Tag: Fear

¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. ~ James 4:17

I recently started watching the series The Mandalorian. The series starts out with a solo bounty hunter (a Mandalorian) going to obtain an asset. When he finds the asset, he realizes that it’s a small child. Conflicted, he still goes through with delivering the child to the man who hired him to do the job.

After he does, it messes with his mind. He tries to start on the next job, but he just can’t let it go, so he goes back for the child. He risks everything, including his honor, to retrieve the child. This leads to his previous employer and all the other bounty hunters under his previous employer to turn on him. They attacked him mercilessly in order to get the child back. Thanks to other Mandalorians who came to his rescue, he and the child escaped without being harmed.

So many of us today are tasked to do something that goes against our faith, yet so many times, we still go through with it. Why? Fear. Fear of being rejected or shunned. Fear of losing our jobs or getting docked pay. Sometimes, the fears are more serious. These fears are real and valid, but nevertheless, no fear should ever force us to go against our faith. Our faith is our connection to God. If we allow anything to break that connection, then we have willingly separated ourselves from God.

Even though the Mandalorian went against his conscience, he went back to make it right no matter the cost. The same is true for us today. Even if you give into fear, there’s always a chance of redemption. There’s always another opportunity to make things right. You just have to put your faith in God and trust that He will send you aid when you need it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Bow To It.

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¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ~ Romans 8:15

Fear is running rampant throughout our society. There is fear of speaking up. There is fear of telling the truth about what is really going on. Some say it is because of the fear of suicidal tendencies if you do, or the fear of getting a visit from the FBI, or at the very least, you offend people.

I’ve seen the videos on the internet. I’ve heard the testimonies of those who lived it, and it is all for real.

But here is what Patrick Henry said:

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of heaven which I revere above all earthly kings.

His fear of God and love for the Savior was stronger than his fear of man.

It would seem that we are in the same boat, with warm handshakes and broad smiles and pats on the back, which deceives the brainwashed into overlooking the acts of war and the play for the subjugation of the American population.

As Patrick Henry said:

Suffer not your cells to be betrayed with a kiss.

Our Founding Fathers passed down a great heritage to us—an inheritance that was bought with the blood of many good men at the expense of their great wealth.

These men were all in, for freedom, for liberty, for independence from slavery. We should never take it so lightly or sell it so cheaply.

• It cost much
• It cost some everything

But what costs you nothing means nothing and will be sold very cheaply.

As we celebrate the 4^th of July, Independence Day, let us remember what was given to us. Let us remember men like Patrick Henry, who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”

He stood up and declared that the time had come; there was no turning back, and it was inevitable that independence was proclaimed.

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²⁶ So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ~ Matthew 10:26-28

Jesus is instructing His hearers not to be afraid of men, for the most that men can do to one another is to kill the body and can do no more. You might say, “Well, that is a pretty significant thing, don’t you think?” And yes, it is. Nobody looks at dying as something desirable. No, it is written in the fabric of our DNA to live. God Himself said, “Live and increase and do not decrease.” But it is the spirit of suicide that entices young and old to commit suicide.

Jesus said that He came so that we may have life and life more abundantly. So, it is Jesus’ will and it is the Father’s will that we live and prosper. But even with that, the fear of death is not something that we believers hang on to, but when confronted with the choice to die or to renounce Jesus, we choose death. Man then can kill the body and can do nothing else, while there is a great and awesome day of the LORD that is coming when the sheep will be divided from the goats and the sheep will enter eternal life, but the goats will go away to eternal punishment. That is called the second death.

This is what Jesus was warning the people about. Not to be afraid of those people who can only kill the body and can do nothing else. But rather, fear God, who can not only kill the body but has the authority to cast the soul into hell. That is who we ought to be fearing.

The fear of God is so out of place today that we don’t even understand what it means to fear God. We don’t fear Him the way we fear and are terrified of some big, bad ogre-dictator. But a healthy fear like you would fear your earthly father. It is this fear that keeps us in line and stops us from indulging in blatant sin. Coupled with the love that we have for Jesus compels us to keep His commandments, and to love others. It demands that we forgive and overlook other people’s faults, all because we fear God.

Do you fear God? Have you made Him your personal savior? All you have to do is to ask for His forgiveness and He will forgive you.

Heavenly Father, please forgive me of my sins, and please erase my iniquities from before Your eyes. Help me to have a healthy fear of You so that I can please You with my thoughts, my words, and my deeds. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour, for they perceived that He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. ~ Luke 20:19

Jesus had just told the Pharisees a parable about the Wicked Tenants, and rightly so; they perceived that He had told the parable about them. So, what do they do? They plan to kill Him. But do you know what stayed their hand? The fear of the people is what stopped them from laying their hands on Jesus right then and there. Not fear of God Himself, but fear of man. Think about this: they planned to kill God, but they feared the people! Talk about having your priorities wrongly aligned. But that is the problem; there is no fear of God, plenty of fear of man, but no fear of God. Jesus said this,

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Luke 12:5

People and ministries are running around with no fear of God, doing whatever pleases them as if there are no consequences. There are always consequences. Good or bad, there are always consequences to every action. God is not expecting you to live your life in fear and cowering, but He does expect you to fear the consequences of your wrong actions.

Remember, one day Jesus will judge the living and the dead and will assign to each their just reward. To those who make good choices, eternal life. To those making bad choices, eternal punishment away from His presence. I would encourage you today to fear God and not man. Do not worry about their threats or their accusations.

A time is coming when those who stand up for Jesus will suffer persecution. They will be thrown in jail and have their stuff confiscated, and some will even be killed, but know this: God will never leave those who love Him and fear His name. Jesus is soon coming back; be prepared and do not fear man.

Heavenly Father, teach me how to fear Your great and mighty Name. Teach me Your ways that I may always stand in awe of You and serve you wholeheartedly, in Jesus’ name, amen.

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³⁶ Their father Jacob said to them, “It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!” ~ Genesis 42:36^CSB

Jacob was now an extremely old man. He had little over a decade of his life left. Joseph was gone, and in his mind, Joseph was dead. Now that there is a famine in the land, and they go to Egypt to get food, Simeon is left behind until they return with Benjamin. Jacob’s whole world seems to be crashing down. His faith that his sons will be okay is seemingly completely gone, and, in its place, fear has overtaken him. Little did Jacob realize God was trying to restore his sons that were gone to him once again, by forcing him to face his fear and have a little faith.

Today, the Church is in the same position as Jacob. We’ve seen our children fall into darkness and taken from us, and we begin to lose hope of them ever returning. We begin to have fear of our children we still have being taken from us as well. We allow fear to control us instead of walking by faith and not by sight.

See, Jacob never saw Joseph’s dead body; he came to the conclusion that his son had been ripped to shreds and was dead. Now, Simeon had been kept in Egypt until they brought Benjamin before him. Fear had completely consumed him, but God had a plan not only to redeem Joseph to him but to rescue his entire family from dying of starvation during the famine.

Sometimes, you have to face your fear in order to see a breakthrough in your prayers. You have to walk by faith and not by sight. Your child may be far off and led astray by the world, but as long as their heart is still beating, there is hope. So, don’t give up. Don’t let the enemy convince you that he’s won the war by showing you all that’s gone wrong. Instead, look to God, who turns everything to good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every time I’ve given into fear. Please strike fear from my heart and help me to build my faith. Teach me how to build my faith in You so that I might be perfected in Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁴³ And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ~ Mark 9:43

³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ~ Matthew 23:33

Jesus referred to Hell as a place of unquenchable fire that some are sentenced to while others are not. This is because Hell is a place you’re sentenced and thrown into, not a place your soul goes to simply because you have died. Otherwise, we would need to fear man just as much as God because Jesus made this very clear that it is the power of God that can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matthew 10:28)

If Hell is just a place you go when you die, then this argument that Jesus is making for why you should fear God and not man is silly because anyone who kills you would be sentencing you to Hell because that’s the realm of the dead. No. Jesus wasn’t talking about the realm of the dead. Jesus was talking about something much worse. Something more terrifying than just the realm of the dead. Jesus was talking about a place that was created, not for mankind to go when they die, but for the Devil and his angels as an unquenchable fire. An eternal flame of torment.

Therefore, there is no reason to fear man because man can only destroy the body, but the soul no man can touch or harm. This is why we only fear God, for it is God who makes the final judgment call on where our soul will spend eternity based on our actions in this life. When it comes down to offending God or man, it is better to offend man, for God is only offended by evil, and evil will only lead to eternal destruction away from Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Beware The Unquenchable Flame.

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⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. ~ Revelation 16:8-11

After the Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ, those who took the Mark of the Beast and worshipped its image had to endure seven bowls filled with the wrath of God. The bowls were plagues poured out on them. Instead of looking up to God and pleading for mercy, they refused to repent, even going as far as to curse Him. John tells us that during this time, they could even see into Heaven and see God seated on His throne because the sky was rolled up like a scroll (Revelation 6:12-17). So, why didn’t they repent? Why, instead, did they curse God? Fear.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Yoda

John, in his letters, explained that fear has to do with punishment, and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18-21). Their fear of God and His wrath led to anger because they didn’t dwell in the perfect love of God. They had no chance against their punishment; they couldn’t stop the plagues. They couldn’t do anything to combat His wrath. Their fear led to anger, their anger led to hate, and their hate led to more suffering. They didn’t repent, and more bowls were poured out on them.

God always gives us a chance to repent. He never takes hope away from us because He is the source of hope. One day, Jesus is going to break that Eastern Sky to return for His people. On that day, fear will take over the hearts of those who are left. Their hearts will harden just as Pharaoh’s heart did so many years ago, hate will take over them, and history will once again repeat itself. Don’t put off your salvation; tomorrow may never come. Today is the day of salvation. Accept Christ while you still can and cling to His promises. Let Him transform you in His perfect love so that you might escape the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Avoid The Path of Fear.

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⁷ for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear is one of the oldest spirits to oppress mankind. It plagued Adam and Eve, forcing them to hide from God. It’s a dividing spirit that separates us from God. It keeps us a slave to it through one thing, faith in it.

Fear only works if you believe in it. Fear has to convince you to believe him before he has any power. See, all other spirits can oppress you even if you don’t believe they exist. Addiction, lust, anger, etc., don’t need you to believe they have you or are a problem for them to overtake you, but fear you have to believe exists before it can overtake you.

Dear LORD, please break the chains of fear off of me. Please strengthen my faith in the love You have for me because it’s in Your perfect love that the power of fear is broken. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). ~ Matthew 1:23

Have you ever been praying but feel as though you aren’t alone? Like there’s something in the room with you, and it makes you uneasy? It makes it difficult to close your eyes because you feel like there’s something there? This happens to me sometimes. Then, a thought came to me as I struggled to keep my eyes closed:

What good is your eyes being opened vs. closed? If there is something there, what will your eyes being opened do? Will it suddenly make it disappear? Do you have more faith in what your eyes can or cannot see than in the God who says I will go before you and behind you?

See, we humans were created in time bound to the physical world by our physical bodies. We think in a very physical and natural sense. Our eyes are some important that Jesus described them as being the gateway or door of the soul. So, when we can’t see something with our eyes, it’s hard to trust that it’s there. Fear capitalizes on this sense.

Because we can’t see God with our natural eyes, it’s difficult for us to fully put our faith in Him. We trust Him but not fully because the unseen, the unknown, it still causes fear to enter our minds and hearts. Fear can manifest in many ways: doubt, worry, anxiety, terror, etc.

The root of all fear is the lack of love. See, perfect love casts out all fear because it’s within that perfect love we no longer put our faith in what we can see but in the God that we cannot see. Dwelling in the perfect love of God is saying all my faith is in Christ, so I don’t need to fear what may happen. It’s putting all of your faith into the promise:

He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Jesus hasn’t left you. He’s still with you. He’s Immanuel, God with us. He dwells in us, through us, and is in constant intercession for us. He even baptized us in His Holy Spirit so that we might never be without Him. Nothing can separate us from that love. The moment we believe that is the moment we give life to that verse, and we’re filled with the very power of God, for He will send His angels concerning you.

Jesus may not be here physically, but He is with us spiritually. He is Immanuel. Don’t allow the enemy to strike you with Fear. Know your God, for He is come.

Dear LORD, please strengthen my faith this Christmas season. Please help me not to end this year the same way I started it. Help me to dwell in Your perfect love and keep in step with Your Holy Spirit. Please cover me in Your perfect blood and keep Your angels watching over me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁸ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. ~ Exodus 20:18-21

The people of Israel feared and trembled when they saw and heard the glory of God. In other words, they let ungodly fear overtake them, and they stood a far off from God. Ungodly fear is a predator. It will separate you from God, and it will cause you to stand a far off. But Godly fear will cause you to run to God.

Make no mistake, Moses was afraid as well, but his fear was a Godly fear, the kind of fear God requires us to have. It is called the fear of God. A healthy fear that gives you reverence for the LORD and the things of the LORD.

After fear overtook them, they said, “You speak to us, Moses, but do not let God speak, for we will die.” People have this ungodly fear of God still to this day. They believe that if you make one mistake, He will strike you down. Like God is waiting in heaven, looking intently for you to make one mistake so He can kaput you. Or if you go out on a Sunday, God will cause you to die. You can’t do this or do that without severe consequences. God is not waiting for you to make the wrong move, and bam, “Turn Over.” That is what happens with ungodly fear.

The Israelites refused to hear God for themselves; thus, they refused to know Him. They wanted Moses to hear God for them. The only problem with that is you have to hear God for yourself in order to know Him for yourself, and you can only know Him by talking with Him (prayer), reading His Scriptures (it’s His revealed word about Himself), and meditating on God’s word and letting Him speak to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Let Ungodly Fear Overtake You.

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