Living Courageously: You Can Face Anything, Just Do It Afraid (3 page)

We can readily see from this one Scripture verse that God is not the source of fear. Although people don’t usually enjoy hearing of or learning about Satan, it is impossible to locate the source of fear without talking about him, because he is the source of all wrongful fear. We do have an enemy, and one who is constantly on the prowl, looking for opportunities to kill, steal, and destroy (see John 10:10). We are expected to resist him.

All of Satan’s works are done under the cover of deceit, often making it difficult to detect his work. He even camouflages himself at times as an angel of light. Satan is even willing to quote Scripture to us, but it will always be used in a wrong context when he does.

For example, if the devil is trying to get us to do something unwise and foolish, we might hear in our thoughts,
Have faith in
God
. However, the wise and well-informed believer knows the difference between real faith and foolishness and presumption. When we step out in faith to do something that perhaps frightens us, we must be sure that it is God’s Word we are stepping out on and nothing else. Peter stepped out of the boat and attempted to walk on water, but he had a definite word of the Lord to do so. I am sure he felt some caution and concern (healthy fear), but at the word of the Lord, he was willing to “do it afraid.” That is entirely different from what it would be for me to jump off a diving board into the deep end of a swimming pool when I am a very poor swimmer and would be very afraid to do it. If I thought,
Have faith in God and jump
, I could be assured it was Satan trying to drown me.

Here we must learn the difference between a holy, healthy fear and a tormenting, self-defeating fear. God will give us wisdom and holy caution, and it should be adhered to, but Satan will give us tormenting fear that prevents us from moving forward in obedience to God and doing His will.

We need to recognize and accept that we have an enemy who seeks to destroy and torment us, but we need not be afraid of him. The truth is that as believers in Jesus Christ, we have authority over him, and all we need to do is learn to exercise it.

Satan does indeed have power, but he has no authority to use it against God’s children unless they allow him to. He may come against us, but he will not be ultimately successful in executing his evil plans if we resist him, while also maintaining an intimate relationship with God. Actually, Jesus already defeated him when He died on the cross. The purpose for which Christ came was to destroy the works of the devil (see 1 John 3:8). Jesus was successful, so how can Satan still cause trouble if he has been defeated? Jesus destroyed Satan’s right to do his evil work, but it is our responsibility to use the authority that God gave us and keep him in his place.

We have spiritual weapons to use against Satan, but they are of no value unless we do use them. The name of Jesus and the authority it holds has been given to us, as well as the Word of God, which is referred to as the sword of the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17). We can and must use both of them in prayer and confession. We also have the cross of Jesus Christ and His shed blood as powerful weapons. We should remember them when we are under attack, and remember that even the mention of them drives the enemy backward.

Don’t view yourself as a helpless victim, but as a powerful and authoritative child of God who does not travel through life alone, but with Jesus Who is Himself a mighty warrior and the Captain of the Host of God’s army of angels.

We are taught in God’s Word to give no place to the devil (see Ephesians 4:27). We can do this in a variety of ways, but we can also avoid doing it by obedience to God’s Word. We do not have to live in fear of Satan because he is a defeated foe—all we need
to do is remember that and be more aggressive against him than he is against us.

One of Satan’s devices that we must recognize so we can resist and overcome him is his evil work in the human mind.

Satan desires to control man’s thoughts, because he well knows that man’s thoughts determine his actions. He injects thoughts in the mind of man, hoping man accepts them as his own and acts accordingly. Our goal should be to know God’s Word well enough to immediately reject all thoughts that don’t agree with God and replace them with our own thoughts chosen from God’s Word.

Fearful thoughts are among his favorite to use in trying to deceive and diminish God’s children. God has a large, free, and full life planned for us, but Satan seeks to diminish us in every possible way. He is a thief and a liar.

We should immediately investigate the source of any thought or imagination that causes us to shrink back or be diminished. Fear always steals from us. It torments us, preventing progress and growth in our lives. God is definitely not the source of any such thought or imaginings, but Satan is!

If we would keep our mind engaged on positive things and not let it be idle and passive, Satan would have no opportunity. We can think our own thoughts instead of merely waiting to see what thoughts are forced on us. Learn to recognize thoughts that are unclean, slanderous, and divisive as well as fearful, and reject them immediately. I have heard it said that you cannot prevent a bird from flying over your head, but you certainly can refuse to let it make a nest in your hair. We might say the same thing of Satan’s desire to control our thoughts. We cannot keep him from trying to use our minds for his evil work, but we can prevent his success.

Here is a partial list of fear-based thoughts that we should resist:

… and on and on the list could go. But thankfully we can educate ourselves concerning the nature, will, and purpose of God for our lives, and we can resist the devil because he has no authority over us except what we give him through deception or inactivity.

Many believers have a great deal of pain, sickness, and weakness in their physical bodies and are prevented from doing the things they want to do because of them.

Many sicknesses are indeed real physical ailments that will need medical attention, but some are lying-symptoms that Satan presents to us in the hope that we will take them as our own. This kind of sickness will disappear if you will resist it immediately.

Right now lots of people have colds. A few days ago it was late in the evening and my throat was feeling sore. The thought came to me, “Oh no, I am getting sick, and I am getting ready to leave town and will probably be sick on the entire trip!” Thankfully, I have some experience with Satan’s tactics, so I immediately prayed for healing and then I confessed out loud that I was resisting the symptoms of sickness and that I believed that God’s healing power was working in me. I did not get sick! The Bible teaches us to resist the devil at his onset because he roams about as a lion, roaring in fierce hunger, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8–9). When you feel symptoms of sickness, pray and resist them immediately. Don’t ever wait to see what happens or what disease you might be catching or coming down with before you pray.

I will also admit that there have been other times when I have had symptoms and done the same thing and did indeed get sick. In those instances I was not dealing with a lying-symptom from Satan but a true illness that needed attention. I suggest that you don’t accept any sickness without questioning its validity. Satan will give us anything that we are willing to accept, but it is amazing how much misery we can avoid by the simple act of resistance. Even if you remain sick after resisting, I recommend that
you continue to pray and don’t in any way cooperate with the sickness. Even when you take medicine, pray that God will make it work in your body and that you will have a speedy recovery.

Satan will attack us with tiredness and then put thoughts in our mind that we are not able to finish the task we are involved in. Many times I have felt this way and have stopped and simply asked God to strengthen me, and my energy returned as I continued on with the project. My energy may not have returned immediately, but as I continued in faith I was indeed energized. Don’t give up without a fight! Stand your ground, resist the devil, and he will flee.

Because of my extensive travels and work for the Lord, it is a high priority for me to maintain good health and high energy levels. I use wisdom by eating healthy foods, getting proper sleep and rest, and exercising on a regular basis. I trust God to keep me strong to do His work. There have been numerous times over the years when I have felt so bad that I seriously wondered if I would be able to go to the pulpit and deliver my message. Thoughts of weakness, defeat, and failure pounded my mind, but I have yet to have God fail to strengthen me when the time came for me to speak. I could have let the symptoms rule, but I concluded that if God did send me, then surely He wanted me to finish what I started. I merely kept putting one foot in front of the other, and by doing that, many times I have experienced the symptoms leaving. My point is that I didn’t just let the symptoms rule me without at least making an effort in the Holy Spirit to resist and overcome them.

Timid and fearful people are easily defeated by even minor physical symptoms, but bold and courageous people will confront and press through if at all possible.

Satan attacks the conscience with the fear that we have sinned and that God is displeased with us or even angry with us. Although our conscience is designed to approve or disapprove of our actions, and it does let us know when we have done something wrong, it does not teach us through fear. The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and make us aware of our wrong actions so we may repent and start fresh, but He absolutely will never press us down with a burden of fear regarding our actions. Satan, however, will pressure us, threaten us, and present to our mind and emotions and conscience many fearful thoughts about our sin.

God has taken care of the problem of sin, and all any believer needs to do upon being made aware of his sin is to repent, let go of what lies behind him, and press toward the future in faith.

The fear of sin will hold us in sinful behavior, while focusing on Jesus will lift us out of it. Jesus did not save us so we could remain in bondage to fear (Romans 8:15). To be honest, sin is not a problem for God, because He has already provided the answer in Jesus Christ. Sin becomes a problem only when we let it rule us, or when we remain guilty and fearful instead of receiving the free gift of God’s forgiveness. What separates us from God is not sin that we have repented of, but a guilty conscience. Satan knows this and he works very hard to make us feel afraid that we have sinned more times than God is willing to forgive us for. Truthfully, you can come boldly to the throne of God and receive the grace you need to restore you at any time and as many times as you need to.

Many of the fears and phobias that people experience are designed for no other reason than to torment people. Satan is dedicated to making people miserable, and filling them with fear is one of the best ways to do so. Fear is a sickening, weakening, and defeating feeling. Franklin Roosevelt said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and I totally agree. Once we let fear integrate its roots into our thoughts, emotions, conscience, and actions, we can be assured of torment.

Every human being wants to be free. We want to try new things, and we have a desire for adventure. We are created by God to have goals and press toward them, and to dream of bigger and better things than what we have. Fear leaves us frozen in place, unable to do much of anything except be idle and alone with our torment.

Please be assured that Jesus died not only for the forgiveness of your sins, but also to assure that you might enjoy a fruitful and powerful life. Be determined to have all that He died to give you.

We will talk about phobias later in the book, and you will find the list of them to be astonishing. Many of them make no sense at all, and you will think, “Why would someone be afraid of that?” People with phobias of all kinds usually either simply put up with the phobia, or they repeatedly try to deal with the problem without ever getting to the root of it, which is Satan. If these people only knew to resist the devil, they could experience freedom.
Satan’s purpose is merely to torment them and keep them so busy fighting with their symptoms that they have no time or energy to simply live life and enjoy it.