Fear... False Evidence Appearing Real

Today I was overcome by fear.  I was taken aback by this strong grip of fear that came over me like a tidal wave washed upon the shore.   The fear stopped me in my tracks and stole my breath.  The fear took control of my body and made my legs feel like Jell-O beneath me.  

The fear took a piece of my day, and I let it. 

The fear took a moment that I might have been able to step out in God, to help someone I care for deeply, but I succumbed to the wave of fear.

Fear is a very strong weapon of the enemy.  Fear has become something that satan uses to stop us from moving forward in the calling that God has for our lives.  Fear can be debilitating for some people and cause them to live by the trappings of fear instead of the freedom of God.

It says in the word that God did not give us a spirit of fear; but of power, and love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Fear is not our friend, nor is it the emotion that we should cling too.

We are made more than conquers, which means we have the ability and authority through Jesus Christ, to overcome our fear.  We have the strength and might to walk through the fear and see the other side.

In Matthew 14:27 we see how Jesus calmed the fear of the disciples, once they saw Him walking towards them on the water.  But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage!  I AM! Stop being afraid!

In the midst of my fear today, I didn’t take the time immediately, to reach out to Jesus and say, help me.  I didn’t immediately say to myself Stop being afraid, for He is the great I AM!  I allowed the fear to overwhelm me and engulf me in its power and control my mind, for those minutes. 

Fear is nothing but an emotion that satan uses to keep us away from God.  Fear is conjured up by satan and then released in our minds, usually the worst case scenario, that for the most part never comes to fruition. 

We worry, meditate and reason with the fear, which means we are worrying, meditating and reasoning with evil.  In those moments we are allowing satan to have control of our minds, when our minds should be controlled by Christ.

Some people run when they feel fear, some people are stopped in their tracks without the ability to move forward and lose precious moments of their lives.  Some people do it afraid.  I believe this is how God wants us to react.  I believe the God wants us to do it afraid.

We see in the verse that there are many exclamation points, which means that Jesus is driving home the point.  Jesus is saying strongly, sternly, that we should fight against the fear that we feel because He is in control.

We see him speak out loud to the disciples in the boat and tell them to take courage!  This is something that He is commanding them to do, not something He is suggesting.  He is saying take courage, gather yourselves and use the courage that I am giving you to be victorious over the fear. 

He tells us again to Stop being afraid!                                                                                  

There is a reason we are to stop being afraid, and that is because when you feel fear you are giving up your power and His, to keep you safe.  We are to learn this lesson and start defeating the enemy.  When you are afraid and have given into the fear, you are no longer able to be the one in control of your emotions.

It’s like you give fear the power and it grows stronger in your life.  Satan, also now knows that He has the upper hand.  He now knows the buttons to push to keep you under his thumb and away from God.   But we can rebuke that spirit of fear and put satan in his place, through the power and authority given to us by Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave us a very simple answer to fear and that is … I AM!

Jesus is our shield to fear.  Jesus is our protector against fear, and Jesus is how we win the war over fear. 

I love the acronym for fear.  False Evidence Appearing Real!  I am sure you have heard this before and it is oh, so true.   I know in my situation today that my fear was from satan to steal my moment with God. 

Satan sent his demons to take a moment that I have been praying for and distract me from the gift that God was giving to me and turn it into fear.  It took me hours, and help from friends to see that this was a God moment, not a satan moment, but I was so close to giving him the power.

I was so close to resigning this to a defeat instead of a victory for God.  I was so close to giving up and saying, obviously this is something I am just not strong enough to do.  And you know what I am not strong enough, BUT God is!

When we are feeling fear try to take a moment and see if you are connected to God in that moment.  Try and remove yourself from the emotion and listen for the silent voice giving you the power to overcome the situation.

It says in Matthew 14:27 that Jesus spoke to them, which means that the disciples had to listen.  They had to stop the fear long enough to hear what Jesus was saying.  This also means that we can do the same thing.  We can stop the fear long enough to hear the words that Jesus has to give us to overcome the moments that satan is trying to steal.

When we look to the source of the fear and acknowledge that it is from the enemy we can quickly and swiftly, turn our backs to the fear, and reach for God.  We can reach inside of us and ask the Holy Spirit to bring us comfort and peace. 

The Holy Spirit, remember is our comforter, He is also there to protect us and to guide us in the right directions. 

Lean on Him, call on Him and listen to Him.

If like me, you have given in to the fear, don’t be defeated and feel like you have failed and are now condemned to always lose, no, go to God and ask God to give you help in understanding of the situation, and how you can overcome it when it happens again, because it will happen again.

When we realize the power and authority we have over evil, through Jesus Christ, we will then begin to step out of fear and into the victory.  We will put the devil under our feet where he belongs!

Satan came to steal, kill and destroy… BUT I CAME that you may have life to the full and abundantly. 

We have the great I AM on our side and like Peter, when we follow His commands and listen to His instructions we too, can walk on water!!