- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
FEAR NOT.
By the Editor
“Darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you“ (Isaiah 60 v2).
In the midst of darkness covering the earth our heavenly Father says, “fear not and be anxious about nothing for My perfect love drives out fear. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Readjust to My peace and love and you will live and know Me more. If you are weary and burdened then I will give you rest. Forget not all My benefits, I forgave all your sins and healed all your diseases. Consider the works of My hands, just as Job did, for I laid the foundations of the earth. I bring forth the star constellations in their seasons. I am the eternal, almighty Creator, whose Cross saw death defeated and Christ victorious. I created the fish and the birds and I created you. Understand that My heart cannot do anything other than love and My ways are always good. Cease from anger, fear not, for you arereconciled to Me. Walk in My ways all the days of your life and you will find rest and peace for your soul”.
Our victory over fear comes only from knowing Him, not from only knowing about Him. We must take time to cultivate our relationship with our Father through His Son Jesus Christ, by His Spirit (Ephesians 2 v18). As we then meditate upon the words of Scripture, He will free us from our own negative thoughts and purify our minds with heavenly understanding. In Romans we read “let God be true, and every human being a liar”. How true this is when it comes to the truths of Scripture, God is faithful and by His faithfulness He has given us His Word and Spirit to bring us rest from fear. Nothing can be clearer in Scripture, “do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41 v10).
It is the fact that He is with us, which causes us to no longer fear. By His Spirit we are with Him and He is with us. Proverbs 18 verse 24 says, “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. This friend is the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord gave us, to be our counsellor and companion. By the sanctifying blood of the Lord Jesus we as believers can enter a holy communion with our heavenly Father by the Spirit. His words are, “life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body” (Proverbs 4 v22). It was in the words of the Lord that Job found healing for his fear. Job said, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3 v25). His fear was a problem, but this heart problem was healed by the words of his Saviour. It is so important that we, as believers, come to the Lord in our times of fear and listen to His Word. This will bring us healing and truth that will set us free.
We can further learn from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These Hebrew men were thrown into a burning furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon when they refused to worship a ninety foot golden statue. At the sound of musical instruments all the other people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground to worship the statue. The temptation was for the three Hebrew men to fear King Nebuchadnezzar. However, their response to the king was, “if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, yourMajesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3 v17-18).
The Bible makes two important points that should give us peace when dealing with fear. The first is that the three men had a fourth man in the burning furnace with them, the Lord Jesus. Secondly we read in verse 27 of Daniel chapter 3 that, “the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them”. What amazing promises from the Lord that whenever we fear, Christ is there with us and if we put our trust in Him for our salvation we will come through the situation with “no smell of fire” on us.
Our only fear must be the fear of the Lord that helps us to respect and honour Him. We should never fear loving Him with all our heart, soul and mind. We were all born into fear because of our inherited sinful nature but those who have the Holy Spirit living within them now have no reason to fear. John says, “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4 v4). He who lives in you has no darkness and fear in Him, so concentrate on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things” (Philippians 4 v8) and fear not.