Friday, August 25, 2017

SPIRIT OF FEAR


SPIRIT OF FEAR

2 Timothy 1:7   7      for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

These three characteristics mentioned here; power, love and sound mind, (self-discipline) are available to us because the Holy Spirit lives in us.

The evil spirit of fear will cancel out your faith. Fear and faith are like hot and cold, belief and unbelief. The grip of fear is like being chained down. Only our faith in God can break the chains of fear.

Luke 12:32   32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Jesus is saying don’t be afraid, for it gives your Father great pleasure (or happiness) to give you the kingdom.

Making the Kingdom of God your primary concern means making Jesus the Lord and King of your life. He must control every area: your work, your plans, relationship is the kingdom of many concerns central to all you do.

As the Lord and Creator, he wants to help provide what you need, as well as guide you how to use what he has already provided.

Jesus says I have not given you the evil spirit of fear, this is a direct evil, seducing, controlling spirit of Satan himself. He is using fear to cancel out the faith you have through the word of God.

Romans 8:5-7   For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

You can see here that the bible divides people into two categories: those who let themselves be controlled by their sinful nature and those who follow after the Holy Spirit.

All of us would be in the first category if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue to follow him as born-again Christians.

The Holy Spirit gives us the power we need to walk our Christian life, he helps us to control our sinful nature, rather than being controlled by sin.

Jesus lives within us, even though our bodies will die, our spirit will live on with the Lord. Our choice to accept Jesus as Lord has made us right with God.

This spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. He will give you the same life to your mortal body. That same spirit Jesus had lives within you.

Take authority over the spirit of fear and trust God regardless of how you feel. Keep faith in the Lord, he will not leave you or forsake you.

Now let us talk on the sound mind. A sound mind is a person’s way of thinking; guided by the Holy Spirit, not being led or dictated to by your natural mind.

Since your soul is made up of your mind, your will, and your emotions; spiritual guidance from God must be the center of our thinking.

Luke 12:29-32     29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Don’t have a doubting mind. When God says he will do something, he will. Why? One reason is God can’t lie. Another is His word to us is a covenant that He will not break.

A sound mind is a worry-free mind. It can’t fill any of our needs, God loves us and knows our needs, he even promises to meet all our needs. 

Philippians 4:19      19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

A sound mind must be a disciplined mind. Start by letting the word of God be the final authority. Not what you are thinking in the natural or what everyone else thinks. Let the Spirit of God give you the discerning of what is correct.

Daily we must consciously choose to center our life on God, he gives us guidelines in his Word for every situation. The Holy Spirit will point out what is right.

 We have talked about the spirit of fear (which is straight from the devil) and the sound mind. Now let us talk about Gods love, which conquers all fear.

Ephesians 5:2   And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

We are to live a life filled with love for others. Following the example of Christ Jesus who loved us so much that he gave himself as a sacrifice to take away all of our sins.

He did this and God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like a sweet perfume to Him.

Romans 8:37-39   37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These verses contain one of the most comforting promises in all scripture. Believers have always had to face hardships in many forms and sometimes it has caused them to fear thinking that they have been abandon by the Lord.

But the word exclaims that it is impossible to be separated from Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from his presence. God tells us how great his love is so that we will feel totally secure in Him. If we believe these overwhelming assurances, we will not be afraid.

We are super conquerors through Christ Jesus, and His love will protect us from any evil forces.

John 3:16   16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loves us so much that he sent his beloved Son that through Him we could receive eternal life. Eternal life is God’s life embodied in Christ Jesus, given to all believers as a guarantee that they will live forever in eternal life, where there is no death.

While we were still sinners God shared His love toward us. Whenever you feel uncertain about Gods love for you remember that he loved you even before you turned to Him.

Now we will talk about the power you got when you made Jesus the Lord of your life.

When Timothy said God did not give us the evil spirit of fear, that fear came from somewhere, it came from Satan

Thanks be to God he gave us power and authority to be an overcomer of this spirit called Satan.

Ephesians 6: 10-11   10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Be strong in the Lord. Put on the whole armor of God, so we can stand against this spirit of fear; Satan the devil.

If Satan can keep you in fear, it will cast down your faith, and in your faith, is where your power is.

Ephesians 6:12   12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

For we fight not against flesh and blood, we are talking about spirit. Satan is a spirit, God is spirit. This is not a natural battle in the flesh.

This is why we can’t fight a spiritual battle with natural weapons. We are kept by the power of God through faith. Fear will put doubt in our minds, and doubt in God will cause you to lose your supernatural battle.

Proverbs 18:21   21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Your God given power and authority over the enemy (who is the devil) totally relies on your faith; The strength of your faith and the power in the words that you say.

If you say I am sick, Satan will be happy to oblige you with sickness. If you confess you are well and made whole, God can sustain your health.

First, he puts a thought in your mind and you let this thought dominate your thinking, it goes down into your heart and you speak it out of the abundance of your heart. Your word can manifest either good things or bad things…

Either way God and Satan are both willing to use your words, the choice is yours… choose Gods way.

Matthew 12:34   34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Stay in the word. Learn about your power and authority through Christ Jesus. 

Brother Andy.

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