold us up and retain us with His victories right hand. So, if you find yourself in a tight, intimidating situation, call on Jesus. There is power in that name….
