Free From Fear by Dean Terry Graves
When fear comes, what will you do? First, we must know that fear is not from God – He has none to give! (2 Tim. 1:7) Fear is a lie that comes to your thoughts from the devil to harass you – to cause you to panic – to antagonize you – to place you in a state of anxiety!!! That does not sound like my God! An acronym of fear has been stated as: False Evidence Appearing Real! We should know it’s false! Anything not good that comes to our thoughts is false. The devil is the one sending wrong messages to your mind – it is not our God! Our God is good all the time! Jesus said that the devil is a liar and has been from the beginning! (Jn. 8:44) We know he lied to Eve and Adam in the garden and got them to succumb to his lies, and he has been doing the same to believers ever since. That is why we have to know the Word and what it says, to be able to combat the wrong stuff that has been injected! We have to say, “No fear here, not in this mind!” We say, “No way, devil, I know what the Word says!” People will ask you how you keep from being fearful. You tell them that you have inside information! My information comes from the Word of God, and I am a child of God. I know what God’s Word says concerning me, and that is what I believe! I know I am protected! (Ps. 3:3; 5:12; 28:7; 84:11; 91:4) I know I have peace! (Isa. 26:3) I know I have rest – with peace comes rest. I believe God and have faith in HIM and not the devil, so I have rest all about me. (Heb. 4:3) I know I have sweet sleep! (Ps. 4:8; Prov. 3:21-25)
People will ask, “How can you not be worried?” People would ask me when Josh, my son, was overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, “Aren’t you worried? Aren’t you scared to death?” I would tell them what the Word said every time! (Ps. 91; 34:7) I don’t worry, I refuse to worry, it’s a sin – it means that what God said is a lie, and that’s not true! Our God cannot lie!!! (Titus 1:2; Num. 23:19) Remember, the devil lies to us! We should laugh every time a negative, fearful thought comes! Why? Because we know what God said, and we line our thoughts up with His Word! If you will start laughing at the devil and renewing your mind as to what is yours as a child of God, you will find you will get the victory over every wrong thought the devil sends! This is the reason I stay at peace! I know the Word, and I speak the Word on a continual basis. I keep renewing my mind; I have made it my lifestyle! I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you what I have done, and that’s what Bro. Hagin did, and all the successful men and women of faith that have gone before us! The Word of God will mature your spirit and renew your mind so you won’t fall prey to any wrong thought! Folks, I’ve not arrived, but just like Paul said in Philippians 3:14, I keep pressing on. But you will have to learn to program yourself to speak the Word when stupid, terrorizing thoughts come! Rehearse – “My Father loves me.” (Jn. 3:16; 16:27; Rom. 1:7; 5:8; Eph. 2:4; 1 Jn. 3:1) “He cares for me.” (1 Pe. 5:7) He provides for me, protects me, etc….
So I am at total peace and rest! But I HAVE TO KEEP MY MIND RENEWED WITH THE WORD OF GOD! The devil will try to tear down my mind, and I have to go back and renew it daily because he doesn’t stop his attacks, if you’ve noticed! You have to answer the dumb thoughts of the devil with the Word! You cannot just ignore them, they will not just go away – you have to tell them to go and eradicate them with the truth you know! You must get up and fight back by using your offensive weapon – the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God!
We must use our authority! We have been given authority over the enemy! In Luke 10:19, Jesus Himself, by the commission of God, gave us authority over the enemy! Praise the Lord! Webster’s dictionary defines authority as: the power to give orders; the power to control something or someone; the confident quality of someone who knows a lot about something; a conclusive (showing something is true; putting an end to debate by irrefutable evidence) statement or statements (logos) as an official decision of a court (the court of Heaven pronounced sentence on the devil and freed you – you in turn enforce it with statements reminding the devil he’s defeated); a power to command behavior; a person in command. SAINTS, you were sworn in and given authority the day you were born again – so use it! It’s yours! We are also partakers of God’s divine (godlike) nature! (2 Pe. 1:4) Turn to Galatians 5:22 and read the fruit of our recreated spirits that came in us when we accepted Christ. The fruit of the spirit is God’s nature, and it is in us (our spirits)! I’ll ask you, “In this list, do you see fear listed anywhere?” No! What is the first fruit of His nature? Love, then joy, then peace! Then we go to verse 23 and see self-control! In the Greek “egkrates” (eng kratace), it means being strong in a thing – masterful – over appetites. You and I are to be in control of our flesh and minds – what we do, what we think, what we say!!! This word comes from the Greek word “kratos” – to have dominion, might, power, and strength! So you see we are to be in control of our minds and keep thoughts of fear out!!! We are to crucify the flesh (verse 24)! The word for crucified “wstauroo” (stow-ro-o) means to extinguish, subdue, self-denial, expose to death the things of flesh. So I can’t have wrong thoughts hanging around! In verse 25 it says those who walk in the Spirit must live in the Spirit! The word walk is “stoicheo,” which means to march in rank (when your mind tries to get out of step, get in its face and tell it what to do!) Talk to your mind and tell it to keep in step with the Word and walk (or think) orderly! No fear here! Mind, shut up!!! Besides all that, God has no fear in Him! God does not give fear! Let’s read 2 Timothy 1:7 and see what it says. God did not give us a spirit of fear! The word for fear here is “deilia” (de-lee-ah), meaning timidity, or fear; this word comes from the word “deilos,” meaning dread, fearful, faithless. In Matthew 8:26, Jesus asked, “Why are you so frightened, you men of little faith?” In Mark 4:40, Jesus said, “Why are you so timid, have you still no faith?” And as you know, our God always says, “Fear not!”
Turn to Num. 21:34; Deut. 1:21; 31:6-8; Josh. 8:1; 10:8; Judges 6:23; Ps. 118:6; Prov.3:25-26; Is. 44:8. In Deuteronomy, we see the word dismayed. It is “chathath” (khaw-tath), and it means to break down by fear, to be afraid, discouraged, or terrified. So I believe we should take heed and fear not, right? Saints, we have a better covenant than they did! (Heb. 8:6; 12:24) So we should never let ourselves get into fear! Remember, it’s False Evidence Appearing Real! In one instance, Satan wanted to make the disciples think they were going to sink! It looked real to them, but Jesus had already said something to them, and what did HE say? He said in Mark 4:35, “Let us cross over.…” Well, did He mean it or not? Jesus did not say, “Let us drown together,” did He? Jesus was not fearful – He laid down and slept, which is what we should be doing even in stormy times – staying at rest!
So what are we doing when things seem contrary to what we have been saying, or we have believed for? We should be at peace and rest, letting the fruit that is inside us grow. This will happen when we keep reminding ourselves what the Word says by a steady flow of the Word out of our mouths in praise form! We rest, because we believe we have received what we have said!!! So we act like the Word we’ve spoken is true and coming to pass. That is what we do!!! This is what “faith” people do!!! Believe what you’ve said will come to pass and do not pay attention to the devil’s distractions! This is how you will stay out of fear! Believe God that there will be a performance of what He has said will come to pass in your life and not what the lying devil has told you! Keep looking to and speaking out of your mouth His Word, and you will stand strong! If you have spoken the Word over a thing, wrong thoughts cannot change it. Only you can change things by your thoughts and words! So keep your thoughts right, and your words will be right! You are more than a match for the devil, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world! (1 Jn. 4:4) You are more than a conqueror! (Rom. 8:37)