Overcoming fear

II Timothy 1:7 (Amplified Bible)

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. 

The Bible is very clear by its persistent repetition throughout its pages that if you are a child of God, you are never to fear anyone or anything except Him (and to fear Him means to honor and reverence Him, not hide or cower from Him).  One clear indication that you are filled and being led by the Holy Spirit is when you absolutely feel no fear, no timidity, no cowardice about anyone or anything around you.  Can you honestly admit this?  Or, must you admit that you live much of your life in fear? 

You must not give up or give in.  God is always at work in you (Phil 1:6).  He has given you His Holy Spirit once you sincerely confessed Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord (Eph 1:13).  The Spirit wants to fill you completely, but there are many obstacles to this happening for any sustained period of time and some of those main obstacles are flesh-borne, sometimes irrational fears that you’ve accumulated your whole life. 

For many years I had a great fear of roller coasters.  I would not get on them and didn’t care that others thought less of me for having such fear.  One time while chaperoning a youth group on a Kings Island trip, there was one girl who did not have a partner to ride The Beast with her.  She asked me to ride with her.  Of course, at first I resisted, but, candidly, my male ego started to bother me that here a 13-year old girl wasn’t afraid yet this near 40 year old man was.  So, I reluctantly agreed to get on the roller coaster with her and fear overwhelmingly gripped my heart.  As the roller coaster zoomed down that first precipice, I was white as a sheet and wanted to throw up.  This young girl looked at me, saw that I was in trouble and said something like, “Mr. Akers, just scream your lungs out”.  Well, I did and you know what happened?  All the tension and stress and fear just dissipated from my body and soul.  From that point on, I had no problems riding roller coasters because I learned how to deal with the fear of them. 

Perhaps a poor analogy, but my illustration points out that outward screaming replaced inward fear.  In Paul’s words to Timothy, the Spirit of God—all His power and love and calmness and discipline and self-control—will replace whatever inwardly causes you to fear.  God brings His Spirit from outside of you to inside of you and replaces whatever inside of you is anti-God and being fearful and timid is anti-God.

So, how might you apply this verse right now?  What are you afraid of?  Ask God to fill you with His Spirit to enable you to overcome that fear.  Who are you afraid of?  Instead of you on your own facing that person, think of the power of God facing that person.  Story after story of Christians facing persecution and death with unwavering courage substantiate the truth that these Christians were filled with the Spirit of God who removed all their fears and replaced those fears with power and love and discipline.  He will do the same for anyone who asks Him for help in facing whatever causes you fear, whatever makes you timid, whoever threatens to make you a coward.