Is Fear Overtaking You? Learn These Keys in the Bible to Overcoming the Spirit of Fear

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Fear! It is something all of us deal with at some point or another in our lives. For some of us, fear can become a constant companion. We can seem to live with a spirit of fear that appears to feed upon itself, growing stronger with time. Overcoming the spirit of fear first involves facing your fears, which is never an easy thing for us to do!

A trip to the dentist is always a good example! Read on to learn more about defeating fear in your life!

A Common Fear – Fear of the Dentist

I climbed up into the dentist’s chair and the hygienist placed that ridiculous blue bib around my neck. I could literally see it move up and down with each beat of my heart! Each beat was a silent plea to get up out of that chair and run; run for the hills.

But no, I sat.

The comprehensive torture exam took about an hour and a half.

Now, I thought it was about as bad as it could get, with all the poking and prodding (who was the first person who thought it was a good idea to stick a hook in someone’s mouth??), but then I found out I needed FIVE, yes five, fillings and one root canal!

Sedation dentistry, party of one?

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear Started With Understanding Why I Was So Fearful

I booked my appointments and ran; ran as fast as I could before someone chased me down to tell me they forgot something!!

So why, you ask, would I need five fillings (4 for cavities and one for a chipped tooth) and a root canal? I actually DO take really good care of my teeth.

I’ll tell you why. It is because I had not stepped foot into a dentist’s office in FIVE years!

Yep, five years.

Now, I am fortunate. Since I DO take such good care of my teeth they won’t need to be scraped to eternity and beyond when they are cleaned. My hygienist was at least happy to see they were nice and clean.

So why five years if I take such good care of my teeth (well, except for the apparent sweet tooth…hence the cavities)?

It was because I had neglected overcoming the spirit of fear in my life where going to the dentist was concerned.

Not just this, but many other fears! Fear kept me from going to the dentist to take care of smaller issues and that fear actually created even larger ones to face.

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear is Vital Because Fear Can Snowball

An unrealistic, paranoid type of fear that makes ZERO sense when you think about it.

I have never, in all the years I have been to the dentist, had pain during a visit. And I have had a root canal!!

I don’t fear the after-pain which comes with having a tooth pulled or anything like that. I fear pain during the process. And it has never happened.

This fear of the dentist is irrational for me because it is a fear of something I have never experienced.

Now this was not always the case. I used to go to the dentist regularly and got fillings right away when needed. This fear has only been going on for about the last 10 years or so. But it has been so real and so crippling that it kept me from going to take care of my teeth the way I should.

A lot of our fears are irrational and make no sense. They are meant to deter us and keep us from doing the things we need to do.

After a while, we begin to avoid those things in order to not have to face the fear, which then only makes the fear loom larger because we usually end up having an even worse situation to face when we finally HAVE to do it (like me at the dentist).

Not going was foolish and these foolish actions meant the longer I avoided the dentist’s chair the more I feared going. The more I feared going, the more I avoided it which made things worse when I finally had no choice but to go! This kind of fear is all imagination.

So What Causes This Spirit of Fear?

You’ve likely heard the acrostic for fear before. False Evidence Appearing Real!

The spirit of fear is often not fear of something that you have a very real experience with.

There are different kinds of fear we experience in life; some good and healthy and some are imaginings or a spirit of fear that affect our soundness of mind.

There is healthy fear. These are the fears the Lord has equipped us with so that we avoid dangerous situations. They are fears that signal to us that we need to get out of a place or away from a person or thing.

Then there are fears we can develop due to experiences in life.

For instance, you may have had a car accident and then fear driving for a while. Now while that is a fear based on your experience, it is still something you need to overcome so it doesn’t consume you and keep you from EVER driving again.

But a spirit of fear overtakes you and is often not based on any reality.

Sometimes it is, but many times we fear POSSIBLE outcomes.

So we avoid things that we enjoy, or that God would want us to do in life, making it harder to do those things.

Sometimes these fears can overtake us and oppress us and affect our whole thought life. This is a spirit of bondage that has you trapped in fear.

But most times, we have fears, like I have of the dentist, that have no reason except that the loud voice of the enemy convinced me to fear it. And so I avoided it.

Most of our fears do just that; avoidance of what we fear makes the fear greater because our imagination kicks in and shows us ALL the things that COULD happen. It robs us of having a sound mind because it just begins creating scenarios.

Then what happens? Instead of going to the dentist and caring for my teeth the way I should, I now have to have LOTS of dental work that needs to be done.

Makes no sense does it?

If I want to avoid the dental work I am so afraid of, why not take care of the teeth by going to the……oh you get it!

But that is what fear does! It cripples us in the here and now! Overcoming the spirit of fear seems out of our grasp! It feels too large a battle for us.

It is all a lie! It’s a lie designed to cause us to be inactive and inefficient.

What if people laugh at me?

What if it hurts?

Maybe they won’t like me?

What if I don’t succeed?

I might lose church members?

What if God can’t use me?

This starts this barrage of lies the enemy plants in us to make us inactive and ineffective! It comes from him. 

Once we start allowing these lies to permeate our mind, they begin to loom larger and larger. He uses avoidance to make those fears grow because the longer we avoid those things, the more we begin to fear them because his lies replace the truth of what we know of the situation.

What is the Spirit of Fear?

The spirit of fear is all imaginings! It takes over our hearts and minds! It is all torturous worry over something that will probably never happen.

This fear does not come from God. God’s Word tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” 

NKJV

Fear is not of God. Fear is a tactic of the enemy and the power of the enemy is in his ability to keep us inactive! God is love perfected and perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:18)

Fear puts us in a stance of avoidance, which, as I said, only makes the situation worse or only causes us to fear it more!

It makes us ineffective and there is nothing more the enemy loves than an ineffective church!

What’s worse is it is often worldly, fleshly fear! We worry about being liked, being accepted, not being ridiculed, not experiencing pain!

It’s all about ME!

It makes us ineffective and there is nothing more the enemy loves than an ineffective church! Click To Tweet

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear in a Church Paralyzed by Society

The church today in America is, in a lot of ways, paralyzed by society.

We fear speaking out because we don’t want to face the pain of being labeled.

We remain silent because of the backlash! The church fears society will call us bigots, intolerant, judgmental. We fear sharing our faith with friends and family because they may distance themselves from us.

So, we remain silent. We let fear cripple us!

Or worse, we compromise!

The church today in America is, in a lot of ways, paralyzed by society. We fear speaking out because we don’t want to face the pain of being labeled. Click To Tweet

We begin to make excuses for it!

Some re-interpret scripture to make it fit society’s views rather than God’s views out of fear of pushing people away!

We FEAR being labeled so we preach a feel-good Gospel that EVERYONE will want to hear, meanwhile souls are lost because they think salvation is all about being your best YOU, rather than surrendering YOU to HIM! Churches worry more about packing pews than speaking truth!

We fear spreading the Word out of fear of being called a “Bible Thumper”!

There’s a fear of speaking truth for fear of being called an intolerant Christian!

We FEAR being labeled so we preach a feel-good Gospel that EVERYONE will want to hear, while souls are lost because they think salvation is all about being your best YOU, rather than surrendering YOU to HIM! Click To Tweet

Fear is what the enemy uses to cause us to be lukewarm rather than on fire! Jesus never worried about tiptoeing around people or offending anyone! It is an evil spirit that has convinced the church to become complacent.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Matthew 23:27 (ESV)

Not exactly the most “PC” of comments huh?

Churches worry more about packing pews than speaking truth! Click To Tweet

The Heart of What Causes a Spirit of Fear is Lack of Trust

I fear going to the dentist because I don’t trust him enough to not hurt me.

I fear telling a friend about my faith because I don’t trust them to love me even if they don’t agree with me.

There is fear about posting about my faith on social media because I don’t trust people enough to not label me.

Fear of posting a convicting blog post because I don’t trust people want truth!

I worry about my problems and I fear the outcomes because I don’t trust God will answer my prayers!

FEAR is not of God! His Word promises to deliver us with His righteous right hand and we do not need to be enslaved to the stronghold of fear any longer!

Overcoming the spirit of fear means we need to do it afraid!

We need to realize it is just a FEELING and FEELINGS can and do lie! It’s false information!

We need to realize fear is distrust disguised!

Do we care about our feelings or do we care about what is right?

Fear is distrust disguised! #fear #proverbs31 #spiritualwarfare Click To Tweet

Overcoming the Spirit of Fear – Do it Afraid!

I need to go to the dentist even if I am afraid, or else my teeth are going to rot out of my mouth!! I can’t have the perfect peace my heavenly Father intends for me if I am relying on fear to drive me.

I need to just step out in the peace of God and do it. And as I go, and as I realize it is not all that bad, I will go more often, and my overall experience will get better because I won’t need all that work.

And as we as a church become bolder and do it afraid, we will realize God can and will give us the added measure of confidence and faith to go even further and stand for His truth!

Overcoming the spirit of fear means caring more about what God thinks and not fearing backlash from people! Not fearing worldly opinions! Not fearing cancel culture!

Forgetting about fearing labels! Not fearing empty pews! Just truth!! We need to act in a spirit of love and a spirit of truth!

As we trust God more and step out in faith rather than fear, if we trust He DOES answer our prayers according to His will and has our best interest at heart and doesn’t desire to cause us pain, we defeat the enemy more and more with each step!

We serve and awesome God who equips us with the power of the Holy Spirit and the mind of Jesus Christ and we do NOT have to be defeated by so much fear.

We need to be about fulfilling God’s purpose for us, doing good works and not worrying about the things of the flesh.

Our carnal mind wants us to focus on the world and its concerns but the living God who is with us in all things wants us to focus on the things of the spirit, fight fear and rely on the power of God to get us through our circumstances and our worries to do His will as a child of God.

Overcoming fear by going into the presence of God in prayer to seek help is the only way we as believers can affect the world for good in powerful ways.

So let’s look below at some keys from the Bible…10 verses for overcoming the spirit of fear!

What ways has scripture helped you deal with fear and face it head on? Share in the comments!

And get your FREE 52 Week Bible Reading Challenge Workbook below as my gift to you to get you reading through the Word in a year!

10 Verses for Overcoming the Spirit of Fear

Isaiah 35:4

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.”

nkjv

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

nkjv

Psalm 23;4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

esv

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

esv

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

esv

Psalm 34;4

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

niv

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

niv

Psalm 94:19

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

niv

Psalm 118:6

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

niv

Ephesians 6:11-18

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…

nkjv

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™