Overcoming the giant of fear – Part 3

Number 13:30-35;
2 Timothy 1:7; Matthew 8:26

We all go through the dark tunnel of fear at some point in time and the only option available during those times is to go through it and come out successfully. The fear of failure causes many people to never try anything that is not completely safe. The effects of fear in the lives of men cannot be overemphasised. Fear brings torment as we see in 1 John 4:18.

Anyone living in fear goes through great pain and torture … physically, mentally and emotionally. God does not want us to live in fear, hence He gave us the Spirit of love, 2 Timothy 1:7.

Perfect love drives out fear. Again, fear makes a man take foolish actions that are not based on faith. A man can hear the sound of gunshots and runaways, abandoning his family without remembering his obligation to protect them.

Fear prevents you from taking bold steps in life. Fear can stalk you, track you down and then capture you. It can prevent a person from getting married. A lady who has suffered a series of disappointments in a relationship can find it difficult to accept a genuine suitor that comes to her because of fear of another failure. I counselled a couple some time ago who had been married for over five years without a child.

The husband complained that she never opened up for sex and he didn’t understand why in spite of all his efforts. It took intense prayers and persuasion for her to confess that her first sexual experience as a young girl was a gang rape by a set of five boys.

Since then, she never liked talking about the experience because it gives her so much pain as if the incident is fresh. After a series of prayers and counselling, she was able to overcome it and her marriage was restored. She is now a happy mother of children.

Another effect of fear is that it can cause sicknesses such as high blood pressure, headache, heart attack, ulcers and even death. You must be careful about the kind of pranks you do to people because not everyone can withstand it. Also, fear can prevent someone from making it to heaven. Rev. 21:8 says that the path of the fearful is in the lake of fire. If you constantly live in fear you cannot please God.

Fear is the opposite of faith and you need faith to walk with God. When God told Abraham to leave his father’s house to an unknown destination it took faith for him to move. If he had exercised fear and stayed back, he would have missed out on God’s great plan for him and this would have in turn negatively affected us today, as seeds of Abraham. Again, fear can keep you from facing your battles especially when the opposing powers appear greater than you. Understand that it is the Lord’s battle and God will fight for you, 2 Chron. 20:17-20.

When fear comes upon a man it can make him numb, paralysed and physically weak. Acute fear can lead to schizophrenia.

This is a psychological disorder that makes a person see danger in everything and everywhere. It can even cause death as some victims have been known to commit suicide by jumping into a river, out of a fast-moving car or positioning themselves in a dangerous spot.

Prayer Points:
• O Lord, every fear the enemy is using to affect me, let it expire in Jesus’ name.
• Father, destroy every affliction that entered my life through fear in Jesus’ name.
• Stronghold of negative imaginations in my mind, scatter by fire.
• Father, restore to me everything I have lost as a result of fear in the name of Jesus.
• O Lord, cause the boat of my marriage, business, career, ministry, and destiny to arise again in Jesus’ name.
• Rev. John Okene, Divine Touch Int’l Ministries, Warri, Delta State. dtimchurch@gmail.com. Prayer line: +2348135952623