Conquering Fear

CONQUERING FEAR

By Rodney W. Francis

A big battle that many Christians have today is that of fear. There are many different fears that can attack us, and different fears affect us in different ways. As Christians we need to know that Jesus came into this world to save us from sin and the power of fear. Fear is a tormentor and takes the place of Jesus in our heart. Why do I say this? Because fear dictates to us what we can and cannot do ~ it sets our boundaries for us, and wants to keep us from rising up above it. We need to know what Jesus came to give us. He came: to lead and guide us into all truth, to enable us to conquer all our fears. God’s answer to fear is HIS LOVE ALIVE IN OUR HEARTS! The Bible declares: “There is no fear in love; but perfect (“complete, full”) love casts out fear (“terror, fright, dismay”), because fear involves torment (“punishment”). But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (see 1 John ch. 4).

Fear is one of Satan’s key strategies against Christians to prevent us from rising up and accomplishing great things in God. When fear paralyzes our trust in Jesus it becomes a sin and, as such, brings condemnation. Then we do nothing.

So many opportunities for Jesus are lost because we allow fear to hold us back from obeying the Holy Spirit.

HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE

Notice very clearly what God’s answer to fear is: His love being made perfect in our hearts! I had been a Gospel preacher for 16 years when God spoke to me and told me that He was going to teach me how to love people. I was shocked to hear that; for I honestly believed that I did love people. When I told God that I did love people, the next minute through my mind went the faces of about six Christians that I did not like! Following that I heard these words: “How can a man say that he loves God whom he has not seen if he does not love his own brother whom he has seen. I want you to know that your love for Me is only as great as your love for these, the least of My brethren!” I was absolutely shocked and humbled as suddenly I realized that even though I had spent 16 years of my life seeking God, reading the Bible, not missing Christian Meetings, etc., that after all that time I only loved Jesus as much as those six faces He showed me. Those people had persecuted me, told me what I should and should not be doing, etc. That experience left me feeling very empty and as though I had to start my Christian walk with Jesus all over again. I did not know how I could change to love God more. I soon learned though. He started sending people to me that were connected to the criminal underworld. They came knocking on my Pastor’s Office door and asking for help. They confessed to me things they had done that I thought were not possible for human beings to do and/or get involved with (I had been brought up with a very ‘sheltered’ life and did not know how much evil people in the world could get caught up into). As these people confessed so many wicked things, my reaction was that I cried out to God for His help. His answer was: “Son, I am teaching you how to love people”. My response was, “Gee, Lord, thanks” in shock and unbelief. Over time, as the confessions from these underworld people grew more and more serious, I discovered that I was indeed learning to love people more and more. I also got to know a lot of how the underworld worked, etc. It was not too long before I was threatened from the underworld bosses “to keep my nose out of their business.” By that time I had grown to a point where I needed to prove that the power of God was greater than the power of the enemy; and so I did not stop. That was followed by being told they were going to kidnap our son (then 12 years old), and that three death threats had been put on my life. I was told that I would soon be dead. All the time God was teaching me to love people and to overcome the fears that the underworld were trying to put on me. After five years of those death contracts, the enemy confessed that Jesus Christ had to be stronger than Satan because everything they had done to try and kill me had failed. And they had never failed before. Sad, but true, over those five years, it was the Christians who could not accept or believe what we were going through and I was falsely accused of different sinful things. During those five years the church grew from 30 to 400! I learned a big principle: the more God can change me the more He can use me to accomplish supernatural things. I am very grateful to God that those five years enabled me to prove the power of His love, for He kept us fearless during that time when everything coming against us would naturally cause terrible fears to affect us.

Today we are touching multiplied thousands of people in over 220 nations around the world through our E-Mail Ministry, Bible Correspondence Courses, Prophetic Equipping Stations, Website and books ministry alone. All praise to Jesus! I learned that we function very differently when that perfect love of Jesus within us conquers all the fears of the enemy! Hallelujah!

I share this experience with you, so that you will know that what I am sharing here is not merely a theological message, but something which has been very real in my life ever since. It has enabled me to minister to some of the “big bosses” of the underworld as well as helping people to know that the answer to their circumstances is the LOVE OF GOD ALIVE IN THEIR HEARTS! Even one of the ‘hit-men’ who was paid thousands of dollars to kill me came and testified how he found Jesus and asked for my forgiveness for his trying to kill me. I was able to forgive Him. Oh, the power of LOVE!

Christian, we live in an evil and unbelieving world.

We need to have the power and love of Jesus alive in our hearts so we can fulfil the purpose for which He has saved us.
Sincerely ask Jesus to teach you how to love people more, for that is the key that will set you free from the subtleties of fear and all its negative influences.

I know it works, for it has worked in me!

I encourage you to face your fears; know what effects they are having on you, and yield your all to Jesus so He can fill your heart and life with His love, thus enabling you to walk and live in that freedom He came to give you ~ free from all the enemy’s fear! Hallelujah!

DAVID AND GOLIATH

The account of David and Goliath in the Scripture (1 Samuel 17), shows us how one young man, David, had to overcome fears that came against him when he stood up for God. Goliath was a huge man who used fear to bring people under his dominion. When he came out and challenged the people to send one man to fight against him, the whole army of Israel ran away and hid themselves in the rocks, etc. Even though they were the trained army of Israel, they had not conquered their fears. And when David stood up without fear, the Israelites turned on him and accused him of negative things and tried to dissuade David from standing up to Goliath. He had to rise above the fearful threats of Goliath, as well as the unbelieving fearful voices of the very army ~ including his three older brothers ~ he was about to deliver from the hands of the enemy. David did not let fear hold him back and he went out and faced Goliath, defeated him and brought deliverance to all Israel.

Will you be God’s David in today’s world?
That is what He has saved you to be.
Rise up in His Name, His Love and conquer all your fears ~ and be the very person and purpose He has chosen you to be. Hallelujah!

FAITH MOTIVATED BY LOVE

To please God we have to have faith (Hebrews 11:6). That faith has to work by and through love (Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 6:23; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 1: 3;1 Timothy 1:5, 14). When God’s love is motivating our life and actions, then we are fearless in the purposes of God. We then get God’s results which will last in time throughout all eternity. Praise the Lord! God has all the answers to our negative fears! We can trust Him totally! Nothing eternal gets accomplished while we are dictated to by the fear of man, things, etc. In Jesus’ Name you can conquer all your fears! Hallelujah! God bless you!

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