Fearlessly Courageous

Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8/26/2021

The Spiritual Fight against Anxiety and Fear!

The Spiritual Fight against Anxiety and Fear!

Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong".

I know a family member who struggles with their anxieties and fear and becomes so overwhelmed that they go into what many call a panic attack. They know God, they serve in church but it seems impossible for them to put their trust in Christ during these stressful moments. They, like too many of us, try to deal with this in their own strength and their capacity to survive. But they fail to see they are dealing with a spiritual attack. You can’t defend against a spiritual assault with human weapons of will and determination. You are fighting out of your league! Until we can STOP… lay down our fears at the foot of the cross, and begin to take God’s promises inside we will end turning to medications to help us cope. (I know there are cases when that is needed) But today people are so quick to medicate when they should be meditating on God’s word. In the scripture above he is very clear, God is content with your weaknesses, persecutions, and your calamities…Why? Because when we are weak then Christ shows up strong in you and through you.

Do you remember the story of Gideon? He sent out messengers to gather together men from the tribes, in order to meet an armed force of the people of Midian and the Amalek that had crossed the Jordan River to destroy Israel. But God informed Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many – with so many men, there would be reason for the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them. God first instructed Gideon to send home those men who were afraid. Gideon invited any man who wanted to leave, to do so; 22,000 men returned home and 10,000 remained. Yet with the number, God told Gideon they were still too many and instructed him to bring them to the water. All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side. The number of those that lapped up the water raised to their mouths by hand was three hundred, but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. [14] Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.” (Judges 7:4–7). There was peace in Israel for 40 years during the life of Gideon.

This was a matter of life and death for Israel and their wives and children. Probably much more of a dire situation than the one you might be overwhelmed by. But God continues to tell us in both the old and new testament…

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”.

Why is it we are such stubborn people and try to fix things ourselves? Why do we continue to think WE can handle a battle with fear and anxiety. (Or any spiritual attack we may be facing.) We know on some level that they are spiritual attacks but cannot let go of our habitual and stubborn ways of turning to ourselves to fix it vs trusting in God to deliver us? We just can’t believe God!

1 John 1:5-10 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Holding onto our fear and anxiety is walking in darkness…He clearly states that when we do this we are lying to ourselves and to God and man about our supposed walk of faith. We must confess our sin of self-dependence. We must come against the spirit of fear with the word of God and declare his truth. Just like Gideon we must face the enemy with the light of scripture and be prepared to die to ourselves. Yes, it will be painful. Dying to self…hurts! But that is the battle we face forever. Our flesh crying out for recognition and satisfaction in the face of love, peace, and joy in Christ Jesus. We are so fast to try and fix our hurt feelings, or our feeling of need from losing something we had or want… that we forget we were placed here to glorify God 1st and foremost.

When we submit our lives to Jesus… When we trust him implicitly then we learn about the joy of serving Christ. We learn about relationship with God vs just relationships with man.

Your vulnerability is your strength. Your vulnerability allows God’s light to shine through your wounds. It allows the purity of the Holy Spirit to come through your surrender. It becomes more of him and gladly less of me.

Would you pray with us for an hour this week along with your family? Be obedient, be faithful and be humble before God! Let Go and give it to God!

Loren Daigle Rescue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYR0xP1j4PY