Ask the Pastor 17

How do we overcome fear?

In his first inaugural address in 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”This statement was made when the great depression was going at full force.Today, we have other reasons to fear, but this same truth remains, that so many are afraid, simply because they are afraid.However, the Bible gives us an entirely different perspective, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7).The spirit of fear is a bondage, it paralyzes, people so that they stop living because of fear, because living includes risk of all kinds.In contrast we have been given power, that is power which is inherit in its nature to cast off the bondage of fear and replace it with bold confidence in the Lord our God.Next, we have His love, that we are held safe and secure within the frame work of His love and He is, in fact, doing all things for our good.Then we have been given a sound mind.There is so much nonsense being propagated all around us, nothing makes sense, but we who belong to the Lord Jesus by faith, have a mental discipline to see clearly and reasonably.Finally, we have that great hope before us that absent from the body is present with the Lord, heaven is not a bad deal.Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to set you free from the bondage of fear.