Last week, we touched on the differences between living in fear and living by faith. This week, I want to pause our discussion of Revelation to talk about to keep fear from overtaking our faith as we get closer to the end of the age. Below is an excerpt from my book Overcoming Fear.
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In these last days, the battle raging for the soul of man is intensifying dramatically. This battle is being fought in every individual, every church, every city, and every nation. If we do not understand this conflict, we will be defeated. This was written to help illuminate and tear down one of the most powerful weapons that the enemy of our souls is using to keep man in bondage to his evil ways. That weapon is FEAR!
The devil uses fear to keep the world under his power just as the Lord uses faith to set men free. Faith will lead us to the Lord’s domain, which is His kingdom. There we find the liberty that releases us to be who we were created to be. This battle between faith and fear that rages in every soul will determine whether we live a successful life or not. The course of our lives will be dictated by faith or fear. We all have to choose which it will be. Then, we will have to fight. This message is to help strengthen your hands for this battle and impart a resolve to overcome every fear that seeks dominion in your life, replacing it with a faith that climbs irresistibly toward the fulfillment of your individual purpose.
Though the basic course of our lives is dictated by our submission to either fear or faith, there are degrees to this. We are under the control of evil to the degree that fear is allowed to control our lives. That is why we are told in Romans 14:23, “for whatever is not from faith is sin.” If fear controls us, then fear is our lord. To walk in obedience to the Lord requires us to walk in faith. We are told in Hebrews 10:38-39: “Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
Therefore, it should be our basic goal to grow in faith and to resist any control that fear has over us. This is a process that requires the renewing of our minds or the very thinking by which we perceive and understand ourselves and the world around us. We will be those who determine whether faith in God or fears will control our actions and beliefs.
We should note that faith in God is always singular, but there are a multitude of fears that seek dominion over us. There is simplicity to the faith walk that is liberating. Fear is much more complicated. One of the most basic fears that seeks control of us is the fear of man. Under this category a multitude of fears will be found such as the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment or humiliation, and so on. This is why the more we grow in faith in God, the more peace, rest, and fulfillment we will have in our lives.
It is also noteworthy that most failure, rejection, and even humiliation, are actually the result of fear that is controlling us in those areas. Fear causes us to do things that we would not have done if we were living by faith in that area. As someone once said, “Fear is faith for the things you don’t want,” and in this way fear actually causes the release of the things we fear.
It’s interesting that even the beasts can discern fear and react to it. Most of us have witnessed how a person who has a fear of dogs seems to arouse a desire in even the most docile pets to attack him. Animals that are predatory can immediately sense fear, and it arouses in them the aggression to catch their prey. This is the very thing that the enemy does to us spiritually. Fear arouses demonic forces to swarm to the vulnerable. Likewise, faith repels them.
There are levels of demonic forces that are assaulting the world. These range from demonic attacks on individuals, to principalities that seek dominion over regions or whole nations, to “world rulers” that seek dominion or influence over the entire earth. When the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden prophesied that America would fear from north to south and east to west, he was issuing a demonic prophecy that was a clear indication of the enemy’s strategy against America. Because the enemy is always seeking to counter the work of God, we can know for sure that faith is about to be released in America from north to south, east to west. We are in fact very close to the greatest of the Great Awakenings to ever sweep over this land.
As the enemy steps up his assault across the world to dominate foreign policy with fear and terror, we can be assured that it is the greatest opportunity for faith to be released in every place the enemy attacks. Faith is much more powerful than fear, and faith will ultimately prevail.
Earthly governments must fight the war against terror on the level of natural weapons, but only the church can achieve the ultimate victory over this enemy. We are told in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This is not a war against flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle which must be fought with spiritual weapons if we are going to have a true and lasting victory.
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This was an excerpt from Rick Joyner’s book Overcoming Fear. You can buy your copy at store.morningstarministries.org.
