Did you know that you can live a life FREE from fear? Satan’s greatest weapon against us is fear. He bullies us with it because his strategy has always been to use fear to neutralize our faith by eroding our confidence in God and His love for us. He knows that if he can infiltrate our faith, he can regain control of every aspect of our lives. His tactics are nothing new, of course, but every believer must learn how to fight the good fight of faith and defeat fear—including you. And if you aren’t entirely sure how to do that, now is the time to learn How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear.
Fear Terrorizes and Paralyzes Us
Almost 100 years ago, at a time when America was economically at its worst, President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the power of fear to terrorize and paralyze everyday Americans. He led the United States into what he likened to an all-out war against the Great Depression—and he made his declaration of war with these familiar words: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
President Roosevelt was encouraging millions of financially broke, unemployed, hungry people, that if they could just get past the fear, if they could just get past the idea of whatever it was that was terrorizing and paralyzing them, then they could have hope, they could “advance,” and they as a nation could prevail in victory!
How Do We Get Past the Fear?
Almost 23 years ago, Kenneth Copeland was in Washington, D.C., preaching at a Victory Campaign when God told him: You are to launch a war on fear…and I want you to strip the fear out of the Body of Christ. My people have no business with fear!
God gave that directive to Kenneth just one month after Islamist terrorists launched simultaneous attacks against the United States in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. To this day we refer to them as the 9/11 attacks, another all-time low in America’s history. But God’s point to Brother Copeland was clear then and it’s clear today…
- Fear is not something that is at all healthy—it’s destructive!
- Fear is not something we learn to live with—we’re not to cope with it!
- Fear is not something we are to tolerate—it’s something we eliminate!
Fear Is a Spirit
Jesus delivered us from fear once and for all when He went to the cross, but it’s up to us to eliminate it from our own lives.
“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
Each one of us must come to the absolute knowledge that Jesus delivered us from fear at the cross the same as He delivered us from sin, sickness, poverty and every other symptom of the curse. He bore our fears, the same as He bore our shame and torment. We’ve been redeemed from fear. Fear no longer belongs to us!
The truth is, Satan’s greatest fear is that you and I will discover that we’ve been rid of the spirit of fear by the precious blood and mighty works of Jesus. The enemy’s day is over when you find out How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear, because he will no longer have a hold on you. Fear is the connector to death and all its works. But that connection has been destroyed where we’re concerned. What’s more, God has given us a new spirit: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV).
Now that we’re redeemed from the spirit of fear, our job is to resist it, refuse it and renounce it—as we do all sin—in the Name of Jesus.
Resist Fear In Jesus’ Name
Eliminating fear is one of the great revelations the Apostle John gained from having been one of the men closest to Jesus while He was on this earth. John summed it up like this: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18, NKJV).
The AMPC sheds even more light on John’s insight: “There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!”
“Terrorism is the planned, organized use of fear as a weapon”—that was the definition God gave Brother Copeland for terrorism back in 2001. And it’s what Satan has been using against all humanity and creation since the Garden of Eden when the devil fatally tempted Adam and Eve. But John is telling us that the antidote to Satan’s weaponized fear is love—God’s love.
Imagine: It’s love, of all things, that can totally annihilate, totally eliminate every ounce, every symptom of fear. Only God could have designed a counter-operation like that!
Refuse Fear In Jesus’ Name
Given the chance, Satan—like any enemy—tries to use fear to contaminate our faith and confidence. If he succeeds, over time our faith will weaken.
The Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy—his son in the faith—to keep his faith pure by reminding him that the faith he had received was genuine and strong.
“I am calling up memories of your sincere and unqualified faith (the leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), [a faith] that first lived permanently in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am [fully] persuaded, [dwells] in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5, AMPC).
Timothy’s faith was not phony or contaminated, but pure and rich. And it doesn’t take much of that kind of faith to get the job done.
But why fear? How is it a weapon? What’s the intended target? What exactly is fear out to destroy when it comes at us full-speed?
Again, the enemy’s strategy behind fear has always been to neutralize our faith by eroding our confidence in God and His love for us—and if he can infiltrate our faith, then he can regain control of every aspect of our lives.
A perfect example of this is found in Mark 5, where Jairus, a local synagogue official, ran up to Jesus one day, fell at His feet, and pleaded with Him to follow him home where his daughter was sick and at the point of death. Despite the grave circumstances, we know Jairus had faith because he told Jesus, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed and live” (verse 23, AMPC). So Jesus agreed, and Jairus led the way.
The two had no sooner set out for Jairus’ house when there was an unexpected delay, a delay that could potentially cost Jairus’ daughter her life. A woman, who had also been tracking Jesus down, managed to work her way through the crowd that day, come up from behind, reach out and touch the end of the prayer shawl Jesus was wearing. When she did—that stopped everything!
Miraculously, the bleeding this woman had been suffering with for the past 12 years suddenly stopped. She was healed! And with that, Jesus stopped. He knew instantly supernatural power had gone out from Him, so He turned around to find out what had happened.
Knowing she was caught, the woman spoke up and recounted her story to Jesus. She told Him how she had said, “If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health” (verse 28, AMPC). Like Jairus, she too had faith, the kind of faith that caught Jesus’ attention and stopped Him in His tracks.
But in all the commotion, something else stopped: progress—progress in getting Jesus to Jairus’ house. And in those precious few moments the unthinkable happened: “While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, ‘Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.’ But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed’” (Luke 8:49-50).
Renounce Fear In Jesus’ Name
The KJV says it far more simply: “Fear not: believe only.” Jesus was telling Jairus to stop the fear—the spirit of fear—ifhe wanted to continue to move forward in faith and see his daughter alive.
Again, fear is dangerous. It’s a matter of life and death (Revelation 21:7-8). As Kenneth Copeland said, we don’t live with, cope with or tolerate fear—we eliminate it. Especially in the face of death. And here, the enemy was trying to use fear to steal Jairus’ faith.
But Jesus was relentless. He was driven by love, and even used Jairus’ own confession of faith—“She will live!”—to encourage Jairus to keep taking steps forward and not be frozen by fear, like we’re all tempted to do in those moments.
Let the words of Jairus and of the woman who was bleeding be a reminder to you: If your faith isn’t speaking, then it’s not faith yet. It’s just thoughts, and thoughts have no power. Our words only have power when we speak them. They only have power when we act on them.
Declare War
Today is the day to declare war on fear in your own life by committing to search out all 110 “Fear not!” scriptures. When you find them, read them, meditate on them and make them your declaration of faith. And commit to not compromise where fear is concerned, anymore.
Today is the day to learn How to Live Your Best Life WITHOUT Fear. Here are some scriptures to get you started:
- Joshua 1:9 (NKJV)—“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
- Isaiah 35:4 (NKJV)—“Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”
- Isaiah 41:10, 13—“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand…. For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”
As always, if you need a partner to agree with you in prayer, please call our prayer ministers at 0860103356 or submit a prayer request. Any day of the year, we’re here for you!