Declaring War on Fear
“But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.’” (Exodus 14:13)
God’s Covenants Do Not Fail
The rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant that His promises will never fail, and rainbows have been personally significant to me throughout my life.
In the early eighties, I began to go through a time of repentance before the Lord. He was showing me things that I needed to turn away from in order to keep going on with Him. One of those was quitting smoking cigarettes.
One morning while I was sitting in a chair drinking a cup of tea, which had replaced the cigarettes, I had an amazing supernatural experience with the Lord. The Holy Spirit suddenly appeared above my head, twirling above me in all the colors of the rainbow.
He said something I did not quite understand at the time. He said, “I am a servant.” I thought this meant that He was calling me to be a servant of the Lord, but I later realized that He was also saying that He is a servant. This was an amazing revelation to me. The Holy Spirit is a servant; He was sent to serve us, to teach us, and to give us comfort. Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17).
Jesus was also a servant. He said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). He lived His life as a servant of all humankind. He washed His disciples’ feet, and He ministered to the sick, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and people from all walks of life. He spent time encouraging people through preaching and teaching, and delivered people from demons and healed them from diseases. The ultimate act of service He could ever do for us was to give His life as a ransom for us, dying a brutal death so that we might have life.
God powerfully spoke to His people through rainbows. After God destroyed everyone on the earth because of the wickedness of humanity, save Noah and his family, God gave Noah a covenant sign of a rainbow. It was to be a sign that His promises would never fail, but He would always be faithful to His Word and to His people.
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth” (Genesis 9:12-17 NIV).
Visions of rainbows were given to individuals throughout the Old and New Testaments. When Ezekiel saw the Lord, he described Him “as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking” (Ezek. 1:28). And John referred to a supernatural rainbow when describing the throne of God, “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance” (Rev. 4:3).
The significance of rainbows throughout Scripture reveals to us both the glory of God’s love and the covenant that we can enter into with Him through Jesus the Messiah. When Yeshua instituted the Lord’s Supper,
[He] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:26-29 NIV).
The same God who made a covenant with Noah through the rainbow appearing in the sky has entered into covenant with us today through Christ’s blood. This covenant promises that we are protected and safe in Him—Jesus prayed to the Father on our behalf: “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
Whom Shall I Fear?
Just because we are protected does not mean that we will not be faced with evil and the attacks of fear. As we progress on to know the Lord in true intimacy, sometimes we experience fear even more intensely for a season. This is simply because Satan does not want us to get closer to God. He wants to lock us within the dark box of fear, paralyzing us. If yielded to, this will cause us to never fulfill our God-given potential and destiny in Christ.
Three years after this vision of the Holy Spirit in the rainbow, the Lord revealed Himself to me again in a dream, which took place right before I was married in 1982. The dream had three distinct phases.
In the first phase of the dream, I saw myself in a rectangular room that was very much like the attic of a house. It was a very dark room. There were windows on both sides. Many people, including myself, were standing against the back wall of the room. Just then the Spirit of God entered through the window that was on the right side; His form was as it had been in my earlier vision—the colors of the rainbow.
I knew this was a real encounter with the Lord and I needed to pay attention. I already had some familiarity with God communicating Himself through rainbow imagery, so I was not afraid of the experience. All I can say is that the Lord streamed into the room, almost like a wide sheet of crepe paper, but very beautiful and comforting.
I knew that I was in the presence of the Lord’s healing Spirit, so I began to walk toward Him and away from the others who were still standing against the wall. As I moved away from those huddled at the back of the room, toward the Spirit of Life, I realized that the others were staying back against the wall because fear was holding them back.
Their fear was keeping them from the rainbow of God’s presence, from experiencing God in deep and powerful ways. Fear had prevented them from coming and enjoying God’s manifest presence. They were in a dark room and God had manifested Himself in the form of a light—a rainbow of hope—but they were still afraid.
Even though I felt the power of fear, I kept on approaching the rainbow of God’s presence with a sense of anticipation. I approached the window through which the rainbow was streaming and looked outside. The colors of the rainbow were everywhere, intensely beautiful and glorious. I opened my arms wide and asked the Spirit to come into my life. It was then that I heard the word eternity resounding deep within my soul.
The next phase of the dream took me to the other window in the attic-like room. When I looked out, all I could see was chaos everywhere. Nothing I saw made any sense to me. Things were moving in every direction and everything seemed random and disturbing.
That phase of my dream ended somewhat abruptly, and then I found myself walking down a street. I was peaceful and nothing was troubling my mind. But it was then that I came to an intersection where a car wreck had just taken place.
Without thinking, I walked up to the car and noticed that a man had been injured. He was lying half in the car, half out—his upper torso was lying on the street but his legs were still in the automobile. The car door was flung open and he had been badly burned. It was a terrible sight to behold and the smell was quite revolting.
I reached my hand toward him, and, as I did so, ribbons of rainbow colors flowed from my fingertips onto his body and healed his burns. It was God’s Spirit of rainbow light flowing out of my spirit, which I had received in the attic because I had not yielded to fear. Then the dream ended.
Reflecting on the dream after I woke up, I understood the others who were in the room with me were bound by fear, preventing them from receiving the rainbow Spirit of God’s healing love. Instead, they cowered in the darkness, too afraid to step out by faith. They missed what God had for them because they were bound by fear. Not only did they miss out on life, but they missed out on experiencing the Author of Life.
Fear can keep us from receiving the destiny God has in store for us. It can prevent us from knowing and experiencing the love of God. Fear will prevent the rest of God from entering our souls. David declared with boldness, and Yeshua wants us to declare with him,
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident (Psalm 27:1-3).
Faith and Fear Cannot Coexist
Though we are to boldly declare our faith in Yeshua, the reality is that sometimes we find ourselves in fear rather than faith. Jesus said that hell was for the fearful and unbelieving (Rev. 21:8). Ironically, this Scripture may actually cause us concern, but Yeshua’s purpose in stating it is to help us understand that we must overcome fear. Notice also in this Scripture the connection between fear and unbelief, for one ultimately leads to the other.
When we are afraid, we ultimately do not believe that God is with us. This is a serious sin, for when we fear, we are not expressing faith in God, “and whatever is not from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Faith is the bridge over which God comes to us, but fear is the bridge over which Satan gains entrance into our lives. If we replace the bridge of fear leading to satanic activity with the bridge leading to God, we will experience God’s peace and love. You see, even as we access God by faith, we access darkness by fear. Faith in God leads to experiencing the reality of His presence and love. Fear, on the other hand, opens us up to be tormented by Satan and the realm of darkness.
The writer of Hebrews said that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). When we’re afraid, we don’t believe God is at work in our lives, let alone present with us. This creates a general anxiety in our hearts that prevents us from moving on with God and from doing what He has asked us to do. But Paul speaks powerfully into our lives when he says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).
There should be no fear in our lives when we are living in a close, personal relationship with God. More than a hundred times throughout the Scriptures God commands us to not be afraid. It is important to note that it is a command, not an option for us to choose whether or not we’re going to obey. God reminds us, “Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9).
There is no room for fear in our lives when we are obeying this direct command from our heavenly Father. Fear is a spiritual sin that goes deeper than the sins of the flesh. It is not a sin because of what we’re afraid of; it is a sin because we’ve replaced faith in God with faith in other things, believing they have more influence and power in our lives than God does. It causes us to bow down to Satan. When we fear this or that, live in habitual anxiety or a state of dread, we are living in sin by magnifying Satan in our hearts rather than God and His goodness. In fearing we are agreeing that Satan is more powerful than God. When we fear we are revealing that we don’t really trust God and, in fact, are expressing more faith in Satan and evil. This, beloved, is not God’s will for us.
Trust and fear are opposed to each other; they cannot reside in the same heart at the same time. One cannot live in a state of fear and trust God. It’s impossible to do so. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Fear Is Behind Every Negative Emotion
We can’t experience God’s love, peace, and rest in our lives and continue to walk in fear. Fear will not produce love, peace, and rest, but rather anxiety, hate, and jealously. The truth is that fear underlies most negative emotions we experience in our lives. For example, often when an employer gets angry with an employee, at the root it is because he or she is afraid of losing money, prestige, or position within the company. Likewise, a parent could feel that other parents may look down on them because they feel that their child is not measuring up in some way. This fear may cause a parent to express anger toward their child. In these cases, as in so many others, fear is the driving factor behind the behavior.
To walk in fear and thus anger is to walk away from God, who is love. Which would we rather experience on a daily basis—the coldness and anger that fear produces or the peaceful experience of God’s presence and love? We don’t have to live in fear any longer, beloved; through Christ Jesus we can be free.
Declare War on Fear
There are two Hebrew words for fear used throughout the Bible. The first is yahreh, which means “dread”—to dread or to be frightened of—and the second is aratz, which is the term that is used in Joshua 1:9, meaning “to tremble at.”
The Lord commanded Joshua not to tremble at the hostile armies surrounding him: “Do not tremble, Joshua, or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.” This same message is for every one of us today, no matter what forces might be threatening us at this time. We may even see storm clouds gathering on the horizon, but we must resist being shaken because God is with us and for us.
Like Joshua, we must resist all temptations to fear by finding courage and refuge in the Lord. We must wake up and fight fear with the weapons the Lord has given us—His Word, the name and blood of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. We must also remember that He is fighting the battle with us and for us.
When Moses was about to cross the Red Sea with the Egyptians hot on Israel’s tail, Moses said to Israel, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever” (Exod. 14:13). And to Jehoshaphat, God said, “‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you” (2 Chron. 20:17).
It is time that we become proactive in our fight against fear with the Word of God. We must shake off passivity. It is time to fight, not to yield; to be on the offensive, not the defensive. We must put on the whole armor of God, which will shield us from fear, standing our ground in Messiah (Eph. 6). Having done our part, we can stand still, trusting in God’s love and grace knowing that He is going before us and working on our behalf.
Joshua obeyed God even though hostile forces were surrounding him. He chose to be strong and take courage; not to be fearful, dismayed, terrified, or anxious. He believed God, beloved, and you and I can too. As a result, Joshua was able to lead his people, the children of Israel, into their God-given inheritance.
If we want to receive and enter our destiny as God’s children, we must learn to resist all fear in its varied forms. Indeed, we must declare war on it, not tolerating it even for a second. God wants us to experience and possess the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Though the enemy will attack us, we must not give in, for “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). We must resist him: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:8). We are not to flee from the devil in fear, but to stand, go on the offense, and cause him to flee from us through faith! As we do, the shalom and love of God fills us.
Let Us Not Cower in Fear
What kept the Israelites wandering in the wilderness forty years? Was it not fear itself? When the spies went into the land of Canaan and came back to report what was in it, they told the children of Israel that the land was filled with good things. But they quickly added that it was also filled with giants (Num. 13). As a result of focusing on the giants rather than magnifying God, the people cowered in fear. This caused the Lord to be angry with them which resulted in forty years of wandering.
In much the same way, people today are cowering in the face of confusion, chaos, and the dangers that surround them. Financial crises, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, violence, accidents, poisonous substances, pestilences, diseases, social fears, contaminated foods, and other potential disasters seem to be everywhere we look. Many are afraid to even leave their homes.
Regardless of where you are in this spectrum, God’s Word to you is the same: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you wherever you go.” Knowing this, that God loves us, that He is all powerful, and perfectly, actively involved in the details of our lives, is all we really need to know, beloved, in order to be free from fear. He is the God who is always with us. Wherever you go, He is there.
We need to come to the place where we actively believe that God is bigger than our problem, no matter what that problem might be. Though Satan is crouching at the door and desiring to fill us with fear, we must resist him and cling to Messiah Jesus.
By quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, Jesus defeated the assault of the enemy in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). And Moses reminds the people of Israel, “Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deut. 20:3-4).
The yoke of fear will be broken off of our lives as we turn to God in prayer. Divine power, revelation, divine electricity, and the energy of the Holy Spirit are ours through Christ. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Abundant life, which is a life free from fear, can be yours today.
Prayer: Strengthen us, Lord, with revelation, divine electricity, the power of the Holy Spirit, and Your supernatural love. Cause me to rise up, face Satan, and take authority over the power of fear. Help me to harness my thoughts and take every thought captive, that You would reign in my heart and mind. Release the power that raised Jesus from the dead into my inner man and mind so that I will arise now and crush Satan and fear under my feet.