Fighting Fear

Haggai 2:5

“…And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.”

Fear is a funny thing. It can creep up on you in the weirdest ways, when you walk into a room, when you see someone, or when you pass by that place. Some people have panic attacks. If you have never had one, you are blessed. It is when the overwhelming, crushing feeling of fear engulfs you out of nowhere. Fear is not one of the five senses; rather, it is a reaction, the effect of the cause-and-effect rule. So what pacifies the fear? It could be a blanket or moving away from that place that triggers the fear. It could be someone you trust being by your side. It could also be reviewing your plans if it all comes tumbling down, your safety net.

Here we find a most interesting comparison. Haggai is prophesying, and the Lord says that His Spirit remains on them and not to fear. If we review the fruit of the Spirit, God’s Spirit, you do not find fear as one of them. In fact, all of the adjectives describing the fruit of the Spirit are in stark contrast to fear. Galatians 5:22 outlines them: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” All these are the antithesis of fear.

So we ask the same question: what pacifies the fear? If we believe the Lord, the answer would be that when His Spirit is among you, fear cannot stay. If fear is the sickness, then the treatment for that sickness is the Spirit of the Lord. It is almost like the ones we see constantly walking in fear, fear over the future, fear over finances, fear of being sick, fear of getting others sick, fear over loved ones, fear over your kids being safe, you could go on and on. You can see how this might just control your life.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” One thing is clear: as Christians, we should not operate in fear at all. It is not an attribute that describes followers of Jesus.

My daughter wrote a note to fear one day while in college. In short, it put fear in its place, and she refused to let it control her life any longer. Maybe you should do the same thing. First, spend time with the Lord in His Word and pray that the Lord will fill you with His Spirit, and quote 2 Timothy 1:7 and Galatians 5:22. Then put fear in its place, out of the driver’s seat. We all experience fear from time to time, but we should not let it set up camp in the driver’s seat of our lives. Fear is a tactic Satan uses to cripple the forward progress of the saints of the Lord. When the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples in the upper room that day in the second chapter of Acts, the Spirit of God became available for all of us, all of the time, everywhere we go. Do you know He is there? What are you walking in, fear or faith?

Prayer: Father, help me to walk in faith and not in fear. I rebuke fear in my life in Jesus’ name! I cast it out of my life because I know You have not given that to us, for it is a tactic of the enemy. I stand today and cast it out of my life in Jesus’ name, amen.