Tom Crandall wrote an article lately about fear. It captured my attention because when we have Freedom Weekends, about 75% of all participants stand to be ministered to regarding fear. Fear may manifest as anxiety, a crippling fear of rejection, an unhealthy fear of death, an anticipation of abandonment by those we love, etc. This is a very simple and basic approach, but one I think is worth commenting on.

Crandall enumerated 3 steps to overcome fear:

• Recognize fear is a demonic spirit.
• Understand that behind every fear is a lie.
• Invite the Holy Spirit to disarm fear with truth by writing out the real story.
  

Recognize Fear As A Demonic Spirit

Paul instructed Timothy, “For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Fear is the anticipation of serious pain, loss, threat, or injury. A generalized belief that something bad is going to happen to create physical or emotional pain is anxiety. What we often fail to recognize is that feelings are always produced by beliefs. So if I feel anxious, I believe that something harmful is coming my way, even if I can’t define what that “something” is. Our belief may not be readily apparent to us, but it is there.

One of the strategies of the enemy is to assign a demonic spirit to us that fuels the belief that produces fear. That spirit will whisper uncertainty to us and cause us to interpret events so that we feel threatened by what is happening or by what may happen in the future. Our belief may be based on an experience from our childhood when we felt alone, uncared for, abandoned, abused, or as if no one could protect us from harm or from evil. That kind of experience typically makes us feel as if we are on our own and that no one will care for us, provide for us, or protect us except ourselves…and we sense that we cannot even protect ourselves at times.

When those beliefs are seated deeply in our hearts, we will find it almost impossible to trust someone else. We may suspect that there is something defective about is that ultimately keeps others from loving us and caring for us. We will typically be high on “control” because we only begin to feel safe when we are in control of our relationships and environment. We may even anticipate that anyone who loves us will eventually reject or abandon us. The enemy will fuel those fears and beliefs at every opportunity. In most cases, we will also project those beliefs onto God…that he can’t be trusted, that he won’t be there for us, and that he doesn’t really love us.

Understand That Behind Every Fear Is A Lie

What we believe determines nearly everything else in our lives. The ultimate lie that Satan peddles is that God isn’t looking out for us. The first lie peddled was in the Garden of Eden when Satan suggested to Adam and Eve that God was withholding good things from them and his promises were hollow. So, instead of trusting God for those good things, they took matters into their own hands and ate from the Tree. They turned their backs God and lost their place in the Garden.

Satan crafts his lies to draw us, at least our hearts, away from God. Like the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, we can decide that our Father is keeping good things from us and leave the protection and provision of his house. Once we do that, we are fair game for Satan. And, like the prodigal, one bad decision tends to lead to another as we try to control our lives and secure our own happiness or well being.

One of the core lies that Satan fuels is that if any hurtful experiences come our way, it means that God doesn’t love us, protect us, or provide for us. Satan whispers a false narrative that God promised to make our lives a rose garden and anything short of that is a betrayal by a God who cannot truly be trusted. But God never promised us life on this planet would be pain free. In fact, Jesus promised just the opposite. He declared that in this world we will have trouble (Jn.16:33). He also alerted us that we would likely experience persecution, rejection, and betrayal even by those we love.

The Word does not promise a lack of trouble or pain, but only that God will see us through those moments and seasons. The truth is that every human being will let us down at some level because we are human – weak and frail. The truth is that God is the only one we can ultimately trust to watch over us and deliver us from the hard times and attacks of the enemy. God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you (Her. 13:5). We must count that as truth and believe it by faith rather than sight when hard times come or when God doesn’t bail us out of a crisis immediately because he is using the crisis to develop something in us or someone else we are involved with.

Invite The Holy Spirit To Disarm Fear With Truth By Writing Out The Real Story

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and will teach us all things (Jn. 14). Sometimes the lies of the enemy have been with us so long that we don’t recognize them for what they are but our agreement with them can give Satan a legal right to continue to harass and afflict us. David asked God to search his heart and show him of there was anything offensive (out of line with God’s truth) in him (Ps. 139:23). That should be our regular prayer as well. When we discover the lie we have agreed with, we must repent and renounce the lie.

If we are afraid, we can know that our fear is overshadowing our faith. The enemy will unrelentingly fuel that fear until his is discovered and driven out by the authority of Jesus. Once we have recognized the lie and repented of partnering with that lie, we can command the a spirit of fear to leave us. Many believers have commanded that spirit to depart without success because they still harbor a view of God that doubts his goodness, love, protection, and provision for them. We must decide that the Word of God is true and stand on that truth when our eyes cannot yet perceive what God is doing in our situation. We must choose to give God’s word more authority than our emotions or our interpretations of past experiences colored by Satan’s lies. We should also pray regularly for the Spirit to increase our faith when we find it lacking.

Jesus said, ‘Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32). The key to overcoming fear and the key to contentment, security, and confidence is knowing the truth and believing it. Root out those lies and then fill those spaces with the truth of God. Be blessed in this season of Thanksgiving.