We have learned from the Bible that "God didn't give us a spirit of fear: but power, love, and a sound mind." We are also instructed from the Word of God that we are to cast out evil spirits, not ignore them. Therefore, we need to see that fear is an unclean spirit, because it did not come from God, and thereby, should be cast out immediately! I realize there is a great deal of abuse that has come out of some deliverance ministries that put the devil in everything imaginable; but that is not what I am focusing on in this weeks devotional. I want you to fully understand that I didn't call "fear" a spirit, God did. As a believer I only know of "One" Spirit that should be holding up resident inside our life and it isn't the spirit of fear.

 

We must ask the question here in our subject today, where did fear come from? And let me remind you that it's very important to know the origin of something in order to know how to deal with it. There are two driving forces in humans according to the studies found by secular Psychologists. Whereas, I mean to put no credibility to this teaching based on their professional findings, but only in the Word of God; their findings still lend some interesting thoughts that can serve some good within this teaching on fear. These two driving forces mentioned are love and fear. Therefore, according to their studies we are affected 24 hours a day by how we respond to love and how we respond to fear. Fear seems to be the predominant force that we deal with emotionally in any given day. This is why it is so important that we understand about the connection between the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual. Failure to discern which part of you is operating can have you relating to something that you are no longer as a believer to be identified with.

 

The origin of love is from God. How do we know this? Because God is love according to His Word. Howbeit, where does fear come from?  The beginning of fear came from sin. We discover that fear was the first fruit that came out of sin in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, we can easily see that it was not immorality, lust, murder, or some other evil action that birthed fear into existence; it came from the very act of disobedience to the Father's command. What this did was create the sense of fear that caused Adam and Eve to hid from God.

 

Genesis 3:9-10 (KJV)
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 

Fear was the immediate fruit that came out of that disobedient act. Think about it: Adam and Eve were made in the very likeness and image of God and had perfect health, and dominion over everything upon the earth. And yet we all understand that many negative things entered the earth because of Adam and Eve's sin. However, the first thing that we have real evidence Scripturally that manifested, was fear, which was the first fruit of sin. Adam said, "I was afraid." In other words, Adam had never heard those words come out of his own mouth before until he felt the absence of God's presence when he experienced his own disobedience separate that unity between them. Adam had allowed the devil to change his character and he didn't even know how it happened, which essentially made him afraid of God.  

 

The first thing the devil accomplishes with fear is that it gets us out of character to who we are. It's the devil's goal to get you and me into some kind of phobia that paralyzes our faith. Recall with me here if you will that it is impossible to please God without faith; and fear is the weapon he uses to paralyze it from being activated. There are some folks that I realize will excuse their fear as being realistic about things; but there is a big difference between being realistic and being fearful. The point is: the origin of fear, or the release of fear came from sin. Howbeit, look with me at what the Word teaches regarding how we are to deal with this spirit of fear.

 

Ephesians 4:27 (KJV)
27 Neither give place to the devil. 

If you know anything about the methods of Satan which are always rooted in the sin nature of man, than you will understand that the devil is always in the middle of it. With this said, I am also aware that many of you will weaken this subject in your mind based on the fact that Jesus took away the sins of the whole world once and for all; which I concur whole-heartily with. Yet, the surrounding world to which you and I live is filled with the fallen systems that infect us all to some degree; this is accomplished through the eye, or ear gate to our mind and heart. What this means is, though the payment has been paid in full; there is still the effects of it in the lives of those who never seem to learn who it is that they are to now identify themselves with. Even your physical body is still somewhat affected by this world's contamination of sin which is why you will have to eventually take off that corruptible suit someday and put on the new one. Yes, there is provision for that earth suit through the finished work of Christ for those who believe. Yet, it will still come to a day where its use here on the earth will finally be done and your departure to return unto your Father will not hesitate to beckon you home. Knowing this, we are instructed not to give place or influence to the devil.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I spent three weeks covering this passage in 2 Timothy pointing out the three things that we received from God by impartation. Yet, in this teaching we are looking at the spirit of fear which many are under its intoxicating influence over their lives which is affecting their daily decisions in a negative or destructive manner. Now look at the progression here with me. Fear came on the scene immediately at the fall of Adam and Eve. Their sin produced the fruit of fear. Then we find that God's Word tells us not to give place or influence to the devil. Then God through His Word tells us that He did not give us a spirit of fear. This is a clear indicator through God's Word that fear and the devil are synonymous. And if this is truth, than we as believers are instructed to cast out any unclean spirit through the authority delegated to each of us by Jesus Christ. Yet, for many people, fear is not seen in this manner at all to which they will minimize within their thinking thereby giving way to some intellectual process they attempt to remedy its terror from their lives. But let me point out the real problem for these folks from the Scriptures.

 

1 John 4:18 (KJV)
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 

They are lacking the intimacy with God that ensures them that they are loved by God unconditionally. If fear is of the devil, as it is described from God's Word, than what or how should we deal with it? We cast them out! How do we do that? By knowing that God loves us and that He will never forsake us, ever! If God's perfect love is present within you, it will cast out fear. Why does God do this? Because fear hath torment and God has nothing to do with torment therefore it cannot come from Him. Anyone who fears is not made perfect in love. Please get this written deeply: there is no fear in love! If fear hath torment and God is love; then fear should not ever have a position of influence or opportunity within one of God's children in order to manipulate them. Therefore, what God is trying to get into our spirit, is that His perfect love when understood will instantly cast out fear. So, if fear hath torment than we ought to be casting it out of our life rather than allowing it to dictate our thoughts and eventually our emotions. Torment is a vindictive punishment that is never from God!

 

Galatians 5:6 (KJV)
6 ...but faith which worketh by love.

If it is impossible to please God without faith; than we ought to realize that the devil will attempt to get you in fear that he might paralyze your faith from trusting in God. Faith works by no other force than love. If perfect love from above abides in you than there can be no room for fear. They cannot co-habit together, its impossible for them to. Therefore, what God is saying, is if love is in the drivers seat, than faith is in a positive motion headed towards the promise. 

 

James 4:7 (KJV)
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

We must understand that we are to submit unto God and resist the devil. How are we to do this within the application that we are teaching on?  We must realize that the devil and fear are synonymous; and if every male from your family-tree has died of a major heart attack in their mid-forties, than you need to exercise your faith out of the position of knowing that God loves you and cast that spirit of fear out. Otherwise, it will camp out in your life and have you dreading every year that you draw closer to that date. What we believe will greatly affect our lives negatively or positive, depending on what information we are dwelling on and giving credibility over our life. Love and trust go hand in hand. If perfect love casts out fear than you can trust God to keep you through any circumstance. Therefore, if fear hath torment than you will need to deal with it like any other devil that you might encounter. Cast it out!

 

According to Noah Webster's Dictionary fear is defined as: a painful emotion excited by the expectation of evil or danger; Its an uneasiness of mind upon thoughts of future evil. It is here that we can clearly see that fear is a painful emotion that is created by an expectation of evil within our thoughts. Now, that word "excited" is a very interesting word. Especially when we normally think of it as being used in a positive sense. However, according to Websters Dictionary it is being called into action. It means to stir up; be stimulated; inflamed; increased activity or put into motion. 

Therefore, the devil uses your difficult circumstances to get you excited with an expectancy of something evil or dangerous is about to happen in your life in order to get you into motion. He stimulates or inflames your emotional or mental side in order to get you into action or movement towards different dimensions or levels of fear. There are at least four levels to fear that we are going to look at.

 

1. Basic Fear: which we have pretty much already defined operates the same as faith. Each person has received a measure of faith from God, as we have discovered from reading the Word. Faith grows when we put it into motion or action to what God has spoken from His Word; just as fear will grow in the negative sense if our thoughts are established on the wrong things that contradict God's Word. Its here that we can easily see that faith operates at different levels based on the knowledge of truth that one has received. From this, we ought to be able to see that fear also operates at different levels too, which has a person going to the next level:  

 

2. Great Fear:  This simply means to have enormous dread for something. Therefore, dread equals apprehension which is the contemplation of things without ever affirming, denying, or even passing judgment against them to see if they are really factual. It's much like when they were predicting what Hurricane Ike would do once it hit land. They were spreading the news that gasoline would skyrocket because of the the refineries that would be destroyed in the wake of this storm. What did people do? They went out and filled every tank with gas including any extra gas containers to ensure that they would not be without fuel. What happened next? You got it, the prices soared because of the increased demand at the pumps. Fear moved people to an action that created something that otherwise probably wouldn't have been the same problem. The people had an excited expectation for something evil or full of danger. Once the devil gets a person here they are taken to a new level of fear.

 

3. Terror or Extreme Fear: if we look at the word terror we could define it as meaning dread on steroids. It is a force of fear that takes a person to the edge of destruction. This is a place that has caused many to jump out of windows and take their lives after losing all of their wealth in the stock market. This level of fear causes you to lose sleep at night; worried about something constantly happening that you cannot recover from. It's when you are pushed from being balanced and positioned soundly in your mind to a place on the edge or the brink of disaster. It's when your every thought becomes absorbed in an excited expectation of evil or danger. It is here that the devil advances you deeper into the fear.

 

4. Violent Fear: This is a fear that deeply urges you, or drives you by external demonic forces that are unnatural to which take advantage of you physically and emotionally. This is when we experience unnatural encounters that leave us devastated in our thoughts or mind and without any foreseeable resolve to our dilemma. It is here that our stress levels are so violent that our physical bodies break down under its weight. These stand at the edge of disaster to which many would even consider taking their own life. They are crushed under a mental breakdown where living a normal life is impossible to see or experince. This kind of fear creates such pressures within the body that it essentially breaks down and becomes sick.

 

Stress is a serious negative action produced by an excited expectation of an evil or dangerous outcome. Some people can get up and see the sun shining and think to themselves that the ozone layer is being burnt away instead of enjoying the sunshine. These are the ones that will not drink water from the faucet because they are afraid of all the chemicals that are used to purify it; so they drink bottled water. Then its reported that the plastic of the bottle is contaminating the water, that they are afraid of that. In other words, everything that has the potential of being good is swallowed up by fear of something being reported negatively. Many live with a perpetual motion of expectancy through fear that it creates enormous amounts of stress in their life. Fear hath torment and the devil is turning up the volume of broadcasters who promote his lies. 

 

There is so much more that I could write on this subject but then it would become a book. It may already be close to being that! Bear with me for a few more statements and then I will close, I promise. The devil is out to destroy your life and keep you from trusting in God who loves you so deeply. What does fear do? Fear causes you to hide from God. Fear causes you to forsake God. Fear causes you to relinquish your identity in God. Fear causes you to be ensnared, tormented, and paralyzed in your faith. Fear will cause you to receive a lie over the truth. Whenever we accept or believe something over the truth of God's Word we have bought into the lie that is bent on destroying us. We need to quit listening to every voice that is being expressed around us; because these are strategically placed there to confuse, manipulate, and paralyze you with fear in order to get you to quit on God and His Word. Fear has no place where love much more abounds. That is the wonderful grace that far exceeds the detriments of what sin caused in this world. We have nothing to fear within all of the devil's chatter, for we are God's children which overcome them. 

 

1 John 4:4-6 (KJV)
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.