Why do you Fear?

We all know about the events happening in Iraq. A terror organisation called ISIS has taken over half of Iraq and has threatened the world with their blitzkrieg attack. This is the first time, a terror organisation has taken about quarter of Iraq along with important cities and even close to the capital of Iraq. They have achieved all these in a matter of days with comparatively inferior weapons when compared to the U.S trained and equipped Iraqi army. The greatest weapon which they have is by creating terror among Iraqi army by their brutal method of killing enemy soldiers and this method has demoralised Iraqi soldiers to such an extent that they have given up their weaponry and their armory and ran away.

Even we Christians can be demoralised by Satan and his armies. Though we are more than conquerors, at times, we give in to his lies and live a life of defeat. Here are four ways Satan can tempt us to be afraid and ways to overcome that fear.

1) Fear of failure:

The greatest temptation which Satan would bring into our lives is what if we fail. Even the disciples after Christ was crucified had that fear. They thought that Christ would be victorious against the evil Roman Empire and rule their country. But Christ’s death on the cross demoralised them to such an extent that they were not willing to go out fearing Jews (John 20:19). We can also be afraid of failures which may come in our spiritual life like failure to overcome temptations, failure in our ministry, failure in our workplace etc. We may be afraid of losing our salvation too.

But if we are thinking consistently as according to what God has promised us, we would not fear. Jesus promised His disciples so many times before he was crucified that He would be risen from the dead and will be with them forever alive. But they failed to remember that and thus feared. Let’s not be afraid like that of the disciples and remember the promises of God that we will win.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom 8:35-37)

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." (Rev 17:14)

2) Fear of men:

Another fear which can drive us to despair is the fear of men. They can be tyrant rulers, persecutors from other faith, evil men, thieves, con men, evil leaders in our work place etc. We can be bogged down in our faith by these. But Bible warns us that fear of men is dangerous.

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. (Pro 29:25)

But if we are fearing man and not God, we are in a greater danger than the former.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mat 10:28)

You go to your friend’s house. There you find that he has a powerful huge dog which can tear you apart but on hearing the master’s voice, the dog obeys the master and befriends you. God is the one whom we should be revered. If we are obedient to Him, He would be like that example and be gracious and merciful. But if we are sinful and fearing man, then He would be a terror to us.

3) Fear of security:

We all want our lives to be secured. We want to get a secured job. We want our families to be safe. But safety should not make us to be afraid of dangers and thus not risking for the sake of God. I am not saying that we should not care for our loved ones. A husband ought to love his wife and has to be faithful to the vows he has promised and protect her from evil. It is his duty to show love as Christ has loved us. He has to take up all the sweat and toil for the sake of his wife’s comfort. It is his primary responsibility that he should teach his wife and children the precepts of God. That’s what Christ has done for the Church. And Christ would not divorce Church even if the church is unfaithful. That’s why divorce is wrong.

We would be afraid only if our wealth is in a vulnerable place from which it can be taken away from us. But we should remember that Christ has already bought us for a price and has called us to lay our treasures in Heaven. So even if we lose our physical belongings to any unfortunate event, even if we lose our loved ones we should not be hopeless like that of unbelievers, but hopeful of the unchanging promises of God.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Mat 6:19-20)

4) Fear of future trials:

We hear of wars, famines, floods, robberies and other evils all the time. We can become afraid of our future job, promotions etc.  A student can become afraid of passing in exams. But we should not be worrying about all these rather we should be concentrating on the glory of God.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Mat 6:34)

I liked one scene from the movie “The Dark Knight Rises”. Batman would try many times to escape a prison but would fail. When he was dejected of his repeated failures, the inmate would suggest to escape without any support so that the fear of death would make him jump the pit. I would like to say something from this. We have to choose between two types of fear to succeed or to fail. If we fear God then we would succeed and we would not be afraid of anything. If we fear anything else other than God, we would fail for sure. If an irrational fear can make that hero to succeed failures, how much more the fear of God would make us more than conquerors?

He who kneel before God can stand before anyone – Martin Luther

If you have liked this, you may also read Marriage and God