Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Max Lucado
The Knowledge of the Truth
For those who have a good understanding of the Bible, they have less fear because of what they’ve read. The more you read the Bible the more your fears should subside and eventually fade away. The Apostle Paul wrote, “you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father” (Rom 8:15)! Those who fear God have no reason to fear man.
The Shield of Faith
If we take up the shield of faith to fight against the wicked spirits in high places, we are in a better position to defend ourselves from the wicked darts thrown our way from the enemy. Paul reminds us to “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Eph 6:16). The point is that we must take it up as God won’t do it for us.
A Perfect Love
The Apostle John writes that for those who love God, there should be no fear at all, as he writes “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1st John 4:18). We have had the punishment due us placed on Christ for us so we shouldn’t fear because fear has to do with punishment and God has not appointed us unto wrath (1st Thess 5:9).
No more Fears
Paul reminds us that we didn’t receive a spirit of fear but a spirit of love, and now, being the children of God, we have no more reason to fear since because our Father has removed the wrath of God that was abiding on us when we disbelieved in Christ (John 3:36b) and “this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world” (1st John 4:17). It’s hard to be fearful when you have confidence in the Day of Judgment.
Conclusion
We can use our faith to knock down the weapons of fear because we have God as our Father, we have the shield of faith to knock down the enemies fiery darts, we have a love that should do away with our fears, and we can rest in confidence that on the Day of Judgment, we’ll be found not guilty because of what Christ has done for us.
