Bible Study Notes

In these last days, fear is prevalent. Everywhere we look we see guns, violence, and acts that inspire terror and make us afraid. When people feel threatened and terrorized, it creates a domino effect that can spiral out of control. We combat this with God’s Word and our faith in it.

Being Fearful Puts Us in Bondage to Satan

Fear puts us in bondage, but as God’s children, this isn’t His will for us. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15, 16, NKJV). According to this Scripture, there are a few things we must take note of concerning fear. This emotion is something that must be received; it’s not a characteristic of our born-again spirits. We mustn’t tolerate it, because fear tolerated is faith contaminated.

Satan needs our fear to operate in our lives just like God needs our faith to operate. Putting up with fear gives the enemy exactly what he needs to operate in the earth; this makes us the deciding factor. The spirits of fear and terror don’t come from God. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The whole world is inundated with fear, but we can’t blame that on God.

Fear Enslaves Us Spiritually

When fear shows up, it brings bondage with it. Bondage is defined as a state of being bound, enslaved, or in servitude by compulsion, as of law. It’s no coincidence that under the Law of Moses, fear was the people’s main motivator. It controlled them because breaking any part of the law meant punishment and death; thankfully, Jesus delivered us from that. “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15).

We can get into bondage to all kinds of things that stem from fear, whether it’s fear of others’ opinions, fear of flying, fear of germs, or the fear that the evil in the world will suddenly show up on our doorstep. Fear is not okay, and it’s never okay to walk in it. As believers who live in the world without being part of it, when others walk in fear, we walk in faith; when others are in bondage, we’re free.

Now that Jesus has come, we are to live our lives governed by love and a sound mind. God’s love is the most powerful force of all and is much stronger than the emotions the enemy tries to subject us to. There’s no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). 

The Enemy Wants to Beat Us Down and Make Us Afraid

The devil came to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10); his agenda is to intimidate and harass us with fear. We wouldn’t tolerate any other kind of harassment; neither should we tolerate this. When Satan dumps something on us, hoping that we’ll meekly accept it, we need to get aggressive and proactive in refusing to accept it. We need to open our mouth and declare the Word; we’re “Psalm 91-equipped.”

We’re in a spiritual battle for our minds. The enemy knows that if he can infiltrate our minds with fear, he can control our lives; this is happening around us now. He wants us afraid to reach out to hurting people, to minister to them, and even to trust God. In this fight, we must stand on His Word, and we can’t back down now.

Thinking About Something Brings It to Pass

One of the promises we have is that we’re the righteousness of God. It’s not because of anything we’ve done, but what Jesus did and our belief in that. “In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee” (Isaiah 54:14). Flipping this over, being fearful opens the door for terror and oppression to enter in, and we begin to doubt our righteousness. However, there’s no reason to be afraid because God Himself has declared otherwise.

We can take a lesson here from Job, who meditated on all the bad things that could happen until he became fearful and allowed them entrance into his life. “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25). We don’t have to be subject to fear; the choice is ours. Just because it’s knocking at the door doesn’t mean we have to welcome it in and submit to it. It’s powerless against people who have confidence in God’s Word and keep it uppermost in their minds.

We Can Walk Either in Fear or in Faith

If we cave in to terror, it’s because we decided to. We don’t have to constantly tune in to the news reports about crime, violence, the economy, and the latest wave of diseases scientists discovered. The more we focus on that, the bigger it gets in our minds. Letting fear dominate our thinking attracts the very thing we’re afraid of.

One fear has a way of introducing another fear, and then another and another, until we’re practically afraid to even leave home. God wants us to walk in His peace; fear will torment us constantly and disrupt that peace. Therefore, we must be purposeful about what we focus on.  

Our words are powerful: opening our mouths and speaking the Word when we feel fear trying to come on us is like loading a weapon and firing it. It does no good to just think about it but keep quiet. Fear wants to kill us, but God’s Word is life; what to speak is up to us. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Proverbs 18:21).

Believers have power over the fears that hold the world captive. We can be at peace in our daily routines because we can trust God to keep us safe. When terror spreads everywhere, His Word gives us victory over it!