Fear Not

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.”

In these troubled times, with all that is going on in the world, it might be easy to be afraid. The economy, the unemployment rate, food shortages, terrorism, and
illness to name a few things that are troubling today.
God has not given the spirit of fear, but Satan wants
us to be afraid, so that he can keep us powerless and
not able to do what God has called us to do. He wants
us to live in fear, so that we are not trusting God. Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy, and keeping us bound
by fear is one of his tactics.

Isaiah 36:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the lord forever; for in the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength. Keeping our minds on
the Lord will ensure that we have peace no matter
what is going on in our situations.

1 John 4:18 tells us, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear has torment.” Fear
in this verse meaning alarm or fright or terror. Fear
does have torment, and is basically the opposite of love. We need to cast let perfect love cast out the fear we
have, and have a mindset of a quiet certainty that everything will be all right, that God will take care of whatever is causing us to be fearful.

Fear robs us of our joy and peace. If we constantly fear something or someone, we can’t have the peace of God that passes all understanding. We can’t thing clearly and objectively, fear has our thoughts in a whirlwind. The
Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8: “Think on these things; whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure love,
and of good report. If we think on these things, fear cannot get a hold on us, cannot cause us to be anxious
and afraid.

Jeremiah 29:11 assures us that the thoughts that God thinks us are thoughts of peace and not of evil, He
wants to give us a future and a hope. God thinks about
us all the time, He knows all about us, and He wants us
to live a joyful life, not one of fear. If Satan can get us
to think fearful, negative thoughts, we won’t be able
to think on the good things. Fear is not honest, just,
pure lovely, or of good report. Fear is quite the
opposite; there is nothing good about it.

What can we do if we find ourselves fearful? First, we know the fear we are feeling didn’t come from God.
Tell God you are fearful; ask Him to forgive you for doubting Him. Then we need to grasp hold of and get it into our hearts that God really, truly loves us, and He is there for us. God is the answer to every problem we
have, no matter what it is. Sure, the world might be a scary place right now with all the things going on. But
God is still the same and He has everything under
control. God doesn’t depend on Wall Street or the
world’s monetary system; His economy is different
from the worlds’ economy system.

We won’t live in fear if we trust that the God of the
entire universe is big enough to take care of all our problems. Nothing is impossible with Him, and He is able
to meet all our needs. We must not let fear rob us of all
the good things He has for us, our joy and peace. We
must not let fear keep us bound. God is well able to
provide and take care of us.