The Bible is filled with scriptures that tell us God says ‘fear not’, but often times we have been trapped in fear and suffered its torments. The scriptures reveal God’s assurance of His ever-present with us, yet that has remained a theory than a fact. Despite the name ‘believers in Christ’ that we bear and our position as God’s children, many of us are helpless and hopeless.
Isn’t that pathetic? Our people have a saying that a child whose mother works in the kitchen cannot eat his food without soup. But in our own case, it seems it is a reverse situation. Does it mean God’s word is not true? Far be it, God is not a man that He would lie. (Num.23:19). The truth is God did not promise us a trouble-free world, but He assured us of His presence with us in every troubled situation. (Isa.43:1-5). Yet we fret at any unfavorable situation and become scared of life.
Fear makes us doubt God’s word
Have you ever experienced a situation that left you feeling so scared that you wondered whether what the Bible says about God is true? There were instances in my life that I was overwhelmed with fear such that the Bible did not make sense to me. Anytime I took the Bible to read I became more scared because a voice was telling me “Your situation is different and that book can’t provide the solution”. That is a dangerous situation, isn’t it? If I had depended on that voice the story would have been different today. Thank God, I insisted on studying the Bible even when it didn’t make sense to me. At last, it did make sense.
When you find yourself in a situation that threatens your security, and God seems silent about it, your fear is likely to intensify. You may conclude God does not care, or maybe His word is not what it appears to be. When such kinds of thoughts begin to build up in your mind it would be difficult to overcome fear.
Now, from experience, and what I have observed among some believers, I found the following to be some of the reasons why believers find it difficult to overcome fear.
-
The devil rules over the world we live in.Joh.(14:30)
The scripture warns us to be on alert because our enemy the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking for whom he may devour. (1 Pet.5:8). But the irony is we cannot see him physically nor hear the roaring audibly. So, most times we cannot identify his works over our lives; sometimes we blame God for what the devil did. When we find ourselves in an unfavorable situation and we attribute it to God, to whom shall we run for help then? It is easy for us to give in to fear because we are helpless.
-
Allowing our minds to control us
When we depend on what our minds are telling us, it would be difficult for us to stay out of fear because that is the target of the devil. He manipulates us through our minds by painting the picture of a situation look critical even if it is not. As we meditate over it, again and again, we feel more threatened and become trapped by fear.
-
Lack of good knowledge of God’s word
Many of us hardly take enough time to study and meditate on the word of God. Without a good knowledge of God’s word in our hearts, it would be difficult for us to resist fear, because it takes only God’s word to resist the manipulation of the devil. (Eph.6:17b) calls the word the sword of the Spirit; it is with it we fight the devil. But when it is lacking in our lives, we become handicapped.
-
Dependence on our strength
Jesus clearly told us in Joh.15: that without him we can do nothing, yet oftentimes we’ve tried to fight a spiritual war with physical strength. We have been struggling without success because we can only conquer fear through Jesus alone. Without him our effort is fruitless.
-
Ignorance of our identity in Christ
When we don’t know our stand in Christ as children of God, the devil takes advantage of it. For some of us, they know that they are saved but what constitutes the privileges we have in Christ they are ignorant. But the scripture tells us that whoever is born of God overcomes the world; he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1Jo.5:4-5). Ignorance of that truth puts us at risk.
6. When we harbour sin in our lives
When we allow sin in our lives that would be an express way for fear to thrive in our lives. Sin opens the door for fear into our lives. If we want to overcome fear we must do away with sin in our lives.
We are not meant to be victims of fear, we are meant to be overcomers. How? In the next post we shall get to know.
Leave a Reply