Our flesh is often guided by fear. Fear of man, fear of circumstances, fear of what surrounds us — travel, spiders, darkness, accidents, diseases, etc. And the truth is that that fear grows when we get fixated on it. Don’t you know someone who is terrified by something like a spider and they build up and up to be a big deal? Sometimes nothing has even happened to justify that fear of the spider – they’ve never been bitten, they haven’t had a nest of spiders crawl up their shirt, but they’ve decided they are gross or scary or whatever, and after years of that thinking, they are “freaked out” by the mere sight of a spider, regardless of whether or not it is dangerous. So that fixation empowers the fear. And a spider is a small thing. But small fears can keep us from being who we are called to be, and that’s the enemy’s goal – to keep us in fear over small things so that we are to fearful to really move in our destiny. If we hold fear, it keeps us on our guard. To our flesh, fear feels good —like an old friend. Fear keeps me from doing things I don’t want to do. It’s a protection, or a “safety.” That sounds weird, but if you think about it, it’s true. Fear of heights might keep you from climbing that tree and seeing the world in a whole different way! But when we focus on the fear, we think, I will never climb that tree, I could fall. I could die. It’s much safer here on the ground.
The truth is that when we walk in the supernatural then we are walking in light and that is a place of freedom. When we walk in freedom, it frees others! Our soulish nature is self-seeking and our spirit is God-seeking. That’s why Paul says that our flesh must be crucified and we have be intentional in moving toward a place of righteousness. There is such a swirl in the news today that can easily shift our eyes off God and cause us to become fearful. Ebola, ISIS, corruption, murders — they are all things that are very real, dangerous, and can definitely be used by the enemy to bring us to a place of fear. But it is a illusion that we have any sort of control over any of those situations. The reality is that He’s in control – we’re not!
When we walk in fear, it’s a false identity. It’s not who we were designed to be. There’s an “orphan spirit” that wants to rise up and make us feel as if we’ve been abandoned by God. If we yield to it, we empower the darkness because we step into that expectation. When we are walk in fear and get angry and frustrated, we just get into a cycle that perpetuates. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. When we turn our focus to the Lord and not the circumstances, this is what sustains us when things get tough. You know that scripture that talks about being a deep rooted tree by the river that produces fruit? This is what God says we will be if we seek him and keep our gazed fixed on Him! Fear says to worry when you get sick. Walking in the spirit says, “I do not walk in defeat when I struggle physically, because I am planted by that river and I will keep going despite the suffering!” The purpose of suffering is not to destroy you but to grow you, to refine you. The Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Acting in your own strength — this is the fear of man — people pleasing. Essentially I am happy if they are happy. But this is not the way of God.
Do we realize that we have an all powerful Father and because of Christ we have access to the throne! That secret place where you meet the Father will sustain you through anything, for there is nothing more powerful than Father God! Sometimes in the midst of trials, testing and circumstances, we feel abandoned by God. But He has not moved. He is still there, coming alongside of us during those trials. In Christ is where we find our peace and we will lack for no good thing! If He who raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, He will also give life through our mortal bodies! Isn’t that amazing! At the end of the day, we have to remember this… Jesus Christ is perfect love personified. Perfect love casts out all fear! Where perfect love is, fear can not be! The Lord has designed us to be bold and confident and walk out our destiny. It’s time to start breaking off those fears that cause us to shy away from who we are called to be!
Thoughts from Londa Harwell’s message on 10.20.14