The fear factor

Fear is a powerful force that controls human behaviour. Either, it motivates us to act irresponsibly. Or, it paralyses us thereby unfitting us for wise and right action. The fear factor affects most of our decisions and choices. It is also the root cause of most of the evil that befalls us.
Fear and evil are kinsmen just like faith and good are twins. Fear pleases and attracts the devil into our lives in the same way faith pleases and attracts God into our lives.
Fear of anything other than the fear of God is mutually exclusive to faith in God. Faith comes by hearing the words of God. Fear is transmitted through the words of the devil.
Thus, the source of faith is God while the source of fear is the devil. Established confidence in God forms a spiritual hedge around us which the devil cannot penetrate to harm us. So for him to touch and harm us he has got to first make holes in the wall of faith enveloping us by instilling fear into our lives. He speaks words that unsettle us. When fear replaces faith in our hearts we are defeated even before the enemy pounces.
In our passage of scripture quoted above we see how the enemy uses the fear factor to make us vulnerable to his attacks. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, threatened to destroy Judah for rebellion. He wrote a letter to Hezekiah intimidating him, scorning and deriding his confidence in God, persuading him to come back into agreement and surrender to Assyria.
But Hezekiah was comforted by the prophet Isaiah and told to remain calm, quiet and confident. After Hezekiah had spread the letter before God praying for protection and defence of Judah God’s angel destroyed the army of Assyria and they turned back. God intervenes to fight our battles for us if we fear not.
What threats are you facing today? What fears are being thrown into your mind by the devil?
The devil is our adversary and he roars like a lion to instill fear into the children of God. His demons are our enemies. He does not write letters of threats on physical paper but throws thought pictures of fear into our minds. He knows he cannot attack you when you are strong in faith. He weakens you by throwing dark pictures into your mind; accept them at your own peril.
For instance, the devil writes a thought in your mental picture that reads that God hates you. He knows when you swallow that lie you will lose confidence in God and then he pounces on you. He can throw you a picture of your spouse having an affair with another person. And you reach out for your spouse’s phone and your fear is made complete as there are messages or calls from numbers that are not familiar to you.
From there all hell breaks loose till the marriage is dissolved. Satan can cause you to dream of your death, seeing yourself in a coffin. You begin to talk about your death and writing a will. One brother came to me for counsel fearing that he could have contracted HIV from a lady he had fornicated with who had become dangerously thin. Fear could be seen on his face and was shaking.
 I encouraged him to be calm. I asked him if he knew about the lady’s status. He told me that he did not know but he strongly felt that her failing health was probably because she was suffering from Aids. To which I responded that just because the lady’s health was failing did not mean she was positive; she could be worried about many things or suffering from any other disease.
Seeing that his fear was gone and had stopped trembling I encouraged him to go ahead with his life plans positively and confidently.
However, I knew that the devil would constantly show him a mental picture of the lady’s poor health and their fornication so I asked him to confess his sin and not do it again. He did that and gained some of freedom.
But in order for him to gain complete freedom from the fearful prospect of being positive I instructed him to get tested. He went away and called a few days later and joyfully told me that he tested negative. What you fear, you attract. Fear can send you to an early grave if you do not expose the lies of the devil through knowing God’s word and resisting him steadfast in faith.

– For counsel and feedback call 0772889766 or email mairos78@yahoo.co.uk