Why do we have fear?
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” These are the words spoken by Franklin Roosevelt, one of the US Presidents back in the day, and the truth of the matter is we should not fear, we should have no fear of anything in our lives.
With God’s Holy Spirit within us, fear should never enter into our lives. Who or what could oppose God and his authority and power?
It was back 50 something years ago, when I was a teenager, that I first heard that quote. It immediately caused me to stop and think about what it meant.
What he said made perfect sense to me so, I picked up my Bible to see what it had to say, and I saw for my self, seven times God tells the people of Israel to fear not, and seven times Jesus tells the same thing to his disciples and the people. From that time I fear absolutely nothing.
Often as Christians we are told that we should “Fear the Lord”; But every time I hear this, I end up asking myself these questions.
Why should I fear my Creator Almighty God, who is also my Father? Respect should never translate into fear.
If my God is a God of “LOVE” if indeed God is “LOVE” what is there to fear?
Indeed My Father Almighty God is worthy of my respect, but is respect to be translated into “Fear”? I think not. As a matter of fact, if one stops to think about it, if you fear someone it is usually because they intimidate you or they might harm you. That definitely does not translate into respect.
Often when talking with others they mention that they fear this or they fear that, and I ask them; Why?
My response always goes to the fact that God and Jesus promise us that we have nothing to fear, because there is nothing that God cannot handle, so if we give the situation whatever it might be, up to God, He’ll take care of it.
Twenty times, in both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we are instructed to “Fear Not” so if God is telling us not to fear for anything, why don’t we listen and obey?
Many a time as I visit people who are sick with life-threatening illnesses like cancer, or Lucemia, or heart diseases, they know that I smoke, and they ask me if I’m not afraid that some disease might attack me.
My answer is blunt, plain and simple to the point.
No! No! I have no fear for any life threatening disease, No I am not afraid of death or of dying, and as a matter of fact since death for a Christian means eternal life in heaven with Our Father, I would welcome death, and I look forward to it.
Fear is a tool of Satan the Devil. He uses it to try and get our attention away from God and focused upon him. By doing this he can mess with our minds in so many different ways but we do not have to permit this to happen. Turn to God and the Devil will flee.
There are many dangers in life such as fire, flooding, dangerous drivers, and many other various dangerous and disastrous and fatal things that maybe might enter our lives, but, the only disaster that we must concern ourselves with is; if the Devil gets control of our godly spirit. If that happens, we could lose our contact with Almighty God for eternity, and that definitely is something to fear, not to have God in our life ever again.