Topic: Overcome your Fears
Text: Judges 6
Key verse: Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power. He blew a ram’s horn as a call to arms, and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him.
The book of Judges has a record of all the people God raised to deliver Israel from the hand of the enemies that surrounded them in Canaan. Every time they sinned God gave them into the hands of those who oppressed them until they cried out to God. Gideon was one of those Judges. His story gives us a bit of insight into the issues God deals with in the life of the man he will use for exploits.
They had become accustomed to losing their harvest and suffering that he found it difficult to believe the word of the Lord that he could be an instrument of deliverance for Israel. His present reality did not look like anything they had heard about how God treated his people in former times. God fought for Israel in Egypt, God performed several miracles for them but now all those signs had ceased.
One of the results of Trauma in people is Fear. There are different kinds of fear. Gideon feared the Midianites, the worshippers of Baal, had fear of death and of failure. Every kind of fear has costs and consequences.
He had to hide to harvest his crop, he had to obey God\’s command at night and he had to put God to test with a fleece before he could believe God’s ability to use him.
Notice that even after the Spirit came upon him and the people had gathered to support him, he still had fear of failure. Fear is not of God, it has torment and it manifests in different ways; anxiety, timidity, indecision, worry, suspicion, over aggressiveness, depression etc. The Spirit controlled temperament by Tim Lahaye gives a detailed teaching on how this enemy limits the believer from working in victory and becoming a vessel God can use.
I overcame different manifestations of fear at different seasons of my life, even though l was filled with the Spirit of God. Depending on your temperament, you will exhibit fear in one or more of the ways mentioned above. Fear is a form of darkness and Satan resides in darkness. Fear will cost you emotionally, physically, and spiritually because your decisions will be influenced by your fear rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Turn the light on your fears today and you will be filled with faith in what God can do for you and through you. Fear is a spirit you have to cast it out. But it is the word of God hidden in your heart and spoken on your lips that keep it out! For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline
What experiences have you had that exposed your fears? Job said…
“What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.” Turn to the Lord with those fears and receive help in Jesus name. Amen
Roses & Thorns