There was no fear in the original Garden that God created for the man and his wife. As the familiar story goes, the Lord commanded them not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because if they did they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). Eventually Satan appeared to them and convinced them to disobey God's order and eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-6). Immediately following that, the condition of being fearful is brought up for the first time.

3:8 "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden."

3:9 "Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him: "Where are you?'"

3:10: "He said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.'"

From the biblical account of Adam's fall from the plan of God, we can come to several important conclusions concerning fear:

· First, the enemy came and tempted the man and his wife (Genesis 3:1-5). Satan does not cause us to sin but he can tempt us just as he did Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:3-11). When we are tempted, we have to make a choice. When we make the wrong choice, the result is sin and sin is at the root of all fear.

· When God told the man that he and his wife were not to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil, He also told him that if they ever disobeyed they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). The Hebrew word translated "die" in this scripture also means separation in addition to describing physical death. Thus, the Lord was telling the man that the consequence of eating the forbidden fruit would be a spiritual disconnection from the presence and favor of God that would precede an eventual physical death.

· When we sin, the result is always separation from God. He does not separate Himself from us; it is we who separate from Him because of our sin. We separate ourselves from the presence of God because we are innately aware that He can't/won't tolerate our sin. But God has said He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) so it is we who forsake Him.

· When God called out to the man and said, "Where are you," it wasn't because He didn't know where he was. Certainly, He knew their exact location. Rather, it was to call their attention to the fact that for the first time in their lives they were separated from His presence and as a result He now considered them "lost."

· Fear comes anytime we're separated from the presence of God because God is love (1 John 4:16) and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). When we walk in our carnal nature, i.e. in the flesh, we are cut off from the presence of God because selfishness replaces love and we then become susceptible to fear.

· All fear flows out of the fear of death and the wages of sin is always death (Romans 6:23). Eternal life is now available through Christ; therefore, those who remain separated from God do so by their own choice and are subject to eternal death both spiritually and physically.

· When the man and his wife sinned in the Garden, they came under the Curse. One of the characteristics of the Curse is fear (Deuteronomy 28:25).

Yes, Satan is the one who produces a spirit of fear and we can be certain that he has a purpose for it. So, simply put his objective is to separate us from God by using fear to attack our faith. And if he is successful it will help him carry out his three- pronged program: to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) everything in our lives that comes from God. Satan is also a deceiver and a liar which draw on fear to produce his desired results.

The Bible instructs us in a number of places not to live in fear. For example Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing" Matthew 6:31 tells us "do not be worried about your life" Many times in scripture angels and others said the words of reassurance, "fear not" (e.g. Luke 1:12, 30). On several occasions, Jesus told His Disciples that their fear demonstrated a lack of faith (Matthew 14:30, Mark 4:40). In sum, being fearful is something God wants us to avoid and the reason is that it produces undesirable consequences.

Did you know that many Believers routinely live their lives in fear and dread? Anxiety attacks are not so uncommon these days even in the Body of Christ. In fact, you may be reading this article today and be one of those Christians. Maybe you have lost sight of the fact that you don't have to live that way. The truth is many of us are fearful about finances or health issues or the dangerous environment or any number of other important matters in life because we have stopped trusting in God and have allowed ourselves to be separated from His Word by apathy and disuse. Fear is a tool of Satan that causes us to experience defeat in many important areas of life:

· Fear robs you of your faith and without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is trusting in God; fear comes from transferring your trust from God to yourself. When you allow fear to replace your faith, you lose your ability to overcome the World (1 John 5:4). When you live in fear, you give glory to the works of the devil; when you live in faith, you give glory to God.

· Fear robs you of your peace because peace comes by faith (Romans 5:1). The World today is longing for the peace that passes all understanding but it is only available through Christ (Acts 10:36, Romans 5:1). In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to be fearful so that we would be able to receive the peace that He came to make available (John 14:27).

· Fear robs you of your joy. Fear always brings concern and anxiety that displace and replace your joy. The Bible says that your joy is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It is a major weapon to protect you from the adversary and to bring victory over your trials. When you lose your joy, you lose your strength to successfully resist the enemy.

· Fear makes you self absorbed. When you stop trusting in God, which is what happens when you surrender your faith, you start trusting in yourself. Fear is intensified because you sense that you will never be capable of bringing the solutions you had hoped for. Also, when you have chosen to trust in yourself instead of the Lord, you make yourself vulnerable to the attacks of your adversary.

· Fear makes you grouchy and subject to strife. Fear always focuses on defeat which brings disappointment and despondency and makes us hard to get along with. As long as we trust in ourselves instead of the Lord, we will easily fall into strife because our emotions are controlling us. When we move easily into strife, our relationships suffer; fear always strains relationships.

· Fear moves you to make unwise and expedient decisions and choices. When we are fearful, we move out ahead of God and tackle things in our own strength. There is no faith; God is not involved. An example is when we try a "get rich quick scheme" in response to the fear that God will not provide adequately. Where there is no faith, there is no wisdom because God is not in it.

· Fear robs you of love. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18 there's no fear in love. The two can't co-exist. Therefore if fear prevails, our ability to love God and the things of God is greatly diminished. If we're unable to love, we can't fulfill the commandments of Christ. (Matthew 22:37-40). If we can't fulfill the commandments of Christ, we'll be unable to accomplish anything (John 15:1-11).

· Fear causes us to have to experience the very things we are anxious about. This is a principle from scripture that we can see clearly in the story of Job (Job 3:25-26). Whatever he feared he was forced to experience in life and the same consequence happens to Christians who allow fear to persist in their lives instead of recognizing it for the work of Satan that it is.

These are but a FEW of the main consequences that come from fear. Unfortunately many Christians don't realize that we've been equipped to resist and defeat fear by trusting in God and by using His Word instead of depending on our own strength and devises. As a result Believers across the Body of Christ are operating below their potential and are letting fear block the prosperity and abundance God wants them to have. Therefore, it's in the interest of every Christian to take authority over fear, to kick it out of their lives and to resist it from re- emerging with the greatest of determination.

Keep in mind that fear comes from Satan and that God has given us total power and authority over every work of the enemy (Luke 10:19). Let's be perfectly clear: WE HAVE TOTAL POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER FEAR. Therefore, to get the victory we have to know what the Word of God says and then apply the principles we find there to the task of overcoming it. In this article today we have highlighted the following major steps for overcoming this predictable work of the enemy.

1. You must first make the decision to come into agreement with the Word which calls for you to resist fear. You must decide to exercise the authority over the enemy Christ has won for you.

2. Second, you must re-energize your faith and trust. Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17); so fear comes by NOT hearing the Word enough. Therefore, you need to get into the Word of God and start reading and studying it to cause fear to flee.

3. Third, you must come to know who you are in Christ and start exercising your authority over the enemy the devil. Tell him to get out of your life and take his fear with him. If you resist him, he must flee (James 4:7).

4. Fourth, you must focus on loving God and others by faith. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 418)

5. Fifth, the Bible says that you can overcome anxiety by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Spend time with God in prayer and His peace will return (Philippians 4:6-7).

6. Finally, the Word tells us that we should seek first the Kingdom of God instead of worrying. (Matthew 6:31-33). Therefore, fear will depart when our priorities agree with His Word.

Friend, you may have difficult issues in your life but you don't have to be in fear about them. You can release your faith that God will come to the rescue and then you hope for the best. If you give in to fear, then you stop trusting that the Lord will show up to deliver you from your trial. Focus on today and stop worrying about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34); wondering about the future leads to fear.

Remember, God has not given you a spirit of fear; rather, He has given you power (authority), love and a sound mind. Therefore, resist fear and it must flee because it is not of God. You will never be able to enjoy the fullness of biblical prosperity in your life until you deal with your fear. So, use your power, your love and your sound mind to get rid of it.

God bless you. Thanks for reading Prosperous Life Newsletter today and we'll be looking for you again in three weeks.

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