Called out by God but are you Hedged in by Fear?

Called out by God but are you Hedged in by Fear?

By Mary Ann Wray

“I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”  Psalms 34: 4

Fears…we all face them or deal with them at one time or another. Sometimes they are warranted, like the fear of wild-fire, deep waters without proper equipment, heights without a strong supporting platform or plane, and certain people who are known abusers. That is a natural self-preservation that God emplaced within us for protection but a problem arises when we’ve been hurt and fear boxes us in from moving in the complete freedom God has ordained for us. We can develop and unhealthy self-preservation rather than placing our trust in the One who can deliver us from evil. The Bible has a lot to say about fear. The word fear is used 400 times in 385 verses. What we need to understand is that we can allow our fears to rule us or rule over fear by giving it to God and doing what He shows us to do through the spiritual weapons Jesus gave us.

The study of psychology has identified many different types of fears or phobias such as fear of crowds, heights, bugs, closed places and a host of others…too many to mention here. While these types of phobias can be debilitating they deal with the temporal or earthly realm. They too originate in the mind and are very real. However, there are fears brought on by the enemy of our souls that are spiritual in nature and can paralyze a person’s destiny in the kingdom of God if not dealt with spiritually. 2 Corinthians 10 tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are might through God to the pulling down of strongholds! 

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”  2 Corinthians 10: 3-6

There is the Hebrew word yare' for fear used in the context of the fear of the Lord (Psalm 111: 10). It means to stand in awe, to reverence and respect. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Without the fear of the Lord we’ll act a fool all the way to hell without any wholesome respect for who God is and His standard of moral righteousness that He desires us to press towards through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to his word.

But then there is the word 'eymah meaning terror or dread. It is used in the context that God causes terror to come upon His enemies which would then send them into confusion and make them bolt and run! This is not the kind of fear God wants His children to have or react to. In fact, James 4: 7 tells us that if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us! The word pheugō flee here means to seek safety by flight, to flee (to shun or avoid by flight) something abhorrent to vanish with the connotation of a fugitive!  The enemy wants us to dread certain people, places, and things that the Lord commands us to love or pursue in order to keep us from advancing the Kingdom of God. Are you going to let the enemy do that to you? It should be the other way around beloved!

I recently heard a great acronym for F.E.A.R……Forget Everything and Retreat OR you can Face Everything and Rise! We can’t always prevent fear from coming at us but we can choose how we handle it!

David had many fears to face and conquer. He was called as a young boy, anointed by the prophet Samuel and ordained by God to be King. He wasn’t wise in his own eyes. He was a humble shepherd. Yet he slayed his ten thousands while Saul his thousands. However, he found himself the target of cruel jealousy, misunderstandings and false judgment’s many times over. That my friend is the price we pay many times doing the right thing. Don’t be dismayed when you fall into trouble for doing the things God tells you. It’s a sign you’re headed in the right direction! David was abused by the one he served but he didn’t allow the abuse he suffered to keep him back from his God ordained destiny.

Most of the Psalms were written by him. They not only reflect his fears but most importantly they show us how he handled them as an example to follow. He didn’t internalize them to the point of complete polarization. He didn’t mull over them to the point of utter misery or allow his fears to paralyze him permanently. He was a man after God’s own heart, so whatever his heart was facing or dealing with, he directed his prayers and attention to the Lord through every struggle and decision he made save a few such as his moral failure with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her spouse: 2 Samuel 11 and his daughter Tamar’s rape: 2 Samuel 13: 10.  

There were times when David’s fear overpowered him and he fell into self-pity and a woe is me attitude. But he quickly turned it around by focusing on the One who would deliver him rather than focus on the one who was oppressing him! See what he said in Psalms 42…

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will  remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Vs 5-6   “I say to God my Rock, Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Vs. 9-11

You could say David was struggling with fear, anxiety and depression here! Some psychologists might even label King David as ‘bi-polar’ because he demonstrated with so many ups and downs within his emotions. But David was passionate about serving God; passion carries a hefty price at times. However, David knew how to tap into the presence of God because he knew the PERSON! God was not the source of his anxiety, fear and trouble. God was not the instigator of those fiery trials. Satan was through the hardened hearts of men. David knew God was his remedy! 

Some of us need to forgive God…not that He did anything wrong, but sometimes we blame HIM for the trouble. You’re blaming the wrong Father…the father of lies is the source of darkness, fear, trouble, anxiety, pain and sin. When Adam and Eve fell and God interrogated them, Adam blamed Eve. But Eve put the blame right where it belonged. She said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” (Genesis 3: 12-13). That’s how the serpent works my friends-through deception. He wants us to ingest his lies so that our lives will produce death instead of God’s zoe life. Don’t put the blame God and others but recognize the father of lies has been at work and seeks to captivate you through fear. Rise up in righteous indignation against your enemy and kick his tail in Jesus’ name!

Because of the fall, mankind is born with a degenerated spiritual heart condition that can only be remedied through the cross. That’s how we must look at trouble caused by others. There is some area or areas where satan has gotten in to them through lies and deception and caused havoc. If we are honest with ourselves, we have areas where the enemy gets into our minds and thoughts too as we struggle with sin and bad attitudes. That’s why only Jesus could say this: “For the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,” John 14: 30b. The rest of humanity must learn to submit to the cross and obey God’s instructions if we want to walk in victory! Otherwise, we give place to the devil and if we do he will gladly take his place in us!

“In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. “ Ephesians 4: 26-27

Beloved, we MUST understand when dealing with fear, no matter where it came from or how tight a grip it may have on us, that Jesus IS the remedy and the devil is the cause! God was there when the awful things happened to you that made you fear to begin with. 

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4: 18

The first step in breaking out of the hold of fear is admittance. Hopefully, through this article you are recognizing an area or areas of fear that the enemy is binding you in. Perhaps it is the fear of rejection, fear of loss, fear of man, fear of failure, fear of more hurt or retaliation etc. But face them head on, forgive your oppressors and pray for the courage to break free using the Word of God as your weapon of offense. Next DO what you know you need to do or called to do even if it means doing it afraid. Take authority over that spirit that would try to hold you back and hedge you in from what you know God has called you to do. Let God arise and His enemies be scattered! Psalms 68:1