God gave humans fear in order to protect us and to make stronger those who love Him. The world, and the evil that rules in it, uses fear to strike down people until they are in complete submission and give up their freedom.
God gave humans fear in order to protect us and to make stronger those who love Him. The world, and the evil that rules in it, uses fear to strike down people until they are in complete submission and give up their freedom.
(This is a computer generated transcript of this podcast. This is NOT a typed transcript and it has not been edited. Expect grammatical and syntactical errors.)
Hello and good day. It's so good to have you here with me today. I am B. R. Maul and you are listening to Living God's Way in an Ungodly World. Today I want to focus on a topic that is so evident in today's society, and that is fear. Fear is a tool of God, but it is also used as a weapon by the world. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'm going to dig into this more in what God says about fear, what we are warned about with fear, and also how fear can be a positive thing can be a good thing.
But let's start by taking an overall view of fear. Something that it's quite natural. There is no way for us to get to a point in our life where we are completely fearless. I say that right away because I want all of us to be realistic, and I say all of us, I'm talking born again believers. If you are not a born again believer, Unfortunately, you have every reason to live in fear because of the fear of the unknown, the fear of that what's right around the corner that you need to tackle on your own.
This message is directed to my brothers and sisters in the faith, those who are born again and are following our Heavenly Father. This is a pretty deep subject. And I feel compelled to pray openly for our guidance. I say openly because I pray every day and I speak to our Heavenly Father for guiding me and, and really all that I do. But I want to share this prayer with you. So if you would please pray with me. Obviously, if you're driving, keep your eyes open and focused on the road.
Heavenly Father, I thank you so much. For life that you have given us. You have designed life in every way, shape, and form. And it's all beyond even our imagination. There is still so much about life that we don't understand that is unexplored and that's okay because you are all knowing. And that is what gives us great security. But at the same time, heavenly Father, there are so many who are living in fear, brothers and sisters in the faith who love Jesus Christ, and who are born again, who are dedicated to him, and yet they carry fear over from day-to-day. And that's because our fears are real. Each and every day we have issues, trials. Things that happen in our life that you permit to happen in order to strengthen us. But it's so easy for us to lose track of you, to take our sight off of our savior Jesus Christ, and be consumed by the moments of this world. So help me Lord, in this topic of fear. To help my brothers and sisters to better understand well what it is and what you say about it, and so how we can use fear as a tool to become closer to you and how we can overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit fear that the world continues to try so desperately to grip us with and to enslave us. I pray this through the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fear, it's something God built into us and everyone fears something, and fear because God built it into us, can be detrimental to our very survival. Uh, what does psychology call it? Fight or flight when something startles us in just a split of a second.
We can jump into a mode of we are ready to either fight or flee to run. And it is this adrenaline, it is this defensive system that God has built in that allows us to do that. So fear like so many things in and of itself is not a bad thing. And it's particularly important that I point out that our emotions are not a bad thing.
Our emotions are much of who we are, but it is how we respond using those emotions that be placed in right or wrong categories. And the same thing with fear, because as I have titled this particular podcast is Fear is God's tool, but the world's Weapon. Well, let's take out some of the basics here. Fight or flight psychology has put together phobias.
And a phobia is something that we, a person is extremely afraid of. Almost paralyzing some of the more popular one. Arachnophobia. It's intense fear of spiders and other arachnids, ophidiophobia and intense fear of snakes. Acrophobia is an intense fear of heights. I know many people who are afraid of heights, Aerophobia, an intense fear of flying.
Cynophobia an intense fear of dogs. Astrophobia is an intense fear of thunder and lightning and Tripanophobia. An intense fear of injections. Those people, when it comes time to get a shot, and this is intense fear, phobias are ones that are extremely intense. I mean, myself, I hate spiders. I really do. I don't like spiders. Like many people who don't like spiders, maybe it's just because of the eight legs and how they move around. It's just kind of weird, you know, front, back, sideways, they can jump. Uh, just almost everything about spiders. It's like, no, thank you. But I wouldn't say it's an phobia. It doesn't prevent me from, you know, cleaning a house or my shop doing things.
If I see a spider, I'm not like frozen. I don't know what to do. But there are people who have that. And this intense fear of certain, uh, objects or things can certainly get in the way of day-to-day living and is an example of an unhealthy fear. But at the same time, the fear of a barking dog. Have you ever been just maybe walking in the neighborhood or going up to a friend's or family's house?
And I've had it happen where I didn't know maybe their neighbor had a dog and didn't even see the dog, and it was outside behind a fence, and all of a sudden it starts to bark and I jump, it startles me and there's that fear of what, what? What just happened? And there's that fight or flight, I'm ready to protect myself or to take off running, and that's the healthy part of fear.
Well, we're not going to focus on that, on those items, on those phobias. We're going to focus more on the fact that many people live their whole life in fear, and that fear consumes people. That fear gets in the way of day-to-day living, and that fear suppresses withholds and consumes people. And the problem is, it's not like the fight or flight reaction that we get, that once it's over, it goes away.
This ongoing fear stays with people. Let's take a look at a list of those type of fears that is common and paralyzing to many people. The fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of rejection, the fear of other people's opinions, the fear of public speaking, the fear of being alone, the fear of commitment, the fear of missing out, and…the fear of death. Those are some pretty common ones. There's obviously a lot more, but those are some common ones that I found that I believe a lot of people can relate to. But Beloved, we have other fears that are on a greater scale because of the times that we live in, and they're more recent because of this globalism.
This movement by the globalists, the elites to control the world, the fear of corruption of government. And as an American, I really, for the first time in my life, I'm living it. Not just seeing it on the news with other countries, but I'm seeing it for myself. It's in my own government tyranny. These lying ruthless.
Rulers around the world that will do anything for power and control. There's the fear of identity theft. That's something in more recent days because with technology, it makes it so much easier for the people who want to steal identity. Makes it all more easier. Economic collapse. We see the economy falling apart, and I boldly say it's falling apart, not on its own or by accident, but by the very means of the elite who want to control this world.
And for the first time after the covid pandemic, people around the world are able to see the lies, the cheating, the corruption that is going on, and for the sake of how we Christians need to fight back. I will take the time in a future podcast to speak directly upon these areas that the globalists are attacking.
But with that said, I can summarize with this though, without going down a rabbit hole too far. Remember, Jesus already told us the end times and we know that there is going to be a one world government. So beloved, it's not for us to defeat, but I wholeheartedly believe that our Heavenly Father has those of us who are here and now, myself and you who are listening to this podcast, there's no mistake that we are here in this time of history where in the world that he placed us and the roles that he has given us to play, he will use us. He will use every single one of us who look to him and say, Father, I am your servant. Use me. Now.
With that said, all of these fears have one thing in common, and that's the fear of people, fear of the world. Proverbs 29:25 reads, the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. The fear of man brings a snare. Well, the fear of man is in every single one of those. When talking about a snare, the Hebrew word is akosh akosh, which means a noose for like catching animals, and by implication, a hook for the nose. Think about that for a moment. My goodness, being hooked by the nose. If you think of like a fish hook and it goes into the nose, how tender and hurtful that would be, that would hurt, but that's what it is implying is a hook for the nose, or another way of saying it is ensnared or a trap referring to those who trap birds.
So that snare keeps us from any kind of progress when we have a fear of man, fear of mankind. So we can back up here for just a little bit. Let's take a look at those fears again that I named off, and I'll show you how every single one of them is connected to the fear of man. So the fear of failure. A person who fears failure does not want others to see them fail because the person has that tendency. Then we're going to compare ourselves to others, and so maybe I just won't even do it because if I fail, I'm going to look back. And it could gimme a bad reputation and I'm going to feel bad about myself because then everybody else is looking at me. If there is no one else to contend with, there would be no reason to fear failing.
The same thing with success because successful people are in the limelight. The public eye is another way of looking at that. Successful people are quickly and easily judged by others. Criticized because, well, jealousy is pretty powerful. So those who are jealous of someone's success, and so some people fear being successful because of that.
Again, the fear of man, what about rejection? How many people would actually like to write a book? But they fear being rejected. Being rejected by agents, being rejected by publishers. And even once the book is published, being rejected by readers or rejection of starting a friendship from kids, we hear it all the time.
Well, why don't you ask so-and-so if they want to play well? I'm afraid to. They might not like me. So that fear of rejection for that child, they just don't make that new friend because they're afraid. They fear that rejection and that can carry on to adults as well. Other people's opinions.
Certainly that is the fear of man, because that's other people's opinions. I hear that far too often going someplace or dressing a certain way or behaving a certain way and then people are worried about what others may have thought of them at that time. And sometimes that's why people don't even bother doing certain things or going certain places because they just don't want people to hold an opinion of me.
Public speaking. Yeah, that's a big one. Definitely afraid of man, mankind, because again, letting your voice be heard. Public speaking is a combination of several things, other people's opinions, failing at it, not being able to say the right thing, not sounding good enough.
Being alone. There are people who fear being alone so much that they'll have anyone around, even if that anyone just so happens to be the wrong one, the wrong kind of friends that get them into trouble or just to marry the first person, the that is willing to marry them because they're afraid. They fear being alone.
Kind of the reverse to that is commitment. The fear of marrying somebody because of that large commitment. Whoa, that's a, that's a whole lifetime. Or perhaps picking certain careers because a person may have to commit a lot of their time and their resources to a certain career. Finishing large projects, man, there are plenty of people who just won't even start projects because they're afraid of committing to it because then they'll have to finish it missing out.
The fear of missing out again, that involves other people missing out on what? Missing. Out on having fun, missing out on being there when. Big things happen. We end up wasting a lot of time because we're afraid of missing out attending events, going to certain things because, well, we just don't want to miss out on what's going on, even if really we don't feel like it.
And that's once again, connected to what other people are going to think. That opinion of me, because I didn't go. Think of how businesses commercial ads sell people on you. You don't want to miss out. Don't miss out on looking this way. Don't miss out on the next big thing. Don't miss out on the next greatest trip. Don't miss out on the holiday coming up. Don't miss out. Don't miss out.
And death. That one is interesting because Christians. Have no reason to fear death. And the Christians that I know who are indeed walking with the Lord, they don't fear death. Why is that? Well, because we're fully aware of what happens after death.
Death is not the end. Death is only the beginning, right? But for those who don't know Jesus Christ as their savior, We're not born again, who do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Well, they have every reason to fear death because there's the unknown. What's going to happen to me? They think when I die and they don't know.
And for those who have heard about heaven and hell, but they're still not born again, that may even be worse because now they're thinking, well, I may be going to hell. So the fear of man. Is the fear of the world in every way, shape and form. We fear losing something. We fear something happening to us. We fear the unknown and that snare will entangle you and not allow you to move on.
And as Christians, there's no reason for that. Beloved, we have no reason to fear. Now let's take a look at the second half of Proverbs 29:25. That reads, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. So the fear of man brings a snare when we fear all that we are talking about, and of course, so much more, which is worldly involving other people.
Even the bigger ones that I had talked about, the corruption of government, tyranny, identity theft, economic collapse, that is all worldly. That is all stuff that if we worry about, it's a snare and does not allow us to progress. Now, what do I mean by progress? Well, the second half of this, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
We want to be safe. We want to be spiritually safe because how does trusting in the Lord change things? Answer it makes us focus on an audience of one Jesus Christ. We can look at all of these fears and if we stay focused on Jesus Christ and we are not fearful. Of the world of mam, we can get beyond these fears and move on and progress spiritually because we are spiritual beings.
We live in a physical world, but we also live in a spiritual world. And I don't have time to get into that right now, but they're connected. We can't separate the two. They affect us. And it's easy to say that the physical world seems to be more abundant because of our physical bodies that have so much to do with it, that interaction.
But when we focus on Jesus Christ, beloved, we can take something like the fear of failure. And if our audience of one is Jesus, well, we no longer fear what others are going to think about us. We are not going to be comparing ourself to the success or failure of others. We'll be doing everything we do unto the Lord and for his glorification.
And of course, his yoke is light. It's not burdensome. He picks us up and carries us. And so there's no reason to fear failing when we focus on Jesus. Certainly no fear of success. In fact. When doing the work of God, when being in God's will, success should be expected. Why? Because God is the one working through you at that point in time.
Being focused on Jesus. You're just being focused on Lord, what is your will? And you listen to that. And when you know God's will you do it, and God is never going to give you something that you can't do. He gives you every resource needed. He gives you every skill and every ability that is needed in order to do the task.
And so success on some level or another should automatically be expected. Now, I do have to clarify that often we think of success in the form of money, and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the success in the eyes of God. That very well could be money or part of it, but that's not the whole thing.
What about the fear of rejection? Focusing on Jesus? Nope. Don't worry about it. Why? Well, because Jesus isn't going to reject you. You're a born again believer. You're already his. My goodness. He died for you on the cross. He went through that painful death to wash away your sins. And as a born again believer, you have already confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and you've already believed in your heart that God raised them from the dead.
He's not rejecting you at all, just the opposite. He loves you so much and he wants you to love him so we don't have to worry about rejection. Other people's opinions. What, when we're focusing on Jesus, again, who cares what other people are thinking? And that's important that as Christians, we get over it because many people are going to have plenty of opinions about you because you're not going to fit in.
You're not of the world, and so beloved, because you are not of the world, the world will want nothing to do with you, and they're going to have opinions. So what? Public speaking, all right, public speaking, I know that can be pretty difficult, but once again, if it's something that you're called to do, if the Lord puts you in that position, For public speaking and he doesn't for everybody because not everybody's a teacher and a preacher of his word.
He uses us in many different ways, but if need be, he'll give you what you need. He will give you that very skill. The courage, as long as you're looking to him, being alone. Another easy one, when we have Jesus, we're never alone. A Christian is never alone. We always have Jesus with us. Now, one could argue the fact that, well, technically because God is omnipresent, well then everybody has God. But that's not the case. I'm talking about that connection, that relationship, and for the person who has chosen not to follow God. Has chosen to live against God. He does not have the blessings of the Lord commitment. Again, looking to Jesus. Not a problem. Whether it's marriage, whether it's a career, whether it is large projects, man, when we are focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ, that audience of one, not a problem at all.
Just sit down and do it. Why? Because he is given you all the skills. He's given you everything you need. He's given you all the resources and he's there with you. You're never alone. So whatever project it is, whatever relationship you're in, he's there with you guiding you every step of the way. Missing out.
What's there to miss out on when you got Jesus? We have eternity to look forward to in his presence. So what else is there a miss out on? We're not going to feel like we're missing out on worldly things because we have godly things. So that's pretty big. He completely wipes away our fears when we are focused on him.
You see how that becomes a tool of God when we fear God instead of man, mankind, it's not a problem. Because we and our little problems are so minute compared to God of eternity, God of the universe, God of everything, and everyone so beloved. Even when it comes to the economy, if everything around us financially crashes, tyranny, corruption, government identity, theft, you know, after walking with the Lord long enough, I have a better understanding.
And I've had insight on what brothers and sisters in other countries are going through and in America, because we are undergoing ourselves this horrendous attack on the freedom that America was founded on and fights for and is being attacked for because evil hates freedom. Evil hates Christians. Evil is doing everything possible to tear America apart.
And on some fronts, completely winning and another fronts losing. But that doesn't really matter in the long run because Beloved, eventually America won't be the America that I was born in, that I knew growing up. Not at all, but it won't last because Jesus is coming and when he comes, all what we consider elites and the globalists, the top echelon. People who are in power will mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. And really, we should be praying for them because if those who are so hungry for power and for wealth and for recognition, if, if they can't change their ways, they're on the road to hell. And I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy when we keep our eyes on Jesus we see things spiritually. We see our true home in heaven because spiritually we see and know that our home is in heaven, and we see that our treasures are in heaven. And since our treasures are in heaven, nobody can steal that from us. They can take our gold and silver, they can take our money, they can take furniture, they can take our homes, they can take our cars.
Now if that's where our heart is, that's where our treasure is. And yes, that would be devastating. But when we see Jesus and when we just fear the Lord and we don't fear man, well we don't have to fear about losing that stuff because we know that everything here on earth is temporal. It's not going to last.
One of the big lies that kids are taught these days, The world teaches that we are here just momentarily and that the world is going to live forever. But God tells us in the Bible just the opposite, that our souls are eternal. We all have a beginning, but we don't have an end. Souls are eternal, but someday this world, everything.
Look out your window, beloved. Look at the things in your house. Whatever you're looking at right now, whatever you're thinking about, someday, everything is going to be burned by fire. The first time God sent a flood to wipe everything out and start anew, but once he mission is complete and he is going to completely do away with sin and with evil, it will burn because water washes, but fire purifies. And it's all going to burn. So everything here is temporary except for you. Now, going through the process of losing something can be hard, losing a loved one, losing a home, losing all of our money, just suddenly, boom. There are things that when we lose, it hurts. But all of those losses can be dealt with. If you have Jesus, if you are living by the fear of the Lord, all of those losses can be dealt with and overcome, even if it takes time. Born again believers are told there is no reason that we should live in fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now, this is referring to the fear of the world. God has not given us a spirit of fear, and that's the fear of this world. We should have that reverent fear for God. So that's not the fear that's being referred to here. And instead of fear, we have a spirit of power. Power. Think about that.
We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Every born again believer has the access to the very power that raised Jesus from the dead. That healed lepers, that gave the blind sight, that gave the lame the ability to stand and run that same power we have. So we have power to overcome. And that's why even when losing a loved one, we have that power to overcome.
So God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love. The spirit of love. God is love. God is in you, and you are in God born again. Believers, the love that we have. That agape love that the world does not know and cannot understand is so powerful. And we'll talk more probably next week about how love and fear, what connection they have.
But with that love, we can overcome everything, even the darkest of days and darkest of moments. And what about the spirit of sound mind? We have the spirit of power and of love, and of a sound mind. We can be assured, beloved, we can know for sure of our salvation. We can live moment to moment and day to day with a sound mind, because we are living in fear that reverent fear of the holy God, the living God.
We have a sound mind because we know what we are doing is righteous because we fear God. We know what we are doing is the right thing because we fear God. We don't have to worry about making such mistakes. Are we doing the right thing? Are others going to accept me? Am I going to fit in? We have a spirit of a sound mind and we need to live like it, and we need to act like it. We will remain a slave to fear if that fear remains on the world. The fear that we have of God is a tool that's used to fix things in our lives, to build us up, to help us become stronger. But the fear of this world is a weapon that continues to cut us, slice us, hit us, suppress us, and really is a waste of time, if you think about it, because of the fact that Born again believers, we do have a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind.
Such a waste to fear something so elementary as anything the world has to offer. And we are told that we need to fear God. When we fear God, we do not fear the world because we understand and know that the world doesn't even hold the candle up to God. It is so minute compared to God, but not fearing God is as much of a problem as fearing the world, beloved.
Luke 23:39 and 40 read. Then one of the criminals who were hanged, blasphemed him saying, this is the two thieves on the cross. The first says, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other that is the other thief answer, rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God? Seeing you are under the same condemnation?
You see, without the fear of God, a person is emboldened to place themself at the same level as God testing, God mocking God, questioning God's authority. This is what the first thief did. If, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. Where the second thief, Did fear God. He turned at that moment with that reverence and his words should ring so loud to the world because it says, do you not even fear God he says.
And beloved, that is the problem that we have consistently in this world as people don't fear God. Not only are people fearing the world, fearing what their neighbors think, their bosses think, their relatives think just the world, what the world thinks of them, but they do not fear or even care what God their creator thinks of them.
So the very fact that they don't fear God is just as horrific as fearing the world. Do you see how detrimental that is to your life on this side of the grave? I hope you do. Now, next week we'll talk more about how to approach this, what God says so we can fear him, and that beloved you can quit fearing the world, quit fearing mankind.
I’ll end with this: To love God is to know Him. To know God is to fear Him. To fear God is to walk in His ways. To walk with God is to love Him. And that's a beautiful cycle that goes around and around. So remember, beloved. I hope you are staying connected to your Lord by reading his word every day, by staying in prayer each and every day, and by meeting with brothers and sisters in Christ on a regular basis.
Hopefully that's weekly worshiping our Lord and Savior. Every chance you get with Thanksgiving with your song and your heart. Boy does he love us. He loves us so much, and with him we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. So have yourself a good week. I look forward to seeing you again, God willing. And until next time, God bless.
Songs
“Heroes Inspire Hope” and “Mountainscape” by Humans Win
“Creepy Halloween” by Boomer
“Energetic Movie Opening” by Nick Battle
“Piano Dream” by we20fifty
Sound Effects from Storyblocks.com