DON’T BE AFRAID!
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
God told Joshua the last part of this verse as Joshua went to conquer the promised land. After 40 years of wandering and preparing the next generation, the final instructions included a stout warning from the Lord in Joshua 1:9, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.” God commanded Joseph and is telling us, “Be not afraid.” Some people might say, “If you had any common sense, you would be afraid,” but the Lord is clearly telling us not to let fear in. Job said, “My greatest fear has come upon me.”
It seems like God needs faith so He can operate in our lives whereas the devil needs fear. We can’t just pretend we are not afraid; we actually cannot allow fear into any part of our lives. It must be conquered; it must be put under our feet. Proverbs 29:25 (ESV) says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord is safe.” When we trust in the Lord, we are safe. When we obey the Lord, we are safe; but when we are afraid, when we entertain fear, it opens the door for a trap or a snare from the devil.
When someone doesn’t deal with fear, their heart gets troubled, or it gets dismayed as God told Joshua. When someone is dismayed, they have lost courage and are depressed, dejected, and seem to lose their way because of this fear. They can’t even think right and make good decisions. When your heart is troubled, you become unclear, can’t find the voice of God, and end up making bad choices. The devil’s plan is to move you from fear, in any and all areas of your life, to a place of your heart being troubled and dismayed. It is not something to play with. We must overcome fear because we know that fear is not of God; 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
We must use the Word of God quickly to combat and get rid of any fear that we have and replace it with the peace that Jesus left us. One scripture that helps me a lot is 1 John 4:18 (ESV) that says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” When you figure out how much God loves you and trust Him, He will protect and watch over you and perfect everything that concerns you if you will not allow fear of any sort to hang around in your life. In Isaiah 41:10 (NIV), God gave us this promise, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God is with us; He will never leave us or forsake us. Jesus said, “My peace I leave you.” We have these promises from the Word, and we know that God has us. And since God has us, there is no reason to ever be afraid.