Fear.........
The enemy put a thought into Eves head that led her to sin.
She disobeyed Gods commandment and led Adam to do the same. From then on their eyes were opened and they had knowledge of good and evil.
When Adam heard God walking in the cool of the day they hid themselves. When God called out for them, Adam answered that they hid themselves because they were naked.
The devil gave us the spirit of fear. It did not come from God. God gave us the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.
What knowledge does is make us be aware of what we can do and achieve but also of what can hurt or harm us.
Adam and Eve knew they were naked from the knowledge that they had, from eating of the forbidden fruit. From the knowledge came fear.
But it was not a fear of disobeying God. It was a fear of what they looked like and who they were. They sewed aprons together to cover their nakedness. All that time the knowledge to obey God was not retained in their minds but they were now going by their own understanding.
Adam did not say he hid because he was afraid of the punishment of what he had done, but because he was naked. It was about him and not about God. Fear makes us think about our selves and not about God.
Many in church do not fear God. It leads them to take lightly the penalty of disobeying God. It leads some to go back into the world or take on worldliness and bring it into the church. They are led to forget about God. They no longer reverence him. He becomes last in the list of priorities in life, making us forget that without him there is no life, just death.
From fear comes jealousy, hatred, pain strife torment. All the things that are not of God. In Gods love there is no torment.
1st John chapter 4 verse 18 "There is no fear in love;but perfect love casteth out fear:because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
Fear separates us from God because we no longer trust that God can save us or deliver us. We even forget about God altogether. When you do not trust God you are led to trust in things that cannot help or sustain and will not last like money, the cares of this world.
We begin to love things that we can find no comfort in. Things that make us yearn to feel safe and secure but are short term and quickly spent out. Gods love is strength in a time of trouble. It satisfies and comforts. It gives you warmth and identity. A place to call home. Knowing that someone loves you brings happiness and contentment. You know someone is always there for you.
The cares of this world, what we think is good and not Gods goodness, leads to more fear and you find yourself going deeper into ruin. You can love money. But the fear is that you will never have enough. The more bills you pay, the more stress you find yourself in having to find more money to pay the bills. Even if you find yourself mega rich you will find that the joy is not in money. You will still yearn to have substance to your life. You will desire a goal. Something to give your life meaning. Money cannot say I love you. Being rich and being alone is the worse thing that you can have in this life. setting your heart on money makes you deny yourself the happiness of being content with what you have. It stops you from relying on God to provide what you need. You will value money more then God and loosing that money, the FEAR of loosing that money, leads to covetousness which is not of God.
1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves though with many sorrows"
You have erred from the faith because you are afraid of loosing what you have instead of the greatest fear of loosing God in your life.
The enemy made Eve love and desire something not of God. And it led to her and Adam being thrown out of the garden of Eden and their relationship with God. Sin separated them.
The devil planted into us his thoughts his desires. The worst thing he did was give us an option.
Soemthing else to consider. An option that led us away from God.
You cannot love God and yet be in torment. If you love God, you are in him and he in you. There is no relationship with God if you are afraid. The perfect love of God casts out fear. If you love God your filled with his spirit and will be led by him into all truth. When you know the truth of something then you do not have to fear. All Adam and Eve knew was God. Until the enemy came and gave them something else to know. But what they knew made them afraid and so they hid themselves from God. The lie made them inherit fear. Faith in Jesus breaks that fear and re-establishes a relationship with God. Faith in Jesus sets us free from sin and being afraid. Faith in his promise of eternal life which can only be found in Jesus.
Do we in the church hide ourselves away from doing the work of the great commission? Are we afraid of change if we save the souls of people not of the same skin colour or from a different background? Are we afraid of change? Has the church programme, the routine of service, become our veil which we hide behind?? Is it our apron that Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness what we use today to hide from God in the house of God??
Luke chapter 24 verse 47 "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
When we are afraid to tell people about the gospel of Christ because of fear of what they might do or say then we are letting the enemy win and control us. We are being separated from God and doing his work, obeying his commandments. We cannot say we love God and yet not follow his commandments so fear separates us from loving God.
When we are afraid in church to go to the altar for deliverance we are letting the enemy win. Fear of passing exams, fear of failing, fear of not being good enough, fear of loneliness, fear to change, fear to step out, fear to declare our love for God, to speak in tongues, fear to live to the glory of God. Is fear killing our relationship with God??
Fear of David becoming king led Saul to jealousy and rage and hatred. Fear made Peter deny Jesus three times. Fear made The ten spies come back with an evil report about the land that God had promised them. (Numbers chapter 13) They were afraid of the people in the land. How big they were and how huge they looked and how they looked compared to them. But Caleb and Joshua had faith in God.
Fear delays our blessing and leads us to separate ourselves from God. How can he can help us in our lives to find happiness and peace if we are afraid to believe he can do it?? Trusting in God, having good courage and knowing God through faith is the way to overcome fear. In Jesus we have power over death itself. We have the promise of eternal life. We do not have to be afraid of death. It has no hold on us.
We have inherited it. But because of Jesus we do not have to live by it. For if you love God you cast out fear. And in the presence of God there is no fear but eternal peace.
Fear bound us, but now by grace we can bind it and be free. In Jesus we have liberty.
