Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Isaiah 41:10 (TPT)
Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from Me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with My strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with My victorious right hand.
2 Timothy 1:7 (TPT) says, “God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.”
Fear is a division of spirits of darkness in the devil’s army. They are assigned to intimidate, to terrorize, to open doors for other devils of destruction, sickness and oppression, to dominate the lives of God’s children.
Many believers that are being afflicted by spirits of fear would say, “I am not a fearful person”, or, “I can’t relate to people who are fearful”, but it is important to recognize that these ‘spirits of darkness’ come in many forms… ‘intimidation, worry, anxiety, cautiousness, apprehension, doubt, procrastination, nightmares, depression, negativity’, and more…
Fear is also a huge enemy against FAITH… It is probably the number one reason that many believers would rather lean on their own strength, ability and ‘hard work’ than to have faith in God and in His Word. Many of these ‘ambitious’ believers never realize that they are actually operating under a spirit of fear. Hard work is great, but self-reliance is evidence of a fear dominated life!
People who are always obsessed with making money, growing their business, achieving success, and budgeting every penny to make ends meet, or to save towards financial goals are actually subconsciously being dominated by spirits of fear. They squeeze a dollar bill so hard that Washington gets tears in his eyes. Now, being a good steward of your finances and working hard on the projects that the Lord has assigned to you, by grace, through faith is necessary, but if you are doing it with any degree of ‘self-reliance’ it is evidence of fear… in other words, if you are convinced that success and provision come only from you working hard and smart, you are being self-reliant, but if you are convinced that the Lord provides as you place your faith in Him, and that hard, smart work is nothing more than adding works to your faith, and your reliance is one hundred percent on the Lord, then you are living by faith.
Fear always brings bondage, and faith always brings freedom. People of faith do not worry, they sleep well at night, and they are much more focused on being led by the Spirit, than making right decisions in order to secure desired results. If your decision is to be led by the Spirit, and to pray, and not to move forward until you are clearly Spirit led, then you are operating according to the New Covenant in Christ… but, if you are so self-reliant that you hardly pray about something, but rather spend most of your time ‘strategizing’ and ‘trying to do the wise thing’, then you are actually fear dominated.
Someone once said, “work, plan, and operate like it all depends on you, then pray like it all depends on God”… sounds good, but that is not how New Covenant faith works… self-dependance is NEVER New Covenant! Work hard, follow God’s plan, and pray, knowing that it all depends on Him! Don’t get me wrong, I believe in hard work, just not self-dependance, or self-reliance… I actually believe that ‘God-dependence’ and ‘God-reliance’ will create a pressure-free, faith-filled, anointed environment for hard, productive, stress-free work.
If a spirit of fear has any place in your life, it will always rob freedom and true faith. It brings stress, strife, and needless pain into lives, relationships and assignments from the Lord, so ask the Lord to set you free from all fear! Perfect love cast out ALL fear, selah!
In His amazing love, Nick
