I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about fear in recent months, especially as it pertains to our Christian life. You see, Satan loves to weaponize our threat response against us. One of his favourite ploys is to question the truth, and then turn the truth into a threat.
For example, I’m fairly confident that every person who has ever considered doing something for Jesus has at one point or another struggled with the question, “What if I’m not up to it?” We might struggle with fear of failure—especially fear of failing publicly. We might struggle with the idea that if we fail we’ll be letting God down, or maiming our witness, or injuring the larger Body of Christ.
We forget—or shy from—the truth: I’m not up to it. I never was.
Instead of embracing the truth, we run from it because it feels threatening. Fear fuels our flight, and turns to fight the very thing that could give it freedom.
Remember, Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” [1]
Faith responds to these attacks by affirming the truth.
- I’m not up to it.
- My friend will sometimes be unreliable.
And then faith answers, “BUT GOD.”
But God is up to it.
But God is reliable.
And faith removes the threat response implicit in our denials and in our running. Faith soothes our fears by anchoring in the truth—and sets its gaze on the Truth, the Way, and the Life. [2]
BUT GOD. He is bigger than any threat. [3] He exposes those threats for the deceptions they are. He gives us hope and a future—if only we have the courage to stop running, look Satan’s threats in the face, and call out their BS.
We don’t fight Fear. We soothe it. We take it by the hand and bring it to Jesus. He is the Gentle One who will not break a bruised reed and certainly will not chastise us for flinching in the face of a cruel world.
We “stand and see the salvation of God.” [4] Jesus fights for us. On our behalf, He dissolves Satan’s threats. And we soon see that those threats are really a different type of lie.
No wonder Satan likes to attack our threat responses so much. He is the father of lies. [5] His aim is to use us to triangulate against the truth. When we’re fighting the truth, we aren’t fighting him. His lies become stronger, and he’s able to sneak in the back door of our psyches, slipping by the watchman of Fear who has been distracted by his treats.
Focussing Fear on the truth is one of his most potent diversionary tactics—and it’s all based on a lie.
The truth isn’t threatening. It’s freeing.
When we stop treating Fear as the enemy and instead free it from Satan’s stranglehold, our reality is changed. A God-given, good part of ourselves that’s used to us ignoring it, pushing it aside, or wishing it didn’t exist is now welcomed back into our selfhood, as holy, as valued, as necessary.
When Satan can no longer weaponize our threat response, our shield of faith grows thicker and broader. His arrows can no longer get through.
And now we are not the ones on the run.
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
—James 4:7
NOTES
All scripture quotations are taken from the NASB unless otherwise stated.
[1] John 8:32.
[2] See John 14:6.
[3] Satan’s threats aren’t entirely false. Just as a human being can threaten and intimidate without having the power to follow through, so can Satan. The intimidation is real. But the power of the threatener and intimidator was broken on the cross. He is a toothless dog with a fierce growl. He still has claws and muscles. He can still hurt us in a way—maybe that’s why Fear still fears—but he can’t destroy us.
[4] See Exodus 14:13, 2 Chron 20:17.
[5] See John 8:44.
