Fear or Power?

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for Christ. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News. It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began – to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News. (2 Timothy 1:6-10 NLV).

Once when Marshall Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees which were shaking together, he said, “You may well shake; you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you.” Napoleon was so much impressed with the courage and resources of Marshall Ney, that he said, “I have two hundred millions in my coffers, and I would give them all for Ney.”

Oliver Cresse said, “What or who builds self-imposed barriers? A stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers from nonexistent stones. Where does this craftsman live? In our minds. He's always there, but it's up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.” There is much truth to that statement. Fear is one of the most utilized tools of our enemy, the devil. It erases our desire to move forward in life. It paralyzes us and causes indecision and failure.

While we cannot be rid of fear, when we understand how it works, we can overcome it. When fear moves from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our concentration away from our faith, and choosing instead to focus on that which frightens us, not only does that action change fear's location, but through the process of concentration, it means we actually start to strengthen it. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that which we choose to give it. When fear defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass along to it is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to push our goals, wrapped in faith, to the forefront of our minds, then barriers break.

The Scripture teaches us that we already possess sufficient faith to initiate this process and win the victory. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly possess all the strength needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Today commit yourself to starve your fear and feed your faith! Probably the greatest book on fear ever written in this country was by Basil King and the title was "The Conquest of Fear." Here is the quotation: "Go at it boldly, and you'll find unexpected forces closing round you and coming to your aid." Isn't that terrific? "Go at it boldly, and you'll find unexpected forces closing round you and coming to your aid." Long before Basil King, Emerson said, "Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain." You defeat worry and fear by filling your mind with the certain faith that you can do it. That is the best way to get rid of the worry and fear about those many things that are bothering you. Get out of yourself and do something about it, realizing that your Heavenly Father says to you, "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'"