Do you really know and believe that God is for you? If you don’t, you are going to live in a lot of fear.
Most of us are very familiar with 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.”
How can we come against that spirit of fear? One thing is to saturate ourselves in the truth of God’s Word. Not just say it in our heads, but take the time to let it settle into our hearts, so that we believe it in a way that changes our thoughts, which changes our actions, and the way we live our lives.
Take a moment and think about what the result of 
these three scriptures would look like, if the truth of them were fully at work in your life.
- Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (NJV)
- Ps. 37:8, “Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm.” (TLB)
- Phil. 4:6,7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)
Here is that last scripture in the Message version.
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
Now that is something to spend some time thinking about!
I am sure we can all agree with the scripture in 1 Timothy that fear can cause torment. Especially fear about the future (and even more so when it comes to the future of our children). Once again, the Word of God has something to say about that.
1 Jn. 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (NKJV)
In other words, if you are living from a place of fear in your life, it shows you are not convinced of God’s unfailing extravagant love for you.
And that means you are going to make decisions in your life based on fear. Here is an acronym for the meaning of fear…F-E-A-R…
False Evidence Appearing Real
The enemy is good at doing that in our lives. He causes false things to look so real…things that God can step into and make change in an instant. I often have to remind myself (out loud, making it easier to believe) that I walk by faith, not by sight. I make my decisions based on what I know God has said, and is therefore true, and not based on what I see with my physical eyes or hear with my physical ears (and especially think with my run-away mind).
When I say God can step in and 
make things change in an instant, I also want to add that what He can change in an instant might not be the circumstance, but often it is my heart within the circumstance. He changes my perspective, showing me what He sees, and that can instantly move me from the torment of fear into the truth of faith.
Have you ever realized that both faith and fear are how we feel about the unknown? We either live in fear, and make our decisions out of that fear of the unknown, OR we live in faith in God, and make our decisions about the unknown future based on our faith in Him to take care of whatever it is we cannot see.
Here are two more acronyms, describing what I just said.
Forget Everything And Run
Face Everything And Rise
Which one are you going to choose?
Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.
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