Fear far exceeds faith in prompting the actions of man. Fear is a favorite and powerful force for the manipulators of this world. No one escapes its bondage. If you want an interesting insight in your own soul, get a group of children talking about what they fear. I can recall a myriad of fears, mostly unfounded, in my childhood that kept me from many of the joys I should have had. Overhearing the talk of my parents during World War II, my greatest fear was that they might take my father away in the draft. I had no idea what the "draft" was, but I knew that it made people disappear. I loved the small forest behind our house and the creek that ran though it; however, it was off-limits to me because a kid six years older than I threatened me. He said he could press a spot on his arm cast and send snakes running to get me if I wandered again into his private domain. Lacking the knowledge to scoff at this statement, I floundered in the irrational world that feeds the fears of childhood. I remember that event as I think of the territorial threats and wars that engulf commerce and nations. Some valid, usable fears, well founded, also shaped my life. I feared the street. The trucks and cars that whizzed by were obviously larger than I. Good fear. Unfortunately, that fear was not strong enough to produce unerring righteousness, but it certainly helped enough to protect the neighborhood from destruction. I also came to fear the shame that my unrighteous action would produce. Being the son or a preacher, I realized by the age of five that I was my father’s richest source of illustrations, often to my embarrassment. Good fear none-the-less.

From well-meaning people I suffered three direct spiritual fears in my younger days. Most of all, I feared missing the Rapture of the Church. No one ever assured me I would make it. Indeed, the question, "Would you want to be doing that when Jesus comes?" served as an effective preventative. Fear of demon possessing formed my second fear. Once again, boiling adolescence fell prey to the manipulation of different speakers. Whatever it was that I had or did must be a demon. I didn’t know all the arguments against it then. Finally, I feared that I might have committed the unpardonable sin. Once again, manipulative questions such as, "Are you closer to Jesus than when you got saved? Do you feel stronger about Him now than when you were first saved?" were used as proof that something terrible muse have happened in my walk with the Lord. My fear of God, until I came to truly know and understand Him, was more like terror, knowing that someday I was going to "get It." Eventually, with greater understanding of God, that terror gave way to respect and love. The statements of Scripture that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind," and "Perfect love casts out fear. Fear has torment. Whoever has fear has not been perfected in love." were statements that created some anxiety in me because of the clash of those statements with my terror. Finally, I truly saw Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. The plug was pulled on terror. It was all so obvious and logical. The upshot of all this is that I, now armed with greater understanding, determined to be as instrument of fearlessness in the lives of others. Now, I realized that the only fear worthwhile was the fear of anything that might weaken or remove my relationship with God. This brings me back to my earliest statement about fear being such a motivator. The fear of a harmed relationship with God is not the greatest motivator of mankind; the fear of man is. Jesus warned us not to fear those who could merely harm the body, but those who could kill the soul. When I see men of faith purposely using fear about our future of livelihood to move people, alarm bells go off in my heart. We "religious conservatives" fall prey to many conspiracy theories, right and left. Fear generates and independent life for any perceived threat. My teenage years coincided with the McCarthy area when we thought communist were coming out of water pipes and lived in out attics. I recall a famous tent evangelist who promised to reveal to us the biggest communist in America, but we had to have tickets for that night, though the were free. He asked that we be discreet in sharing the tickets, Good ploy there. After a forgettable sermon, he finally revealed how he determined to be the biggest communist---Kate Smith, who sang "God Bless America" so beautifully. I went home with a fair share of disgust, but I also realized that the biggest fund raisers at that time on Christian radio were those who effectively made us afraid of communists and who assured us that if we sent them an offering, the (imagine that) would lead the parade in stopping the devilish influx of communism. I wished that someone merely preaching the gospel would be so successful. Further, I have discovered that trend continues to exist. A procession of fearable opponents wait (always) just beyond the horizon to end our way of life. Food grown differently from a horse drawn plows will kill you. Be afraid. Water from your public source will kill you. Be afraid. Cholesterol will kill you. Be Afraid. Lack of cholesterol will kill you. Be Afraid. The Illuminati will kill you. Be afraid. UFOs will kill you. Be afraid. Angel produced giants will kill you. Be afraid. Computers will kill you in the year 2000. Be afraid. How long can this list go? Endlessly. Why do we cherish fear? When the Y2K problem passes, what will be our next fear? Must we keep reinventing our conspiracies? Or perhaps, live in the peace of knowing that God has made arrangements for us? Long ago, I decided that I would no longer dedicate any mind time to such scary theories. I heard clearly the call of Jesus to come to Him and He would give me rest. At least the Saduccees knew that He was afraid of no man. I long ago decide that my work was to obey His call and encourage and train His people. I long ago realized that my job was to be where people are and give them hope of redemption. I invite you to rest in the knowledge of His care. Any current fear is meaningless compared to the glorious opportunity to be His agent among the people. Of all the people in the world, we have the greatest reason to be fearless. Fear is being self-centered. Fear is bondage. Jesus` instructions were to "Go" and "Go unafraid." Let us be wise and prudent and fearless and free.

It really doesn’t matter how you take this verse, whether it’s talking about physical death or spiritual death. The point is still the same. Pray.

When you see someone caught in a sin, don’t get mad. Pray.

God doesn’t just want you knowing about Him.

He wants you knowing Him.

In verse 18, we saw that Jesus protects us from the evil one.

But here we see our part. We are being "attacked" from the outside, and we need to guard ourselves.

Keep your guard up.