Giants in the Land

I am currently making some faith steps that feel uncomfortable and big, and as I do, familiar giants come to repeat their lies, shout their taunts and try to intimidate and deter forward progress. These same giants that face me, and I suspect many of you, at every moment of advance are called Fear and Doubt. They keep popping their ugly heads up, don’t they?

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

This verse in 2 Timothy 1:7 has come up several times recently as I have prayed with and for people. It feels like it is one of those verses that we need to hold on to at the moment, especially if you are one of those who is in a transitional moment or going through a storm. You may well know this scripture quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:9

… because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

Whenever there is an opportunity to step out, to move forward, to grow, to build, in our journey with God, there is always opposition. It has to be said, this has often been internal for me. There have been external things and people along the way of course, although it is important to note that people are not the enemy, but much of the opposition takes place in my head, in my thoughts, my beliefs, my wrong understanding of truth and the lies that I have believed as a result of my experiences in life, my upbringing or the culture I live in.

In the biblical account of the Israelites entering the promised land, there were many battles to be won, not least the one to overcome their fear and doubt and trust God instead – their failure to do this meant a whole generation didn’t enter the land and they spent another 40 years wandering round the desert. That is not what any of us want.

A rich source of wisdom and encouragement for us to revisit, if opposition is something we are struggling with, is the story of Nehemiah. He faced much opposition as he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem but he did not allow it to deflect him from the task he had been given and he accomplished an incredible feat with God’s help. In comparison, we have an added advantage as we have the indwelling Spirit of God who is wisdom personified.

I realise that fear and timidity, mentioned in the Timothy verse, are linked to doubt because a lack of trust, a lack of faith, will lead us into fear. If we don’t trust God to be our provider, fear of lack, fear of the future is a natural result of that thought, not least because it puts that responsibility to provide for ourselves squarely back on our shoulders. Independence is not compatible with a faith-filled life, or rest either.

It is fear that has created powerlessness because as we allow fear to overwhelm us, influence and intimidate us, we do not step into the position of power and authority that Jesus intended. He has given us a spirit of power, the Holy Spirit, whose coming at Pentecost we have just celebrated, and he empowers us to walk the walk. But if we are fearful of the Holy Spirit, we miss out on the power He supplies which enables us to live abundantly and impact our world.

If Peter had allow fear and doubt to overwhelm him, he would not have spoken to the man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3 and he would not have been healed, or if Jesus had given in to fear and doubt, Lazarus would not have come out of the tomb. If fear had been allowed to rule in many lives, thousands of other miracles, that God has performed through his saints over the years, would not have happened. Inherent in seeing miracles, the supernatural power of God at work in our own life and through our lives, is the need to overcome fear and take risks.

So much of the power and authority that Jesus intends us to walk in has been missing from the church, in part due to fear robbing us of our risk-taking ability as well as making us averse to anything supernatural. Seriously, how can we expect to understand everything about the God of the universe. There has to be a place for the mysterious, the supernatural, the inexplicable.

One of the biggest fears is the fear of man, which limits us all too often, and we opt for the ‘safe option’ which is usually the powerless option. It can be the inoffensive option but it is also the ineffective option. We can be very constrained by other people’s opinions, or what we think their opinion is. I wonder how much has been robbed from the world by this fear alone.

In our performance-oriented world, we can also be very concerned about “What if it doesn’t work?” but maybe we could consider “What if it does!” We look at our meagre resources, which in reality are inadequate, as Jesus tells us in John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

BUT in him, in his authority and power, because he has overcome this world and he has been given ALL authority, we can be confident that as we step out in obedience to him, all the resources of heaven are backing us. We are part of a limitless kingdom! God is not restricted or constrained in any way, and incredibly he has brought us into the spacious place that is his kingdom.

As we go back to the verse in 2 Timothy 1:7 and continue to look the impact of fear, we come to the fact that it says we have been given a spirit of love. You probably know well the words in 1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Fear paralyses us because we are concerned about all the what-ifs of our performance (among a myriad of other what-ifs) but the spirit of love frees us from the fear of getting it wrong, of failure, and everything connected to do with punishment because the knowledge that you are loved, and that nothing can separate us from that love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39) frees us to have a go, to experiment, to take risks in the secure knowledge that it is our faith in a big God that pleases him more than trying to walk an imaginary tightrope of his perfect will. We can take confidence in his ability to keep us on track, to keep us from stumbling as it says in Jude 1:14. It is all his work in us, as as this verse in Philippians 2:13 shows

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Maybe if we could spend less time focussing on ourself and what we need to be doing, and our fear that what we are doing is wrong, not enough, or even that just who we are is wrong or not enough somehow, if we spent more time focussing on him, and his love for us and his presence, then his work in our hearts would quite naturally move us to be what he has called us to be. Time spent in his presence meditating on the wonder of his love, sitting in the atmosphere of heaven that is love, and joy and peace and all the other goodness that is the atmosphere surrounding him, strengthens us, strengthens our resolve, gives us confidence and encouragement.

I have been meditating on the thought that I just need to surrender to his love, to sit in his presence, and the rest will flow from that, as a natural outworking of his love in me. Certainly when we make it all about us and our efforts, our limited capacity, that is when fear has potential access and that is when striving gets in. The promised land for us is that place of stillness and rest in him. The Stuart Townsend song “In Christ Alone” puts it like this:

What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

Lastly, as we consider the 2 Timothy 1:7 verse, we come to the word that is changed in different translations. The Amplified bible puts it like this:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

The word translated as self-control or discipline is one that relates to the ability to respond prudently, wisely, in a way that is appropriate to the situation, rather than reacting out of fear. When fear dominates, sound judgment goes out of the window, our ability to make good rational, faith-filled decisions is compromised and we lose our sense of self control and discipline, we are more susceptible to all our out of control coping strategies, whether they are addictions, busyness, escape or something else. For many of us, fear can trigger us into a fight or flight mode due to our past history but ultimately in God, the place of peace allows us to make considered decisions, and not be pressured in any way, even if they seem counter cultural or risky in the eyes of the world.

The thought that triggered this blog is this one:

What does fearlessness look like?

In simple terms when I ask God this question, his response is “Trust” and as I unpack it, it means no stress, no worry, no limits, total confidence, peace and joy and so much more … unsurprisingly, it looks like the words that we associate with the kingdom!

Can we ever reach a point where fear does not feature in our life? Is that what “do not fear”, that is repeated so many times in scripture, actually means? I believe that fear, like many other negative emotions, is a helpful indicator of when there is something happening in our internal “wiring” that may not be in line with the thoughts of God – for example, a faulty belief, which like a faulty connection in an electronic system causes a problem.

The sanctification process is just that, a process. The longer we walk with Jesus, and the stronger our relationship with him gets, the more experience we have of him, then the more these things get worked out along the way. Faith grows stronger, we experience his deliverance, his comfort, his renewing of our mind and we become more secure in his love and his empowering. Like the restoration process in a house, when something pops its head up, it is just an indication of what needs fixing. It is not ever to be a place of condemnation, or allowing the voice of the accuser to have his way. This for me has been an area of freedom God is releasing me into as I acknowledge that I was ashamed of even feeling fear. I believed that it was a failing to acknowledge fear so I am now happy to honestly acknowledge when I am feeling fearful! However, I also don’t want to fall into the ditch the other side of that road that just accepts fear as normal and acceptable. I want allow Holy Spirit to unearth the ‘faulty wiring’ that is causing the fear and fix it.

So in our consideration of fearlessness, we have to acknowledge that fear, and doubt, will try to come. The enemy has limited strategies at his disposal – he is not creative unlike our God! The issue is not whether fear and doubt will come but what we do with them. This is the second half of fearlessness. First be real about where we are, no pretence, no masking, no putting on a brave face in an unhealthy way, but then make a choice about what we will do about it. It does not have to dictate our life. Fear is not the boss.

The story of David and Goliath that we know so well shows us the options. When the giants of fear and doubt raise their ugly heads and start to shout their intimidation, we can choose ~ because the Holy Spirit empowers us, because we are held secure in that place of being loved ~ whether to be held captive, paralysed and unable to advance, whether to allow fear to intimidate and block our path, like the Israelite army, or whether, like David, we will trust in our mighty God and step out in faith. It is not putting our trust in ourselves and our abilities, but in him! And he is more than able.

The verse in Timothy comes in the context of Paul exhorting him to use what God has put within him. 2 Timothy 1:6 says

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

So that is my encouragement to us, myself included. What has God put within us that fear and doubt has locked up? If there were no “buts”, no “I can’ts”, and no “what-ifs”, what would we be doing? The Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost transformed a bunch of disciples who were hiding, trembling in fear, those who had run away and disowned their friendship with Jesus, into bold, courageous, faith-filled believers who “turned the world upside-down”. Let’s pray with them, in the spirit of Acts 4:29

And now Lord, as we consider the intimidation and the lies of the enemy, give us great boldness and confidence to be those who are led by the spirit of power, love and a sound mind, not by the spirit of fear, as we step out in obedience to your word, using the gifts you have given us, for your glory.