Fear typically comes into a person’s heart when they anticipate or receive new information that is concerning. Perhaps information about their health, or finances, or even examination results. Whatever our fears, they are typically tied to information. The thing to note then is that, if the source of our fear is new information, it stands to reason that the only way to break free from those fears and dissipate them is also going to be by receiving information. Fears are created and dispelled by information.
Fear has torment (1 John 4:18). Fear literally torments anyone upon whom it has come. The mental torment of fear can be so tangible as to be felt physically. When fear grips the heart, it is not unusual to start sweating even if the temperature is temperate, or start to have palpitations, even feel physically sick. Yet, it is impossible to not ever receive information that can trigger fear. What then do we do?
… if the source of our fear is new information, it stands to reason that the only way to break free from those fears and dissipate them is also going to be by receiving information. Fears are created and dispelled by information.
The wise thing to do when we receive fear inducing information is to, as quickly as possible pull up new information that counters what we just learnt. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, through which God has promised to bring his descendants, it can be expected that this would have raised the spectre of a future now cut short. But according to the retelling of the account in Hebrew 11:19, Abraham reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead even if he sacrificed him as instructed. In other words, to counter the information about the impending death of Isaac, Abraham held on to the information (revelation) that God can raise him back to life.
It is the same principle at work when the Angel addresses Gideon as a mighty man of valour. This information is contrary to Gideon’s belief that he was the least person from the least clan. For Gideon to move past fear, he had to fully imbibe this new information about his identity. And so, even as he argued about his ability to do what he was being asked, the Angel persists with new information – “go in this thy might.”
You see, when God says “he has not given us the spirit of fear,” he makes clear that what he has in fact given us is the Spirit of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). For fear to thrive, it has to attack the mind and destroy its soundness – its ability to dwell on new information that counters the fear inducing information.
The believer must never yield this ground of his mind to the devil. If he comes in like a flood – with fear inducing information, Let the Holy Spirit raise up a standard of revelation knowledge against him. Find what God has said about the situation and let God be true and every other voice a liar. Believe the report of the Lord.
Photo by Collis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/unrecognizable-black-man-with-clenched-fists-5346317/
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