God designed fear for our benefit. Its designed purpose is to keep us from harm. It is a warning system that we are about to try something that is beyond our known ability. Our civilization would not be able to survive without fear.
How do you view fear? As a friend?
How much control does fear have over your life?
Like everything good that was created for us to use and enjoy, fear was perverted at the fall of Adam, along with everything else. “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of Power, Love and Discipline!” II Tim. 1: 7 In its perversion, fear is used by Satan to control. Fear of what people may think, fear to share our faith, fear of rejection, fear of old age, fear of the unknown, fear of the devil…all are responses to this control. Fear eventually becomes a wall that leads to indifference. We become insensitive to its influence. Parents use threats and fear to discipline their children into obedience. Fear of rejection leads young people into bad social behavior (drugs, sex, pornography, alcohol…).
Fear has made a mockery of us! It has left us in the prison of our imagination…the “what ifs” and “I give up” of life. Rebellion and suicides are rampant in our society. Anger is a common response to life’s situations. We see it everywhere…in our homes, relationships, while driving…you know… there is always the angry person who attempts to control the crowd through fear. This ongoing virus is a good example of how fear is used to control the crowd…
People fear responsibility. My paratrooper husband tells me that the first step of training a soldier is knowledge of the enemy he has to overcome. For our purposes, the question is:
How do we learn to take control and use the enemy (Satan) for God’s glory?
(Satan’s only purpose is to exalt God!)
Our job is to understand that everything in creation was intended for the purpose of using our hopes, dreams, talents, futures and abilities to extol God. Any temptation to do otherwise, for whatever reason will end in defeat. Satan, the created being, is no exception to this rule!
We are to fear two things ONLY…God and the consequence of sin.
Who we fear, will control us!
Who controls you?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
