Perfect Love Casts Out Fear Pt.1
Introduction:
Read Psalm 56:1-4 and I John 4:18
-Today we are going to be dealing:
1. With perhaps THE NUMBER ONE ENEMY OF OUR CULTURE AND SOCIETY – FEAR!
2. If there is ONE THING THAT IS WARPING THE MIND OF OUR GENERATION – FEAR!
3. Jesus prophesied in Luke 21:26 words that deal with universal man:
“THAT IN THE LAST DAYS MEN’S HEARTS WOULD
FAIL THEM BECAUSE OF FEAR.”
-We have already deeply entered the LAST DAYS’ WORLDWIDE PHOBIA.The POCKMARKS OF WAR filled the earth in the 20th century. TWO WORLD WARS, THE KOREAN CONFLICT, AND THE VIETNAM WAR were only some of the conflicts that took place during that century, as millions were slaughtered all over the globe. More people were killed through warfare during the 20th century than have been killed in any other century.
-ISLAMIC TERORISM IS ON THE UPSWING IN SO MANY PLACES. Violence and bloodshed fill the newspapers on a daily basis. DRUG WARS have taken the lives of so many in Mexico and Latin America.
-Men and women are killing their children, and random acts of violence in schools, malls, restaurants, along the highways, and even in churches make everyone wonder if we are safe anywhere. Suicide bombings in the Middle East and elsewhere are leading to GREAT FEAR AND PANIC.
-In all of this remember:
“WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS,
BUT WE DO KNOW WHO HOLDS
THE FUTURE.”
-As Corrie Ten Boom states:
“NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRUST AN UNKNOWN
FUTURE TO THE KNOWN GOD.”
***
-In dealing with FEAR:
1. I am not going to give “YOU A PAT LITTLE FORMULA HOW TO DEAL WITH FEAR.”
2. Why? Simply because NO FORMULA IN AND BY ITSELF WILL EVER DEAL WITH THESE THINGS.
3. It will do YOU NO GOOD:
-Getting up in the MORNING and telling YOURSELF – THAT YOU ARE NOT AFRAID!
-Because if YOU ARE AFRAID, telling yourself YOU ARE NOT AFRAID IS A LIE!
-Anymore THAN STANDING IN FRONT OF A MIRROR:
a. And looking at yourself and SAYING,
“I’M GOING TO BE BETTER TODAY!”
b. I wouldn’t be so sure, FOR I FIND THAT THAT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE CASE!
c. We are not in A MYTHICAL EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS. If anything, FEAR WILL GET WORSE BY NIGHT, AND EVEN WORSE IN THE NIGHT!
-SOMETHING MUCH MORE THAN A FORMULA must be given to us!
-POSITIVE THINKING will do you no good WITHOUT A FOUNDATION FOR YOUR POSITIVE THINKING!
*******
I. WHAT IS OUR HOPE OF VICTORY?
1. That I will be BETTER TODAY, that I will LIVE UNAFRAID TODAY?
2. That’s a real issue, a real issue indeed:
a. For there are many people who HAVE NOT LIVED ONE DAY IN LIFE WITHOUT FEAR!
b. People who WALLOW IN FEAR EVERY DAY OF EVERY WEEK OF EVERY MONTH OF EVERY FEAR.
3. WHAT IS MY HOPE that I WILL LIVE TODAY UNAFRAID?
a. Not a FORMULA, but as I Peter 1:21 states,
“YOUR FAITH AND HOPE IS IN GOD!”
b. That is:
“THAT INTO ME HAS COME THE LORD JESUS CHRIST,
LIVING HIS RESURRECTED LIFE INSIDE ME.”
c. The solution to ALL MY PROBLEMS, including FEAR IS – A PERSON, not A FORMULA!
d. JESUS CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR OUR HOPE, THE BASIS AND HEART OF ALL NEEDED CHANGE!
e. THE REASON WE CAN HAVE SUCH HOPE:
-THAT WE SHALL BE CHANGED, NO LONGER CHAINED BY BITTERNESS, ANGER, WORRY, FEAR!
-MY HOPE FOR SAYING THAT IS IN A PERSON, not in a PRESCRIPTION!
4. Or as Paul puts it in Colossians. 1:27,
“CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY!”
-And by GLORY, PAUL DOESN’T MEAN HEAVEN, HE MEANS GOD-LIKENESS, CHRIST-LIKENESS.
-THE GLORY of God in Scripture means:
“THE SUM TOTAL OF GOD’S CHARACTERISTICS,
WHO GOD IS!”
-And I TELL YOU,
“THERE IS NO FEAR IN GOD, THERE IS NO DREAD
IN THE LORD!”
-WHEN YOU ARE FULL OF THE LORD, THERE CAN BE NOT THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF FEAR!
***
5. WHEN YOU STAND WITH JESUS, my friend, YOU CAN STAND FEARLESSLY AGAINST ANYTHING!
-That’s why, no matter what I say, it all comes down to realities like:
–Psalm 27:1,
“THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION, WHOM
SHALL I FEAR,THE LORD IS THE STRENGTH OF
MY LIFE, OF WHOM SHALL
I BE AFRAID?”
–Psalm 31:13,
“FOR I HAVE HEARD THE SLANDER OF MANY, FEAR WAS
ON EVERY SIDE:WHILE THEY TOOK COUNSEL
TOGETHER AGAINST ME, THEY DEVISED
TO TAKE AWAY MY LIFE, BUT I TRUSTED
IN THEE, O LORD I SAID, ‘THOU
ART MY GOD.’”
–Psalm 34:4,
“I SOUGHT THE LORD, AND HE HEARD ME, AND
DELIVERED ME FROM ALL MY FEARS.”
–Psalm 46:1-2,
“GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT
HELP IN TIME OF TROUBLE, THEREFORE WE
WILL NOT FEAR!”
6. OH MY FRIEND, HEAR ME:
-THERE IS NO FEAR IN GOD ABOUT ANYTHING WHATSOEVER AT ALL!
-WHEN YOU ARE CENTERED IN THE LORD, YOU WILL NOT HAVE FEAR AT ALL.
-AND, anything and everything THAT TORMENTS WITH FEAR IS NOT OF GOD.
***
ILLUSTRATION
The Wartburg Castle is the formidable fortress in Eisenach, Germany in which Martin Luther’s protector, Frederick the Wise, sequestered him following Luther’s excommunication by Pope Leo X and his refusal to recant his heresy at the DIET OF WORMS. It provided a safe haven from his pursuers for Luther in which to translate the New Testament into German. The WARTBURG CASTLE was, in fact, so formidable that it still stands today.
But even there, Martin Luther didn’t feel completely protected. At least according to legend, the Reformer so acutely felt the devil’s attacks that he heaved an ink blot against a wall to try to chase him away. After all, while all sorts of fortresses may seem to offer us protection from our enemies, only God the Fortress can offer any real safety and DELIVERANCE FROM FEAR.
Without God, the whole world in the last days will suffer GLOBAL CORONARY ARREST.
***
FOOTNOTE:
1. By the way the Greek word for FEAR – TERROR – DREAD, is the word “PHOBOS.”
2. It is that GREEK WORD PHOBOS, from which we get THE WORD PHOBIA, PHOBIAS.
3. The GREEK WORD FOR GOD IS THEOS, WHERE THERE IS THEOS, there can be no PHOBOS.
*******
II. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD FEAR ESTABLISHED AT THE OUTSET
-When we come to FEAR, WE MUST NOT LET OURSELVES FEED UPON SELF-PITY.
-For instance:
1. When we come to AN ANGRY, BITTER, ENRAGED PERSON, we don’t feel sorry for them.
2. When we come to AN ENVIOUS, JEALOUS, GREEN-EYED PERSON, we don’t feel sorry for them.
3 But, WHEN WE MEET A PERSON WHO IS FEARFUL, FULL OF FEAR:
-Something of COMPASSION RISES WITHIN US, like,
“THERE, THERE, THERE, POOR BABY!”
-But, listen, FEAR IS NOT TO BE PAMPERED, PITIED, STROKED, OR THERE-THERED!
-FEAR IS A SIN!
Hear it:
“FEAR IS A SIN, AND NOT A TO-BE-SYMPATHIZED-
WITH PHOBIA.”
***
-In fact, THE FIRST SIN TO BE THROWN INTO HELL IS FEAR!
–Revelation 21:8 says,
“BUT THE FEARFUL, UNBELIEVING, ABOMINABLE,
MURDERERS, WHORE-MONGERS, SORCERERS,
IDOLATERS, LIARS, SHALL HAVE THEIR PART
IN THE LAKE WHICH BURN ETH WITH
FIRE AND BRIMSTONE.”
a. Incredible isn’t it? FEAR, MURDER, ANGER,WITCHCRAFT all are of the same family.
b. They are all BROTHERS AND SISTERS, though their faces DON’T LOOK ALIKE.
c. I mean, ANGER, FEAR don’t seem to belong to the same family, but they do nonetheless.
d. ALL OF SIN’S FAMILY AND KIDS LOOK DIFFERENT:
-ANGER IS OUT THERE EXPOSED, PUSHING, MURDERING IF NEEDS BE!
-FEAR IS TUCKED AWAY IN THE CORNER, but they are all SIN’S FAMILY.
-Therefore:
a. WE DON’T come to THE FEARFUL PERSON AND PITY THEM IN IT!
b. We don’t COME TO THE FEARFUL PERSON AND FEED THEIR FEAR WITH OUR PITY.
***
-These ARE THOSE WHO WILL SAY:
a. I AM A FEARFUL PERSON, YOU’VE GOT TO UNDERSTAND ME!
b. MY FRIEND, I LOVE YOU ENOUGH TONIGHT, NOT TO PITY YOU, BUT TO TRUTH YOU.
c. That doesn’t mean WE DON’T LOVE AND ACCEPT EACH OTHER AS WE ARE.
d. BUT MY ACCEPTING YOU AND YOU ME, DOES NOT MEAN I ABANDON ALL HOPE OF YOU IMPROVING.
4. WHY IS FEAR SO SINFUL, AND GETS PRIORITY SIN-BILLING?:
-Frankly, because FEAR IS BELIEF IN SATAN’S AUTHORITY, INSTEAD OF GOD’S AUTHORITY.
-Frankly, because FEAR IS BELIEF IN SATAN’S POWER, INSTEAD OF GOD’S POWER.
-Therefore:
“FEAR IS REALLY THE OPPOSITE OF FAITH, AND IS THE
ALLY OF UNFAITH, UNBELIEF.”
-That is why in Revelation 21:8,
“FEAR AND UNBELIEF ARE MENTIONED TOGETHER
FIRST: BUT THE FEARFUL, UNBELIEVING,
ABOMINABLE, MURDERERS, WHORE-
MONGERS, SORCERERS SHALL HAVE
THEIR PART IN THE LAKE OF FIRE.”
-Coming to think about it:
a. FEAR AND FAITH are not only OPPOSITES, FEAR IS FAITH IN TOTAL REVERSE.
b. FEAR IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS DREADED, while Hebrews 11:1 tells us,
“FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR.”
*******
III. LET’S TAKE A LIMITED BUT HONEST LOOK AT FEAR!
-FEAR:
1. HAS NO FRIEND EXCEPT THE DEVIL, and yet, FEAR STRIKES AT EVERY MAN!
2. Fear, JUST DOESN’T COME TO OLD WOMEN AND TO YOUNG CHILDREN!
3. EVEN THE MIGHTY LION-KILLING GIANT-SLAYING DAVID FEARED:
-David is called in the Bible,
“A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART.”
-And David said in Psalm 56:3-4,
“WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID, I WILL TRUST IN THEE. IN
GOD WILL I PRAISE HIS WORD, IN GOD HAVE I
PUT MY TRUST, I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT
FLESH CAN DO UNTO ME.”
4. EVEN THE RIGHTEOUS JOB FEARED:
-We read in Job 1:1,
“THAT JOB WAS A PERFECT AND UPRIGHT MAN.”
-We read in Job 3:25 Job saying,
“FOR THE THING WHICH I GREATLY FEARED IS COME
UPON ME, AND THAT WHICH I WAS AFRAID OF
IS COME UNTO ME.”
***
-FEAR:
1. Found always in the COLLECTIVE SINGULAR IN SCRIPTURE, except once!
2. Always FOUND AS FEAR, not FEARS, though FEAR HAS A THOUSAND FACES!
3. LET’S NOT LABOR THE POINT, YET BE TRUTHFUL WITH GOD:
a. FEAR OF DEATH:
-The Bible talks about those in Hebrews 2:15,
“WHO ARE BOUND BY DREAD OF DEATH ALL
THEIR LIFE.”
-TO THEM, DEATH IS ALWAYS AROUND THE CORNER, THEY LIVE LIFE AND DIE 1,000 DEATHS.
b. My friend, Revelation1:18 tells us,
“JESUS HAS THE KEYS OF DEATH, NOT
DEATH ITSELF!”
-Some people TALK ABOUT DEATH LIKE A PERSON WHO IS MORE POWERFUL THAN JESUS HIMSELF.
-EVEN IF DEATH COULD DEATH YOU, WHICH IT CAN’T, IT IS THE SERVANT OF JESUS!
-But, EVEN IF IT COULD, THE WORST IT COULD DO IS PUT YOU IN HEAVEN!
– II Corinthians 5:8 states,
“TO BE ABSENT FROM BODY, IS TO BE PRESENT
WITH THE LORD.”
-FEAR OF DEATH has led others to destroy others, FOR SURVIVAL PURPOSES.
ILLUSTRATION
It’s said that Psalm 68 became a kind of Marseilles, an anthem for France’s persecuted HUGUENOT minority. It’s said when they were tied to the stake or led to the GUILLOTINE, martyrs would sing psalms like it so passionately, that their captors would cut out their tongues to silence them.
Do we remember the words of this triumphant, FEARLESS Psalm 68:1-4 KJV,
“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also
that hate Him flee before Him.”
“As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before
the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”
“But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before
God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.”
“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol Him
that rideth upon
the heavens by His name JAH, and rejoice before Him.”
At least until recently, it was the hymn with which the Huguenot Church of Charleston, SC would open each of its worship services.
c. NOT ONLY FEAR OF DEATH, BUT ALL THAT LEADS TO IT, OR SUPPOSEDLY COULD – OBSESSIVE FEAR OF GERMS:
-Fear of touching a sick person, I MIGHT GET SICK TOO.
-Fear of putting MY BABY IN A NURSERY, could get contaminated, as if your kid is so sterile!
-Fear of GERMS, LIKE THE MARRIED MAN I KNOW, ALWAYS PARANOID ABOUT GERMS ON HIS HANDS, WHICH HE WASHES CONSTANTLY.
d. OBSESSIVE FEAR OF OLD AGE:
-That’s why people really DON’T WANT TO TELL THEIR AGE, everybody is 30 or 40.
-That CRAZY LITTLE GAME WE PLAY isn’t a GAME AT ALL, IT’S FEAR.
-We will do anything BUT LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND FACE UP TO GETTING OLD.
-We will DYE OUR HAIR, GET A FACE LIFT, rather than admit AGING IS HERE.
-We are GETTING OLD and DEATH IS GETTING CLOSER, FEAR WON’T FACE IT!
-Even though Proverbs 16:31 says,
“WHITE HAIR IS CROWNING GLORY, IF IT BE FOUND IN
THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
-Frankly, such A HOPE IS MINE IN CHRIST, MORE AND MORE my only CONCERN ABOUT DEATH AND OLD AGE IS I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, VISION, GOAL THAT IF I GO TO HEAVEN BEFORE DOING EVERYTHING ON MY LIST, TO WHOM SHALL I LEAVE THE LIST?
-Time does go doesn’t it,
“MAN I’M AS OLD NOW AS MY PARENTS WERE WHEN THEY WERE MY AGE.”
e. OBSESSIVE FEAR OF TRAVEL:
-Oh THE FEARS THAT CHAIN PEOPLE, fear of getting in an airplane, don’t say ON Airplane, (I’m getting in, you get on.)
-Fear of getting IN CARS, BUSES, TRAINS, MOTORCYCLES, BOATS, anything that MOVES! TERROR!
-People who TRAVEL and MUST GET THEMSELVES DRUNK BEFORE THEY WOULD DARE TO FLY!
-HAVEN’T YOU EVER HEARD SOMEONE SAY – I’M SCARED TO DEATH OF FLYING!
-Well, that’s not QUITE IT, it’s not SCARED TO DEATH, it’s scared of death, and all that could lead to it!
-MY PEOPLE, JUST BE ASSURED THAT NONE OF THIS IS THE LORD! NOT HIS WILL AT ALL!
–II Timothy 1:7,
“GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US A SPIRIT OF FEAR, BUT OF
POWER, OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND.”
ILLUSTRATION
A Pastor Shares:
North Americans who preach and teach Psalm 27 may want to share their own fears that the events of September 11, 2001 caused. I cancelled my plans to fly from Washington DC to Boston because of my FEARS OF FLYING. I shared a Washington SUBWAY CAR subway car with a Middle Eastern-looking person whose jitteriness only heightened my own apprehensions. Family members and friends remember instinctively looking up when jets and airplanes seemed to fly too close overhead.
Remember the words of Psalm 27:1-3,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom
shall I be afraid?“
“When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my
enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.”
“Though an army may encamp against me, my heart
shall not fear; though
war should rise against me, in this I will
be confident.”
The psalmist doesn’t seem to expect God to ELIMINATE all the attacks of the evil men who are his enemies. The poet isn’t implying that ARMIES will never besiege us or that WARS will never break out against us.
Nor does this psalm allow us to assume that God will wipe out all of the things that make us afraid. Things may, in fact, become FAR WORSE in our world. Some of us may even suffer the consequences of evil men’s advances against us.
What such days of trouble will not change, however, is God’s abiding, indestructible love for us. Christ, by His Spirit, promises that, even in the day of trouble, He’ll never leave or abandon us. Nothing, indeed, then, not even the DAY OF TROUBLE, can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus.
f. OBSESSIVE FEAR OF FAILURE:
-We cannot face THE POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE, paralyzed by fear of failure!
-Afraid we ARE GOING TO FAIL IN OUR BUSINESS, AFRAID IT WILL ALL CRASH
-Afraid I WILL FAIL ON THE JOB, AFRAID I WON’T PLEASE MY EMPLOYER!
-So, some PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO MAKE ANY DECISIONS AT ALL, it might be the wrong one.
-And, then TOMORROW, the whole thing will crash, no house, no food, STARVE TO DEATH!
-We are back to FEAR OF DEATH AGAIN, so some make NO DECISIONS AT ALL!
-THERE CAN BE NO VISION, ADVENTURE, LAUNCHING OUT, FAITH WALK, WITH FEAR!
-There is a text, not well known to many, but BLESSES ME NO END!
–Proverbs 1:33,
“BUT WHOSO HEARKENETH UNTO ME SHALL DWELL
SAFELY, AND SHALL BE QUIET FROM
FEAR OF EVIL.”
-Translation:
“WHOEVER DOES WHAT I TELL HIM TO SAITH THE
LORD, I SHALL PROTECT, AND HE SHALL NEVER
BE BOTHERED BY FEAR OF CALAMITY
OR DISASTER.”
CONCLUSION TO THIS POINT:
1. FEAR HAS A THOUSAND FACES, we have only touched the SURFACE OF IT!
2. OH, IF I COULD HOLD YOUR HAND, AND SAY THERE, THERE, DON’T WORRY!
3. YOU DON’T REALLY WANT THAT TONIGHT DO YOU?
a. Aren’t you A LITTLE SICK OF PREACHERS WHO HOLD OUR HAND AND SAY IT’S ALL RIGHT!
b. No, No, No my friend, WE KNOW THAT IT IS NOT ALL RIGHT TO LIVE THIS WAY.
c. WHEN I HAVE A DISEASE THAT’S KILLING ME:
-I don’t need, you don’t need A DOCTOR WHO HOLDS YOUR HAND, AND SAYS, “THERE, THERE, THERE.”
-We need TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH, A DOCTOR WHO WILL GIVE ME THE TRUTH, not a BAND-AID.
-What did Jesus say in John 8:32?
“YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH
SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.”
-And OUR FEARS and all that GOES WITH LIFE STYLES OF FEAR, demands special surgery.
-And to GET BENEATH THE SURFACE, demands, RADICAL SURGERY.
-Then, and then only WILL WE BE RELEASED FROM FEAR AND ANXIETY INTO TRUE LIVING!
*******
IV. THE TRUTH ABOUT FEAR, WHAT IS THE REAL ENEMY BEHIND IT?
–The text that we read at the OUTSET has a very CRITICAL PRINCIPLE YOU MUST HEAR!
-We read in I John 4:18,
“THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, BUT PERFECT LOVE
CASTETH OUT FEAR.”
a. That sounds strange at first reading. One would expect something else like:
“PERFECT FAITH DRIVES OUT FEAR.”
b. Or something like:
“PERFECT COURAGE CASTS OUT FEAR.”
c. But no:
“PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR.”
-Next time we shall discover the ROOT CAUSE OF FEAR IN OUR LIVES.
Hear it:
“THERE MUST BE AN UPROOTING BEFORE THERE CAN
BE AN OUTCASTING.”
-WE WILL START HERE NEXT TIME!!!
***
But you can be delivered from fear right now, for ultimately it is not WHAT YOU KNOW, but WHO YOU KNOW.
TRUE STORY OF VICTORY OVER FEAR THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
Problems in adult life very often have their beginning in one’s childhood, which was true in my case. Basically, I was a happy, normal child, but very sensitive and insecure. Like many children, at a young age, I had terrible nightmares and fear of sleeping in a room by myself at night. In my grade school years, fear would grip me when I was called on to give answers, give book reports in front of class, or even simply having to write something on the chalkboard in front of the other kids. To add to my fear, I had constant input of horror movies.
Worse yet, I had close friends who were taking part in séances. Their spooky accounts of talking to the “dead”; having the “dead” talk back to them; seeing “dead spirits”; having the ability to raise a table off the floor – hearing of these first-hand accounts caused me to have even greater fear.
At age 21, I married. I was so relieved to have a husband next to me at night. I could finally sleep peacefully, free from nagging fears. But as things turned out, my husband soon got a third shift job. Sometimes he worked two or three jobs, leaving me alone day and night. Fear and insecurity increased during that first year of marriage.
We lived in a trailer park with people living right next door, yet fear wouldn’t let me go to sleep when it got dark. Eventually I resorted to sleeping pills, but two or three nights of that and I gave up. I was so afraid of what might happen if I did go to sleep that I fought them off and they didn’t work.
Soon thereafter I had my first baby, and we moved to a house in the country. It sat way off the road with no close neighbors. Being isolated, this only increased my fear. As soon as it got dark outside I would begin to feel nervous and trapped. On many nights I would sit very still and hold a gun in my arms for hours. Sometimes I would feel safest with all the lights on. At other times it seemed better to have them all off so I could see outside better. Many times I had to get out of the house. When I had a car, I’d put my baby in it and I’d go to the end of our driveway and stay there and sleep until daybreak. Come daybreak I would then feel safe to go back into the house.
I had been married for about a year and a half when a strange man came to the door one day. Because of my extreme loneliness, I was vulnerable. He paid attention to me and my baby, coming back occasionally with friendliness and making complimentary remarks. If I had been worldly-wise, I would have recognized right away what was going on, but I wasn’t. I was enjoying this man and didn’t realize his intentions were not honorable. Soon his visits turned into a one-time sexual encounter.
Immediately my conscience bothered me and I felt dirty. For the first time in my life I had a fear of God and a fear of hell. I thought to myself, if God is real, then I’m in trouble, because if God is real, then hell is real and the 10 commandments are real and I’m going to hell.
Then I saw two roads before me. One way was to choose to believe there is a God and give Him my life and live the way He wanted me to. The other way was to remain silent about what I had done, not do it again, and just go on living my life the best way I knew how.
I didn’t like feeling dirty, and I didn’t want to deceive my husband about what I’d done, so I said, “God, if You’re real, I’m going to live for you from now on.”I called my husband at his job and he came home. I told him everything. Then he packed his bags and left.
For the next three months I did everything I thought God would want me to do. Off and on my husband would come back for awhile and then leave again. I was so miserable. Then on the evening of October 4, 1969, I was home alone as usual and my baby was in bed asleep. A man on TV by the name of Billy Graham, whom I’d never seen or heard before, began telling the story of Jesus Christ coming from heaven. He explained how He had been born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died by crucifixion, was dead for three days, and then arose bodily from the grave and ascended into heaven.
He said that if we believed this fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and agreed with God that we are sinners, then we could ask this same Jesus to come into our hearts and life. He said that when Jesus comes into a life, He cleanses and forgives that person of all sin, and that He gives His peace and joy and eternal life. I wanted this Jesus and what He could give me more than anything else in the world, so at the end of the program I talked to Jesus out loud as a little child would. I told Him I was a sinner and I was sorry for my sins and asked Him to come into my heart and take control of my life as He wanted.
Immediately the heaviness of sin and grief lifted that I had been carrying for the previous three months! And something else — fear suddenly left that night! I hadn’t even asked Jesus to remove it, but He removed it anyway! I didn’t need to keep a gun near me or have lights on anymore. I had peace in my mind and peace in my heart for Jesus just as He’d promised.
For over 22 years now Jesus Christ has been my Lord. The heavenly Father has truly become my Father. He and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are my constant companions and I am so blessed with their constant presence.
Since giving my life to Jesus Christ, I’ve had demonic spirits make occasional attempts to put fear back in me, but the Holy Spirit has taught me to use the authority and power that is in the name of Jesus to send these harassing demons fleeing!
If fear holds you in its grip, I encourage you to turn your life over to Jesus Christ. (Even if it doesn’t, I still encourage you to do so!). Seek to be led by the Holy Spirit daily, and feed your mind regularly on the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. Seek out the promises of God in the Bible and make them a living part of you. Your believing and standing on those promises has the power to break every foothold the devil has on you.
When searching for God, remember that you must make the first move. Jesus forces Himself on no one.”Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20 NIV).
When speaking of fear, also remember, healthy fear is a gift from God. Unhealthy fear is a weapon of Satan to keep your eyes focused on the circumstances of the fear, and off of God. It is possible to be so consumed by fear, worry, and anxiety that you don’t even realize that it’s robbing you of the greatest joy there is on earth . . . perfect peace with the Creator of the universe.
So again, if fear, anxiety, worry, addictions, uncontrollable sin . . . if any of these things have control of you, go to the source that has all the answers. Jesus said,”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NIV). Amen!
