spirit of fear
He’s the Prince of (my) Peace
The great gift of Christ to me when I was first a believer was peace. “I still have all my problems,” I told my mom, “but I’m not afraid any more.” The peace that passes understanding. This is a peace that can’t be explained. It can’t be understood apart from experience.
But today, I am not often seeing that peace in others who say they are believers. This disturbs my peace! But note I did say “disturbs” not “steals”. I guard my peace and when I feel its pending absence (no longer a feeling I am willing to live with) it’s time to go to The Prince of Peace.
Some people think that means God’s all about peace in the usual sense of the word. But I know the truth is that He’s about the peace that only comes via fighting the good fight of faith. And He’s about giving me peace right in the middle of the battle.
That’s where we are – in the middle of the battle. I don’t think anyone would argue about that. But there is mental wackiness going on because of fear. Fear must be fought! Fear must be defeated. Faith, which the Word tells us “works” through love, is what connects us to God. Not fear.
People are afraid of their own shadows, and teaching their kids fear as well. I saw a toddler the other day with a mask on and it was unbearable. Kids are being programmed to fear, to “all their lifetimes be subject to bondage through fear of death.” But the good news is that Jesus came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” – Hebrews 2:15
I’ve been released from Fear’s tyranny more than once. I didn’t hold on to that peace experienced when I was spirit-filled. For years I struggled to walk in faith, and the biggest problem was that I was in unforgiveness. Finally, I was finished with the torment of fear, but that’s another and lengthy story.
For now I urge you, I pray for you (for the entire world daily) to be free from the awful bondage of Fear. Raise your head up and receive your freedom. Remember Jesus came that we would be “free indeed.”
The physical mess we’re in is a result of the spiritual mess we’re in. We will not have political freedom as long as we are spiritually bound. So let’s look at the chaos in the world around us and see it as an opportunity to trust. What else can we do?
Just say “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” to Corona Craziness. Period. Because FEAR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
There were no snacks or coffee samples at a certain store in Fort Collins. I was told very dramatically, and with a certain disapproval, “We have shut down all sample stations nationwide.” There were no smiles, none of the usual happy shoppers. John and I got our milk, cream, chocolate and agreed, “Let’s get outta here.” Then the checker didn’t want me touching the sack or my own groceries. Sigh.
On to The Cupboard, a luxury kitchen store where it was nice, pleasant and quiet (they don’t sell toilet paper or bleach). We stayed a while, gathering our courage to try again for groceries, this time at a country store where we hoped to find a more seasoned and hopefully less intense group of shoppers than those at our first grocery stop.
Focus on the word “group” – the store was running over at the seams. We got a few things and again agreed, “Let’s get outta here.” Still, it was refreshing when the young lady at the in-store bank said, ‘I’m going home, I’m turning off my phone and the TV. I’m sick of this Corona Crap. It’s all Fake News, anyway.”
So nice to find bits of sanity amid madness. While so many people seem to be embracing a panic over what is actually not that different than the flu bugs we faced last year and the year before, and the year before . . . , there are plenty of us who are sitting and watching, bemused and amazed. As one young man said to us, “It’s like the stupidest, cheesiest apocolypse story ever, only stupider and cheesier.”
Exactly. But no editor would buy this story. “No way,” the editor would say, “would people act this crazy over this threat. It’s the flu. Something we dread, something we definitely want to avoid, even something dangerous. But still, at the end of the day it’s the flu.”
So, yes, let’s all go home and stay inside and hide. Not from the flu, but from the tangible, dark, mucky and almost overwhelming presence of fear. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind” – II Timothy 1:7.
This Spirit of Fear has definitely precluded power and a sound mind in many. Let us not join them. Rather, let us pray a binding of the Spirit of Fear, and call on God’s promise to bind in heaven what we bind on earth – Matthew 16:19 and 18:18. Amen.
P.S. Please consider joining me in another prayer – that He turns what the enemy intends for evil, to good. Also, join me and so many others in reading Psalm 91 aloud day in and day out.
Fasting, My Dear, is About Much More Than Weight Loss!
The real power comes after the fast – the fast is preparation for BIG battles.
I had decided to simply, “Let it soak,” regarding an ongoing issue in my life. And by “issue” don’t we so often mean a relationship issue? Two people in my life were burrs under my saddle, and unlike most people, I am not willing to go through life with burrs under my saddle.
But like any horse, in my own strength I could not reach under that saddle and get that burr loose.
So, I decided to fast about it, pray about it, and keep soaking these people and myself in God’s love, which I am told on GOOD authority, never fails.
Well, I soaked them for seven days in the fast (praying for them day and night), and then two days later the burrs really stuck deep, as Satan was trying extra hard to stay where he was.
It was time to take those stained clothes out of the soaking pan and put them in the washer, agitator on on high speed! I gave my opinion to one of these individuals, and boy did the agitator agitate. Not fun.
I began to pray (in tongues, which is the very best and most indispensable tool for really sticky burrs, and if this is a burr under your saddle, see for yourself what Paul has to say about tongues). Suddenly the Holy Spirit took over my prayers and I was The Somebody, as in Somebody has to take it to the heart.”
In the third Hobbit movie, Thorin took his best warriors and climbed the mountain right into the enemy command center. Enough was enough. He had to be that Somebody who took it to the heart. He had to act like the King and Dragonslayer he was born and called to be.
We are born, born again, to be Kings, to take Jesus to the heart of evil. We are not to be Craven Cowards (see Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds Feet on High Places) and go licking our wounds each time we’re scratched. We are to decide once and for all, that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Fasting and praying, reading the Word, and listening to faith-filled preaching for seven days, put me in that place of power, strength, and unstoppable, bulldog, enough-is-enough FAITH to take it to the heart of the issue.
The heart of the issue was spiritual. Actually, as I prayed and did all-or-nothing spiritual warfare (the demons could have heard and sensed me in the next county), the Holy Spirit revealed to me what was behind each thing I prayed against. As I came against issue after issue, stronghold upon stronghold, I realized (big surprise, duh) the root issue was fear.
II Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.” No need to expect power or love or a locigally reasoning mind from someone bound up in fear. But if you can see it, if you can recognize the real root of the issue, you are the very person to take it to the mountain. Boy, are you Somebody now!
P.S. If you have never had the experience of being used by God to be The Someone let me tell you it’s the way to go. You will be like Thorin and his warriors with their swords, and like Bilbo Baggins with his courage (study Smith Wigglesworth if you want inspiration for this, or just do the simple thing and read the Bible and choose the life therein).
. You will be Someone.
And if you die, you die making a difference. So much better than being the fearful, the living dead.
The Home Front Show 
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