Let us read from Isaiah 41:10, ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ This verse has a commandment and a promise. The commandment is not to fear and the promise that God gives us is that He will strengthen and help us. We need to take this commandment seriously because fear penetrates in our heart and can affect us mentally, physically and spiritually. Fear is a weapon used by Satan to defeat God’s children. But Jesus has disarmed this weapon on the cross. God wants His children to live on this earth without any fear. In 1 Peter 5:8,9 we read that Satan is like a roaring lion and will try to frighten us. But we should resist Him and be firm in our faith. The promise we read in Isaiah 41:10 should be in our heart always; all 365 days of the year.
Throughout the Bible, we read this phrase ‘Do not fear’ many times. We see this phrase both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. This commandment may be one of the most frequently repeated commandment in the Bible. Let us take this verse seriously. In Exodus 14:13, “But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.” There are many such promises in the Bible – stand and see the salvation of the Lord. In Luke 12: 4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.” And in verse 22 we read, “And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.” Also in verse 32 we read, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” This is what the Holy Spirit wants to tell us today. Let us claim these promises.
Fear doesn’t come from God; it is always from Satan. What is the root cause of this fear? In our work places when something goes wrong, we do a root cause analysis. In a root cause analysis, repeated ‘Why’ questions are asked. We ask why the issues happened and find a reason; then ask why that happened and so on till we find the root cause of the problem. Similarly we can think, what is the root cause of fear? There are 3 reasons we can understand from the Bible as the cause of fear. The 1st reason is the lack of faith. The Bible clearly says that faith overcomes fear. We have many promises from God like we read in Isaiah 41, but we lack faith and that is the reason for our fear. In John 14:1 we read, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in me” In Mark 4 we read of the incident where Jesus quiets the stormy sea. In verse 40 we read, “And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”” Why are we afraid? Because we have no faith. Jesus was with the disciples in the boat but they still didn’t have faith. They couldn’t trust the sovereignty of God and that He was in control of all situations. They couldn’t believe the almighty power of God and that is what caused the fear. The 2nd reason for fear is the lack of God’s power in us. We need to seek the power of the Holy Spirit. We know how Peter was transformed after being filled with the Holy Spirit. Before receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter was a timid man and fearful man. But His life changed after receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. In 1 John 4:18 we read, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” In each and every situation, we have to be rooted in God’s love for us. We should continually abide in His love. When we have faith, without any doubt of God’s love – all fear will melt away from our lives.
There may be situations that bring fear to our hearts, but the Holy Spirit writes, “We haven’t received a Spirit to fear again” In Romans 8:15 we read, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”” “Fear Not” is God’s commandment for us. We are not perfect and fear many come into our hearts in some situations. But we have to say like David says in Psalms 56:3, “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.” Put your trust in God’s word. Let us look unto Jesus and His promises. When our eyes are diverted from Jesus, fear will creep into our hearts. Let us have faith in God. Let us ask God to help us to live without fear in all situations. Our loving Father is with us; He will surely help us and uphold us. May God bless us!
