David Alsobrook - Free from fear

Free From Fear

by

David Alsobrook

Contents

1 Works of Fear
Fear Hinders God's Present Protection
Fear, Satan's Tool
Fear Precipitates Unbelief
Fear, A Hindrance
2 Godly or Satanic Fears
Satanic Fear Torments
Satanic Fear Dominates
Satanic Fear Prevents
3 Overcoming Fear Permanently
1. Initial Deliverance
2. Eye gateEar gate
3. Fill the Thought Life with Jesus
4. Know Who You Are in Christ
5. Recognize and Practice the Presence of God
6. Submit to God
Make It Your Goal to be Completely Fearless
4 A Personal Experience
About the Author

In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt BE FAR FROM OPPRESSION; FOR THOU SHALT NOT FEAR: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Isaiah 54:14

1 Works of Fear

Three hundred and sixty-six times God said in His Word not to be afraid or dismayed. We are to serve Him without fear all the days of our life. Every dayall 365

days of the yearGod says, "Fear not!" Even on the extra day during Leap Year: "Fear not!" It is so easy to get into a habit or rut of saying, "I'm afraid of this," and "I'm afraid of that"little fears. God wants us fearless.

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, said this about Jesus:

"That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him WITHOUT FEAR, in holiness and righteousness before him, ALL THE DAYS of our life (Luke 1:74).

One of the strongest spirits to overcome is fear. It appears to be the first emotion that man experienced after he sinned. Before he knew hatred, strife, or jealousy, man had FEAR. Genesis 3:8-10 says that Adam and Eve hid themselves from God behind the trees in the garden. The Lord came into the garden and called, "Adam, where are you?"

Adam answered, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I WAS AFRAID." Fear.

The first time Adam felt the paralyzing, terrifying, tormenting fear was after he sinned. Sin brought fear into the human family, and the only basic cure for fear is RIGHTEOUSNESS. Psalm 34:4 tells us Who that Righteous One is: "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from ALL MY FEARS." Not only are we told who He is, but what He does: delivered me from ALL MY FEARS. Now that's our goalto be delivered from all fears.

Almost every prophet of God sent on an unpopular or dangerous mission was forewarned by God about the dangers of FEAR. God said to Jeremiah, "Fear not their faces" (1:8).

To Ezekiel God said, "As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not ..." (3:9).

That is to say, "Don't be moved by their hard expressions."

To Joshua the Lord said, "... be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid " (1:9).

Job had his problems with fear also. It is stated in Job, Chapter 1, that God had built a hedge around Job, his family and all of his house and goods. But in Job 3:25 Job said (in the literal Hebrew): "I feared a fear and it happened upon me." The King James Version reads: "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." That is to say, "In my thought life I saw fearful things happening, so what I'd been seeing, happened." Proverbs 23:7 tells us, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." What you hold on to in your mind will get into your heart. Think evilreceive evil. Think goodreceive good. During his prosperity, Job began to see fear images. His thought life entertained pictures of disaster: from prosperity to poverty.

He received what he saw.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear [cowardice]: but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7). Yet, at times we all have experienced fear.

The great patriarch, Abraham, too faced fear. God spoke to him in a vision.

"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying FEAR NOT, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is mine heir" (Gen. 15:1-3).

The above vision probably occurred when Abraham was 85 years old; however, God first began to deal with him when he was 75 when he lived in Ur of the Chaldees (the land of Babylon). God had told him that if he would come out of Ur of the Chaldees He would make out of him a great nation. This meant that his wife, though she'd been barren throughout their marriage, would bear a son, who in turn would bring forth more children, eventually becoming a multitude of people.

Ten years had gone by. It took a vision from God to alert him to the trap into which he had begun to fall.

Unconsciously Abraham had been developing mental images of seeing himself childless. He was seeing Eliezer of Damascus, a servant born in his house, not his own blood descendant, becoming the heir of all his goods. He sees himself die, and Eliezer, evidently his chief servant, taking over all of his many possessionsherds, gold, silver and servants. Twice Abram told God that he sees it this way. "Behold," [meaning SEE, LOOK, NOTICE, OBSERVE], "one born in my house is mine heir." Abram complains, "God, You haven't kept Your promise and given me a child; it has been ten years, and I'm getting older every year. I have mental pictures of being childless."

Notice in verse 1, God's first word to Abram is, "FEAR NOT." Abram didn't realize what God was after in this experience, but God PERMITTED him to reveal out of his own mouth the greatest hindrance to his faith. In other words, he confessed that he was fearful. Jesus said, "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matt. 12:37).

Fear Hinders God's Present Protection

The type of fear that is not from God hinders our present protection, oppresses, prevents our entrance into heaven, and hinders our eternal reward.

What were Abram's fears? He feared dying childlessand that Eliezer was going to take charge of his house and that he wouldn't have that child of promise. But God said, "FEAR NOT, Abram: I am thy shield," meaning YOUR PRESENT PROTECTION. God was telling him, "Your fear is hindering MY protection in this life. If you keep on fearing you are going to make a crack in your shield" (Gen. 15:1).

God said to Abram, "Fear not! I am your present protection, and YOUR EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD-your everlasting, eternal inheritance. But your fear is not only hindering your present protection, it is hindering YOUR ETERNAL REWARD."

We don't always see words; occasionally we see pictures or images. When people hear a good speaker, what do they say? "Oh, he was very colorful. He spoke with such picturesque speech." That speaker was able to communicate pictures to the listener's mind. A recent experience proved that even the sightless have mental images.

Shortly before the election, I was buying a newspaper from a blind person who was running a newsstand. I remarked, "I want to buy this paper. I noticed something in it about the electoral col

As he handed back my change, the blind man said, "I don't understand the electoral vote. Would you mind explaining this?"

"I'll be glad to tell you what I understand about the electoral college system," I replied. When I left he said three times, "I see. I see. I see." Completely blind and yet he said that he "saw."

Abram questioned God, "What will You give me, seeing I go childless?"

Fear is something you see. If you are ever going to be delivered from fear you have to realize that fear enters through what you think or see. Abram's statement "Seeing I go childless" was his way of saying to God: "I can only see what I see. You haven't given me any descendant, any heir."

Remember that God chastens every son He loves.