BE: Be Fearless
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
The other day, I suddenly had this overflowing feeling of fear. This is very unusual for me. It just came on me out of nowhere.
As this dark cloud settled on me, I started to think about all of these “what if” scenarios that “could” happen.
The weight seemed insurmountable. The feeling felt so real, like something was really happening.
But the fact of the matter is simply this, it wasn’t really happening and the “what ifs” are just that…. what ifs! They most likely will NEVER HAPPEN!
Here is something that will help everyone…. maybe we should watch less cable news and listen more to the Good News.
All we hear today is how bad things are and how they are going to get even worse.
I am not saying you should be in denial of the facts. We should know the facts.
There are many negative things that are happening in our country and around the world and it seems like we are headed for a crash.
What I am saying is that we have a choice to either trust in man or we have a choice to trust in God.
We have a choice to live in fear…. or a choice to be fearless!
I am CHOOSING TO BE FEARLESS in the face of fear!
There are so many scriptures that tell us not to fear. Here are just a few:
Psalm 56:4, “In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”
Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”
Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Guzik writes, “The first step in dealing with such fears is to understand that they are not from God. It is a significant step to say, “This isn’t God making me feel like this; God hasn’t given me this.” Perhaps it is from personality, perhaps a weakness of the flesh, perhaps a demonic attack — but it isn’t from God.”
In the last verse we read, Timothy was encouraged to stir up the spiritual gift that was within him
Guthrie commented, “The Greek word for (stir up) means either ‘to kindle afresh’ or ‘to keep in full flame’. Like every Christian, he needed an incentive to keep the fire burning at full flame.”
Paul was simply telling Timothy, before you can be fearless, you’ve got to get the gift that is inside of you on fire.
None of us in this room are exempt from the attack of being fearful. This is one of the devil’s most effective tactics.
The enemy wants you to be afraid and that all hope is gone. He not only wants you to believe this lie, but to quit trying and give into life to him.
Stir up the GIFT! Set your FAITH on fire.
In this passage, King Hezekiah is being threatened by the King of Assyria.
Isaiah 36:12-21 NLT, “But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, ‘Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.’
Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, ‘Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards. “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?” But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
NEXT CHAPTER – HEZEKIAH’S REPONSE
Isaiah 37:10-20 NLT “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 1 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.
Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God. “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God”
This is being FEARLESS. Hezekiah gave us a great example of what it means to boldly face our fears.
What are you facing right now that fear has you imprisoned?
What are you dealing with right now that has you captive?
What are you going through right now that fear has overwhelmed your mind and your every thought?
You need to spread it out before the Lord like Hezekiah.
Like Paul told Timothy, God has not given you a spirit of fear. Give your fears to God. Let him fight your battles.
Refuse to let fear consume you today. BE FEARLESS.
