Part of walking in God’s freedom is being free from fear! There’s so much fear in the world today, and even some Christians have fallen into the trap of receiving that fear into their own lives. But we’re not created by God to have fear of what goes on in the world!
Let me explain…we don’t have an ordinary spirit. As Christians, the spirit we’ve received from God is not a common spirit.
“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” – 1 CORINTHIANS 2:12 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit knows God the Father intimately. Because He knows God intimately – and He lives in Christians – He can reveal God to us better than anyone else. I love that…I don’t have to be ignorant of God.
Not Just “Some Deity”
God’s not just “some deity” in heaven; He’s someone I can be intimately acquainted and personal with.
When we make the Holy Spirit Lord over areas in our lives, we bring God into that situation. So, think about where the world’s at today? People are in fear of sickness, in fear of dying, in fear of dying prematurely, in fear of the violence in the world today.
The fear of death, especially, is being multiplied today in the world. Yet, 2 Timothy 1:7 is clear that “God has not given us a spirit of fear”! God is not going to give you that gnawing, craving fear that’s being see in people and preached by the media into your life.
It’s important not to give into fear. Fear can paralyze you if you let it; it will keep you from living out who you are in Christ. Fear will keep you from moving forward in the life that God has designed for you! Don’t let it!
Instead, God’s given us power, love and a sound mind! The Amplified Bible (AMPC) makes 2 Timothy 1:7 it even clearer, saying God’s given us a spirit “of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”
“It’s hard to have a calm and well-balanced mind if you’re giving into fear.”
It’s hard to have a calm and well-balanced mind if you’re giving into fear; fear always tries to irritate and agitate you. But God’s given us His Spirit that rejects that fear. That’s why in an earlier verse in 2 Timothy 1, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to “stir up the gift within you” so that we drive out any fear that’s trying to play on our minds.
Don’t fear. And certainly, don’t fear death!
Frankly, the reason why many people fear death is because they fear judgment. And the reason why people fear judgment is because they base their salvation on rules and regulations instead of the finished work of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.
Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT) reminds us that only by dying could Jesus break the power of the devil, “who HAD the power of death.” Past-tense. The devil no longer has the power of death. And if the devil no longer has the power of death, he can’t kill me.
That statement doesn’t mean that death doesn’t occur on Earth today – people physically die all the time – but the devil can’t “take me out.” I’m not leaving this earth until I’m ready to leave this earth, and I don’t fear when I will go. Why? It’s because when I die, the next face I’ll see is the face of my Savior, Jesus.
On February 18, 1984, I confessed Jesus Christ as my Lord. I believe God raised Him from the dead. The Bible tells me that I have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 speaks to this: “This is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
If you have the Son, you have life! That eternal life cannot be taken from you…so, why should you fear?!
Be free from the fear of death! The “last enemy” is defeated!
To watch the full August 15, 2021 message on which this post was based, CLICK HERE.
