Our President has said with brilliant wisdom,
"Freedom and Fear are at war."

This is a spiritual battle as well as a national one.
A very personal and entirely private war
of each - and every - person.
To the degree we win the personal war, to that degree we
win the international war.

The great repentance in our midst must be of fear.

THE FIRST CRISIS - FEAR
These are days that demand faith and days are perhaps coming
"when men's hearts will fail them for fear." Luke 21:26

There is a space of time to repent of
the heinous sin,
the great insult to God,
the suicidal evil
of . . . FEAR.

Isa. 43:2-5a NAS
But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are Mine!
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . 
Since you are precious in my sight,
Since you are honored and I love you.
Do not fear, for I am with you.

THE ENEMY IS FEAR
The enemy of my soul's peace is never circumstance,
it is fear.
The breakdown of my faith is never doubt,
it is fear.
The destruction of my life is never "others'" sins.
I destroy my own potential through fear.

When Gideon built his army, the Lord would not
let the fearful fight the battle.
"Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return
and depart from Mount Gilead. So 22,000 people
returned, but 10,000 remained." Judges 7:3 NAS

Fear is dangerous in war.
Why?
Because fear believes in disaster.
Fear is confident of defeat.
Terror is blind to God's power.
And the fearful - in hysterical self saving -
will clutch and strangle the faithful!

The person who lives by fear goes to self-pity and
self-pity moves to self-preservation
and self-preservation is self-centeredness
that disregards any other life,
will sacrifice another life . . . to save itself.

Fear is disorder to God's order of warriors.
Of 32,000 soldiers, more than two-thirds were glad to
save their own skin . . . in a false safety . . . at home.

Fear would rather let the Midianites have it than face them
down and be free.
Freedom and fear are at war in your soul.
 

FEAR IS NEGATIVE FAITH
The enemy of faith is fear . . . not doubt.
Doubt is wondering, a door still open to hear reality,
but fear! Fear is absolute confidence in . . . disaster.
Fear is faith in the negative and like fixed cement
is hardened in its negative position. 

FEAR IS A FAMILY MATTER
Whole families live under the dominion of fear.
Fear is a family heritage, passed from parent to child.
Deliberate terror is instilled in children as:
the means of control and
the excuse for tyranny.

Terror is inherited as a way of life, and taught
as a ruling dynasty passed on . . . and on.

The fire of the soul is snuffed out by dread.
Fear renders you
dead to the joy of the present day,
ever complicating the simplicity of human existence.
Fear locks you in the knowable past and
freezes you toward a future of dread.

ISOLATION
The enemy whispers the doctrine of terror and
should you fail to fight the lies,
fear becomes the prison of your own creation.
Destiny becomes a distant glimpse through the tiny slit in
walls that fear constructs to stay safely distant
from life and relationships.

ENEMY STRATEGY
Terror is the enemy's scheme against humanity
but the goal is to discredit God as Father,
powerful and present.
Fear becomes confidence in God's weakness
and worse: His cold indifference. 

HIDING IN PRIDE
Fear-unconfessed hides under pride.
Insidious superiority and mean belligerence
becomes the iron shield of hiding fear
against all Love and Truth.

Integrity is laid aside for a sword of
piercing words and looks
meant - not to protect - but to kill . . . first!

Rage is the child of fear.

Weakness is intolerable to fear so
vicious strengths are built to fend off the
imagined crisis of . . . not getting your own way! 

FEAR IS INEXCUSABLE
Though Jesus was patient with the disciples' ignorance
and long-suffering with their dullness,
He had no tolerance for their fears.

In the violent storm on a precarious ship, riding
a swelling sea - even there - Jesus expected they
should believe His command,
"Let us go to the other side,"
and His rebuke was humiliatingly stern.

Fear is now a grave sin of unbelief, a symptom of rebellion,
inexcusable in the face of "so great a salvation."

Fear is normal to humanity
but unconscionable in the born-again believer.
"Be anxious for nothing."
A command, clear and permitting no exception.

The man who buried the talent of his divine responsibility,
did so out of . . . FEAR! (Matt. 25)
And his bitter fruit, regret in darkness.

Fear is not benign.
Fear is deadly.
Jesus' answer exposed the view of God on fear,
"you wicked, lazy slave." Matt. 25:26 

Fear is self destructive and malignant to others.
Fear is deadly.

The root of evil is an "innocent" stance - just human -
that we seldom call . . . sin!
That innocuous attitude we pet and foster.
Fear, petted and believed, turns into outright evil.
The root of evil is . . . fear!

Fear is deadly. 

INSTRUMENT OF FEAR
Fear is slavery to Satan, and makes you
not only the slave of fear but the instrument of it as well.
And the lies of terror are his cruel means of capture.

When you are captured by Fear Itself,
you want company in your dread and
sympathy for your panic.
So fear is your demand of others and
your sinister invasion of their souls.

Harm and evil being your focus, Satan is your lord.

THE VICTORY IS NOW - THE BATTLE IS WON
Our Lord Jesus freed us from our sins but also from
the core bondage of all humanity . . . the fear of death.
And that fear, clearly from Satan, is destroyed because he is!


Since the children have flesh and blood,
He too shared in their humanity
so that by his death he might destroy
him who holds the power of death - that is the devil -
and free those who all their lives were held in
slavery by their fear of death.
Heb. 2:14 NIV

JESUS GAVE THE GIFT
Our Jesus entered the terror of being human,
- the horror of facing death -
and broke the power of fear! For us!

Rom. 8:15 NAS
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again,
but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
"Abba! Father!"

2 Tim. 1:7 NIV
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power,
of love and of self-discipline.

Jesus experienced such terror and dread of the cross
that to surrender to its agony took
great strivings of His soul to the very sweating of blood.
He took our terror of death and conquered all fear.
That is His gift and His victory.

FEAR INTO FAITH

I sought the Lord, and He answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
their faces are never covered with shame.
Ps. 34:4, 5 NIV

Fear is conquered on your knees.
Being sin, it is easily solved.
Simple solution by the Blood of the Lamb.
Fear is no longer inevitable. It is defeated.
The evil power behind fear, has been broken. 

Faith is gained through a choice to believe,
holding truth-in-scripture to your heart
and surrender to the Spirit of God
in whom is NO FEAR.

LOVE IS THE ANSWER
We fearful lambs need God's Love, that perfect power
against and over terror. 

There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
I John 4:18 NIV

The humble need His love.
The honest let themselves be taken by the
pursuit of Love.
Love imparts such assurance of this God of Love,
that fear cannot co-exist in its presence. 

GOD HIMSELF
God is merciful to our human frailty,
ever present for the comfort of our trembling soul.

If we will listen,
He ever speaks to the troubled heart, His own remedy to fear.
Isa. 43 is only one of countless passages that give
the True Solution to fear: God Himself . . . .

He is with me - personal and present.
He loves me.
He is reigning over storm and fire.
He protects me.
He is victorious.
I belong to Him and

He is God!

Copyright © 2001 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick