From the inception, fear has been an archenemy of man; a monster
that has tried every attempt to crown itself over man, turning man to its prey.
At first, man was king in his kingdom, without fear. However, after giving in
to the lies of the father of lies, it opened the door of their heart to allow
fear take dominion from their eyes, and they had served this monster until the
coming of Christ.
Like an invisible enemy, it would crouch into people’s hearts by reason of what their eyes and
ears and heart accommodate. It hollows out their inside, until their resistance
and strength is spent and they suddenly break down. Fear would secretly gnaw
and eat away at all the ties that bind a person to God and to others, and when
in a time of need that person reaches for those ties and clings to them, they
break and the individual sinks back into himself or herself, helpless and
despairing, while hell rejoices.
And
when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the
sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to
them, “Why
are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and
there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man
is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” Matthew 8:23–27:
Some of the fruits of fear are loneliness, helplessness, etc. They
give one the feeling that there is no way out, creating in one this raving
impulse to get oneself out of this hell of hopelessness. Fear stares at one in
the face and makes threats. And when you experience fear, you know quite
alright that peace is lost within you. And that only tells how evil and
monstrous fear can be.
But we are not of them that fear. We are rather of them that
believe in the perfect love that casts out fear, or better still, the perfect
God that casts out fear. For God is
love, and the love of God that has soaked our heart by His spirit drives away
every fear that the enemy brings. And so today, we stand boldly anywhere and
everywhere, like in the days of the Apostles to proclaim the word of God with
love.
We do not give in to the lies of the devil that makes us feel skeptical about what tomorrow holds,
what we will eat, drink, wear, etc. Rather, we substitute every form of fear
with a faith that is stronger than fear, and more certain than logic. The media
might continue to promote fear, circumstance might not cease to breathe
negativity, but so long Christ lives in us, the wind and the seas lives to fear
us, and not the other way round.
