New Covenant Church
Join us at one of our three services on Sundays, at 9:30 and 11:15 AM at our South campus, and at 9:30 at our North Campus! Visit wearencc.com for more information.
The most frequent command in the bible is to not fear, or not worry, or to not be anxious. Fear is mentioned all throughout the scripture.
Fear is something we all have dealt with or will deal with or are currently dealing with.
Fear can be intimidating, paralyzing, debilitating, often irrational - it’s based on what COULD be rather than what IS.
False Evidence Appearing Real
Some people would say fear is the opposite of faith...but fear and faith both require you to believe in something you cannot see or has not happened.
Which means that fear is not the opposite of faith but faith in the wrong direction.
It’s easier to for us to fear than to put our faith in God because fear is based on feelings and faith God is moving forward regardless of our feelings.
Almost every next step God calls you to take will be preceded by a spirit of fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 - 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Judges 6:11-18 11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
FEAR CAUSES US TO RESPOND IN - ANGER
Judges 6:14-15 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.”
FEAR CAUSES US TO RESPOND IN - INSECURITY
Judges 6:16-18 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
FEAR CAUSES US TO RESPOND BY TRYING TO - CONTROL
2 Timothy 1:7 - for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
The opposite response to anger - love, to insecurity - power, to control - self control.
Joshua when faced with bringing the children of Israel into the promised land...God knew he would face fear. In Joshua 1 God told him 3 times be strong and courageous...do not fear.
Joshua 1:8 ESV
WAYS TO OVERCOME FEAR:
1. SPEAK GOD’S WORD - “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth”
• The question we have to ask is “what does God’s word say?” Fear subsides when we speak God’s word into the fear.
• Jesus’ response was - “it is written” every time the enemy came at him.
2. THINK GOD’S WORD - “you shall meditate on it day and night”
• Meditation means rumination
• Fear tries to control our thinking...if it can win in our thoughts...it paralyzes us. We must allow God’s word to transform our thoughts.
• Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3. DO GOD’S WORD - “Be careful to do all that is in it”
• James 1:22 NLT - 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
• The way we prove our trust is to walk out what God said...trusting He is with us
• We trust God in the face of fear not in the absence of fear.
Joshua 1:9 - 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.”
Psalm 56:3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. 4 I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?
Fear goes away when we trust our Father. If we knew how big he is. How strong he is. How in control he is we would trust him and fear Him.
WHATEVER YOU FOCUS ON THE MOST REVEALS WHAT YOU TRUST THE MOST
What you focus on becomes big. When you focus on fear, fear becomes bigger than God, but when you focus on God, God becomes bigger than your fears.
Psalm 34:3-4 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.