My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we have a problem.
Fear.
That’s right, fear has gripped the Christian faithful, even more than I imagined. In fact, 69% of U.S. Protestant pastors say, there is a growing sense of fear within their congregations about the future of our nation and world.
Another 63% of these pastors say, their churches have increasing dread about the future of Christianity in the U.S. and around the world.
Side Note
While Christianity is dwindling a bit here at home, it’s making some gains around the world, another story for another time.
Can you believe that?
Essentially, 7 out of 10 Christians live in fear.
Thankfully, we have additional details. As it turns out, fear is spread across Christian denominations. Pastors say this percent of their congregation is fearful of the future, with respect to our nation and world.
- Non-denominational (75%)
- Methodist (74%)
- Baptist (72%)
- Lutheran (72%)
- Pentecostal (53%)
This is concerning.
Christians living in fear…
It leads me to ask the question:
- Do 69% of my readers live in fear about the state of our nation and world?
I hope not my friends.
If so, we have forgotten one of the most basic phrases and principles in the entire Bible.
“Fear not.”
In fact, the phrase “fear not” is found 62 times in the King James Bible.
This tells us, Christians should never live in fear.
Hey, we can be concerned about things, we can be uncertain about things, but we do not fear.
Do you know why?
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
God’s Spirit does not bred fear.
The Holy Spirit will not bring fear into your life. Instead, God will bring you power, love, and a sound mind. That means Jehovah God will comfort you in your troubles, in your trials and uncertainties. Any fear that you may have comes from another spirit, and it’s not God’s.
So don’t live in fear.
Do not entertain fearful things, as they do not promote our Heavenly Father.
We know these things, but we tend to forget them.
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After all, the Bible is just a static book sitting on the shelf. On the other hand, the television, internet, people, government and organizations are much more boisterous. They can shout, hoot, and holler, and quickly drown out the reason we learn in Scripture.
So this is your little reminder, “fear not.”
When you let fear creep in, you quickly forget about the words of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5:11-12
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Those were the words of our Lord and Savior.
I never caught any sense fear in that statement, not even an ounce of fear. Instead, Jesus told us, when persecution strikes due to our belief in Him, instead of being fearful, rejoice!
Why?
Your Heavenly reward, which is “The kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:10).
Don’t forget about that.
The Apostles never did.
In fact, they once were persecuted for preaching Jesus in the city. Prior, they were warned by the big wigs to stop all the Jesus talk, but they refused. For that, they were drawn before the religious council, they were interrogated, faced death, and were beaten.
Shortly after, they were released.
Do you know what they did?
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
Acts 5:41
They didn’t walk away in fear with their tail between their legs!
Instead, they leaped with joy as they were worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ. We really have to remember that. We have to remember how the boys did it in the old days, and we have to do our best to mimic that today.
Christians do not fear a sinful world.
Do you know why?
…fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28
We don’t fear men or their wicked devices. We can be concerned about them, but we don’t fear them. We don’t allow them to introduce fear into our household.
Why?
They can only harm our body, they cannot harm our soul.
The fear of man should have no power over us.
Fear is a product of the unknown. People always fear what they do not know or understand. So educate yourself on things in the world, that increases your knowledge, which enables you to help other Christians set their mind at ease.
Knowledge is power.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Psalms 118:6