Fighting Fear with Prayer
Answered Prayer
Six months ago, I wrote down in my journal five answers to specific prayers I had just received. These interventions from God came through His people and through changes in circumstances. Some involved a person to change their heart about a matter and then act in a different way. They all had a cost to them.
Just the other day I came across what the angel of the Lord said to Zechariah in the encounter they had in the temple. This would-be father had both a hope and a fear in the angel's message. And God addressed the fear as He came to give hope.
Fear is a part of our lives. It is what we expect to happen. We anticipate negative, difficult and bad things happening and as a result, we wrestle in our inner being with fear. But, we also have faith as a part of our lives. Faith is like fear, it anticipates something happening, only the thing that faith expects to happen is good, it is God’s will, it is hopeful even when it is difficult.
Long ago there was a ministry that had a theme song that said something like “something good is going to happy to you today…” That song was more than a positive wish. Seeing life with faith, and not just “realistic fear” is a way Christ Jesus asks us to live and follow Him. We are to look into our world and see His presence.
The presence of the Lord in our lives and situations is redemptive. It helps us see that more than what we know and see is occurring. We see, through faith, that even difficulties are being worked out for our good. That life is good, even in the worst of times, not because of the times but because we are secure in the eternal arms of God. That is not an intellectual crutch although you can lean on it. It is a reality of the world the follower of Jesus Christ lives in.
John, the gospel writer, has some great insight into the life of prayer and walking with God. He unfolds for us what this looks like as He tells the story of the life of Jesus. John chapters 13-17 are full of prayer relational nuggets that help us live in faith, not fear. A summary of those teachings can be found later in the writings of 1 John and I pull that short passage out here.
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
1 John 5:14-15 NASB
This scripture is not a call to get whatever we want by claiming to be united with God but a promise that when we are in fellowship with God, we have our request met. God accomplishes His will and our lives are an expression of His will. We experience faith-filled living, and the fear of God being defeated and ourselves being victimized, is overcome.
John and mature believers know that living out a confident life in God is difficult. It is not a matter of believing what the Bible says. It involves believing the Bible on a heart and mind and volitional level. In other words, the reality of being full, totally and wholeheartedly God’s, is not simple or easy. But it is achievable. The Holy Spirit is the divine aid that guarantees that.
Just after the passage above John goes on to finish his first book. He reminds the readers that they live in a hostel and evil world. And he reminds his readers that God provides the ability to know, encounter and connect to Him. The image of a dark world and a light shining in the dark that cannot be overcome is an accurate one. It is the image we too need to have. The world is not all light. But it is not all dark either. The difference? That is God’s presence and power in His children. We may not feel like we are the answer or hope for the world, but we are.
And what keeps us from living out this divine reality better?
Idols.
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:19-21 NASB
Idols are images of false Gods. A view, vision or form of something acting as reality but not being real, in the eternal God perspective sense.
Think of all the idols that cause fear. Idols of being liked (not rejected) wealth (successful and meaningful, valuable) or beauty (attractive, desirable, lovable). For every good thing in God, there is some idol, some way to think that leads to fear and rejection. Even the spiritual disciplines have idols that break healthy relationships with God down into aspects of the seven deadly sins.
Here is a list of the places where this specific word for "guard" or "kept" occurs. [i]
The ideas of isolation, captivity, and protection are a part of guarding. In a world that promotes itself without borders, limits and with calls for fearless adventure it seems awkward to see God calling His children to aspects of limits, guardedness, and isolation. But that is to be, as John instructs, our posture toward idols, idolatries, and mindsets that are living in the dark.
Living in confidence in God is an active mindset that He, and not the idols of this world, rule. When we see life under the rule of everything other than God, we have much to fear. Our vision for life is dark. We live with little to no hope. But when the idols of this world are seen for what they are, when we have courage to isolate, protect and guard ourselves from idols, we live separated from this world and for Christ Jesus.
Now you face the hard and holy task of doing the discipleship work. How will you guard yourself from the idols of this age? How will you limit if not prohibit their influence? What is your plan for living daily in faith and not fear.
Often a person living in a dark place sees only darkness. This is because the light of Christ is not in them and if they do not take the time to commune with God within, all they see is dark. It is important to take the time to commune with God in the inner-being. Ponder, reflect, worship, admire, rejoice and creatively and artistically commune with God. It's more than doing something you should. It is the way to see. And Godly perspective will diminish fear and you will live by faith.
[i] NASB+ Mat_19:20; Mar_10:20; Luk_2:8; Luk_8:29; Luk_11:21; Luk_11:28; Luk_12:15; Luk_18:21; Joh_12:25; Joh_12:47; Joh_17:12; Act_7:53; Act_12:4; Act_16:4; Act_21:24; Act_21:25; Act_22:20; Act_23:35; Act_28:16; Rom_2:26; Gal_6:13; 2Th_3:3; 1Ti_5:21; 1Ti_6:20; 2Ti_1:12; 2Ti_1:14; 2Ti_4:15; 2Pe_2:5; 2Pe_3:17; 1Jn_5:21; Jud_1:24.
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