Being Fearless in a Fearful World

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Hebrews 13:6

"The LORD is my helper;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?"  

NKJV

In our chaotic world there does not seem to be any shortage of fear or things to be fearful of.  As of the time of this writing, there is an incursion illegal immigrants on the southern border of the United States.  The economy in the United States, and in other parts of the world, is stagnant with more and more people having given up on finding work.  Many of these individuals have ran out of their unemployment and turned to SSI disability and foodstamps to survive. 

The United States is not the only place where fear abounds for the situation in the Ukraine has gone global with the shooting down of a civilian airliner using a sophisticated weapons system.  Then we have the situation in Israel where one third of the population has had to spend time in a bomb shelter due to Palestinian rocket attacks.  Then there is the plight of Christians in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries martyred for their faith in a present day Christian holocaust. 

Hebrews 13:6 reminds us that the Lord is our helper and we do not have to fear what men can do to us.  However, even Christians are human and can easily begin to fear, especially with all the fearful events currently happening in our world so let us take a moment and look at some of Gods promises to us and allow them to encourage us.  God’s Word reminds us that we need not fear:

1)      Physical harm – In Acts 6 and 7 we have the account of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  Stephen was only guilty of living and proclaiming his faith in Jesus Christ as his Messiah and for these actions, his fellow Jews accused him of blasphemy.  Stephen knew that the sentence for someone accused of blasphemy was death and we would normally expect him to react in fear.  However, instead of reacting with fear, Stephen delivered a sermon to his Jewish accusers pointing out that Jesus was the Messiah and that they had rejected Him.  Stephen must have known his sermon would result in his death but Stephen also knew that being absent from his earthly body meant being present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). 

2)      Emotional Harm – The Apostle Paul was present at the murder of Stephen and shortly after found himself on the road to Damascus where he had a personal and very powerful encounter with Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-9).  This encounter caused Paul to do a 180 in his life changing from one of Christianity’s greatest opponents to its greatest proponent.  Paul’s conversion caused him to become a target of persecution just like Stephen but did not result in his death, at least not right away.  Paul’s persecution caused him to spend much time in Roman jails in various parts of the empire.  While alone in these jails and not knowing when he would face death, like Stephen, must have caused great emotional fear in Paul but Paul, like Stephen, did not react with fear.  Instead, while imprisoned, Paul wrote letters to the churches he had established, letters that became much of the New Testament.  Paul had seen the risen Lord on the Road to Damascus and was not about to let fear stop him from completing his mission of spreading the Gospel.  When Paul knew he was about to be martyred for his faith he wrote to Timothy telling him “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  (2 Timothy 4:7, NKJV)

3)      Spiritual Harm – When we give our lives to Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts.  As Christians living in this chaotic world, we are continually in a spiritual battle with our enemy, Satan.  However, we do not need to fear for “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”  (1 John 4:4, NKJV).  This does not mean everything will be rosy for we are still in a battle and may even lose some battles along the way, but The Bible shows us that everything will end with God on the throne so we know victory is ours. 

Yes, these are fearful and chaotic times but we do not have to live our lives dominated by fear.  Instead, we can live our lives dominated by the promises contained in God’s Word, which assure us that the end result in our lives is victory and eternity in the presence of the Lord.  There is no man, woman, government, or power of hell that can take this victory from us so hold your heads up and place your trust in the Lord.