Are we living in a state of fear? With all the news of death and destruction we hear about on a daily basis, do we sometimes worry if this could happen to us? Could we be a victim of a shooting or bomb tragedy, or even be involved in a serious car accident or plane crash, just as an example? Do we have God’s protection at all times?
Do we fear the future of what is to come, when things are going to get worse, much worse than what we hear about now? When it comes to the spiritual side of things, do we fear that we aren’t qualified enough for God to protect and save us from the impending disasters? If we feel that way, it’s about time we change that way of thinking and be ready, prepare ourselves spiritually and we better make sure that we are counted worthy so we can have that protection and more importantly, be a part of the Kingdom of God.
God has created us with the ability to be led by His Holy Spirit within us, which can only be obtained through proper baptism, and through this power, we can obtain wisdom and understanding to discern between real and perceived dangers, also knowing what is right and what is wrong. We have free will and we do make choices and hopefully we make correct choices as we continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ and use more and more of the Spirit given to us by God. He has given us the choice to live with worldly fears, apprehension and suffering, or to embrace a Godly fear which leads to wisdom, courage and everlasting joy (2 Timothy 1:7).
God hasn’t given us a “spirit of fear” in the worldly sense, but, for our benefit, He has put the emotion of fear in our minds as a consequence of sin. We will be faced with fears, whether physical or spiritual, when terror strikes the earth in various ways. We will be in the middle of it, we will be tested, and we will have to fight our fears over Satan’s clever tactics; and we know that we can defeat him because God says we can, as God gives us the tools to arm ourselves (Ephesians 6:11-12).
It is God’s Word which gives us His perspective about fear as stated in 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love casts out fear.” If God doesn’t give us a Spirit of fear and we know that He loves us perfectly, why are we still afraid? We must learn to fight fear with “fear”—and it’s this other kind of fear that is the cure for our uncontrolled fears: The fear of the Lord. If we obey God and put our trust, faith and confidence in Him, then there shouldn’t be any reason to be afraid, to fear what the future will bring because He will protect us, as He has promised He would. Christ has given us peace and the whole world does not understand this peace that Christ is referring to, but in due time, they will (compare John 14:27).
We don’t need to fear the world because we understand what it means to fear, respect and revere God. When we have the fear of the Lord, it means we look upon God with high esteem, an attitude accompanied by obedience, knowing, as it says in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
