Focus: An Enemy Called Fear

Text: 1Jh.4:18

"Fear hath torment."

There are three supreme graces of the Christian Faith, namely, faith, hope and love - 1Cor.13:13. By faith we relate with God. By hope we look forward to God's future, and by love we surge and bubble with God's life in the now, for what is life without love?

But the presence of fear unsettles and spoils all three. Fear is tormenting. The Greek word for torment is translated as punishment in Matthew 25:46. Fear brings punishment the moment you let it enter your life. It causes torture and injury to your soul.

Fear works against FAITH. It makes believing God extremely difficult. It sows the seeds of doubts and unbelief. Faith exits the moment fear enters.

When His disciples could not cast out a demon from a young man, Jesus sadly exclaimed, "O faithless...generation! Bring him hither to me" - Mt.17:17.

After Jesus had calmed the storm, He said, "Why are ye so FEARFUL? how is it that ye have NO FAITH?" - Mk.4:40. So you see that fear and faith cannot coexist. God's power flows through faith, but fear blocks it.

HOPE is hard to exercise in the presence of fear. Fear of the future kills hope. Fear makes you lose hope.

True LOVE is not possible in the presence of fear. With fear on the throne of our hearts we cannot love freely and fully. John says, "He that feareth is not made perfect in love," and he goes on to say, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear" - 1Jh.4:18. We fail to love because of fear. We also fail to go far or all the way in our love for fear. We are suspicious and hold back in our love due to fear. We can't fully express our love for fear of being misunderstood or hurt.

Fear is our terrible enemy. It makes the practice of virtue extremely hard and ruins our most cherished graces of faith, hope and love.

Go back to Genesis 3 and see that fear is the byproduct of sin. And Paul adds that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" - Rom.14:23.

I have this good news for you that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" - 2Tim.1:7.

So kick fear out of your life right NOW! Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter