Title: The spirit of fear
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 8:12-13; 2 Timothy 1:7
Don’t let people call you a traitor for staying true to God. Don’t you panic as so many of your neighbors are doing when they think of Syria and Israel attacking you. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let Him be your fear and let him be your dread. Don’t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear Him, you need fear nothing else. (Living Bible Translation)
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
From the scriptures I just quoted we can identify three types of fear.
a. The Fear of the Lord
b. The Fear of man
c. The spirit of fear
According to the Webster Dictionary fear is defined as:
a. An awe and reverence for God
b. To be afraid of
c. A painful emotion caused by an expectation of evil, of impending danger
- The Fear of the LORD
This is the only good fear that we are allowed to have. It is an awesome fear, a reverential fear.
Isaiah 8:13
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let Him be your fear and let him be your dread. Don’t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear Him, you need fear nothing else. (Living Bible Translation)
A. He shall be your fear or let him be your fear
B. He shall be your dread or let him be your dread.
To dread is to be in great fear; to be reluctant to do, meet or experience.
There is an intensity in this phrase. There is an appropriate and inappropriate fear. To fear YHWH is wisdom and faithfulness; to fear human power is a lack of faith in YHWH’s presence and promises. Instead of fearing conspiracies and threats, fear God. Do not see yourself at the mercy of opposing people; you are in God’s hands. Worry about your place with the LORD instead of your enemies.
- The fear of man
Isaiah 8:12-13
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Another translation put Isaiah 8:12 as, ‘You are not to say, “it is a conspiracy!” in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy. And you are not to fear what they fear or be dread of it.’
It is very interesting that the word ‘confederacy’ is translated as ‘conspiracy’. A confederacy is a group of persons united for unlawful purposes: conspiracy. A conspiracy is an act of conspiring. An unlawful, harmful, or evil plan formulated in secret by two or more persons.
There are grounds to fear man. Men might injure us:
I. In our reputation
II. In our property
III. In respect of those who are near and dear to us.
IV. In respect of our persons.
As regard to the fear of man, a certain fear of the supreme civil power in the state under which we live is natural and proper.
But aside from that we also, naturally, and almost necessarily, fear our enemies, if they are powerful, whether public or private, our fear being proportional to our belief in their power and malignity.
Proverbs 29:25 says, ‘The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.’ The Hebrew word here for ‘snare’ refers to traps hunters used to catch animals or birds. Snares are dangerous.
We too often forget that man can do nothing but that God permits. You must understand that you are absolutely important to God. And by coming against you, he is actually going against God. And God can shatter his designs, or strike him with sudden death at any moment.
The fear of men not only has grounds but also results:
( I. ) The fear of man causes the morally weak to follow the bad example of the wicked, who would otherwise ridicule or even persecute them
( II. ) The fear of man makes feeble and oppressed classes servile, untruthful, cowardly
( III. ) The fear of man induces many to keep back their honest convictions, and even applaud the evil courses which in their heart they condemn and dislike
( IV. ) The fear of man has in some cases led to an absolute denial of God and of Christ, making men renegades to their religion, and professors or a creed which they detest.
( V. ) Fear of man may sometimes cause men to be hypocrites, to pretend to a faith and a piety which they do not possess. Hen the fear of man is often condemned in scripture.
But God declares the fear of God is far greater results than the fear of man.
( I. ) The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. It restrains from evils in early life; it develops into awe as time goes on; it produces hatred of sin, it becomes a fountain of life.
( II. ) Those who grow up in the fear of God acquire a solidity of strength of character that nothing else can give; they have a firm foundation on which to rest; they ‘do not fear what flesh can do unto them’; they are truthful, manly, brave. And further, they are reverent. The fear of God checks over-familiarity, begets reserve, produces silence, keep thy foot from slipping when you go into the house of God.
( III. ) Perfect love casteth out fear. Jesus is the perfect love. And when we have Jesus, it will cause fear of men to leave us.
- The Spirit of fear
2 Timothy 1:7 says, ‘’For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’
The spirit of fear is a tormenting fear and therefore does not come from God.
It originates from the devil himself.
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 word fear has two main definitions: A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, threat or evil whether the threat is real or imagined; and a reverential awe, as in the fear of the Lord.
The first thing to note about this spirit of fear is that this word in Greek is ‘deilia’ which means ‘cowardice or timidity’.
The second thing to recognize about this verse is that the spirit of fear does not come from God. When you consider that word ‘deilia’ in Greek, which means ‘cowardice or timidity’, these character traits do not describe God in any way. God is not timid, cowardly, shy, fearful, afraid, nervous, or worried about anything and because you have the Spirit of God living inside of you, neither should you.
Even for believers today, and especially for unbelievers, there is this internal struggle happening. If you are facing persecution, an oppression from a particular person, a bad medical diagnosis, an uncertain future, a job loss, financial challenges or even if you are about to step out into a new ministry, fear and timidity may arise. God does not want you to be overcome by fear. But we must understand that the spirit of fear, when you allowed it to affect you mentally, emotionally, physically, it can become a diabolical evil spirit, tormenting you. The spirit of fear can paralyze you. It can immobilize you.
One of the first and foremost door openers to other demonic spirits is the spirit of fear. This spirit can take on many forms, but its intentions are clear, no matter what kind of spirit of fear it may be. It intends to keep you from fulfilling the destiny that God has on your life; from living a joyful, spirit led existence where you give to others out of the overflow of love in your life. It will keep you awake with nightmares. It will keep you from leaving your home or overcoming past emotional and physical wounds. It prevents you from functioning properly that you can go into a mental breakdown or extreme depression. I am not saying that everyone has this diabolical evil spirit of fear in them. But I will also say that you if you are constantly tormented by fear, you can be possessed by fear
Secondly, we cannot forget our inherited spirits.
1 John 4:18 says, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.’
Joyce Meyer wrote an incredibly insightful book called the ‘battlefield of the Mind.’ She does right out and directly say that you are dealing with is a demonic spirit.
The spirit of fear originates from Satan. It is an actual conscious being that aims to destroy life. It is an actual spirit that put fear into people. This fear that people have is an abnormal kind of fear.
God never intended for us to be oppressed by any type of unnatural fear that interferes with the efficient normal pursuit of our daily activities.
To deal with this type of fear, Joyce Meyer gives some very practical solutions to overcoming the everyday issues that control our lives. And for most of us, that can be fear. She deals with our thoughts.
Secondly to deal with this type of ear, you need to take the authority on the name of Jesus. You need to recognize that this is from the devil, command the spirt of fear to leave in the name of Jesus and be filled with the perfect peace, presence of the Lord. The bible says, perfect love cast our fear. The perfect love is Jesus Christ. The bible also says, we overcome him, by the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony. God has given us power over the devil and a sound mind. Not a troubled mind. People filled with fear have a troubled mind. Their mind is not sound. It is not thinking normally but distortedly. You need to receive the sound mind God wants to give you.
