th (1)Are you a fearful person? I was very fearful as a child, but I have my older brother to thank for that trait.  He used to hide in various places around the house and jump out to scare me.  He knew I looked under my bed each night before I went to sleep, so one night he decided it would be fabulous to hide there and grab my ankle when I walked into my room.  I’m certain I raised the dead that night with my blood curdling screams.

Through the years I’ve grown in courage as I’ve grown in faith, but every now and then something in life will send fear knocking on my door. Many of you have shared with me how fear has been knocking on your door after reading Rescuing Hope.  The enemy has invaded your life with a spirit of fear and he is holding you captive.

I was really no different as I researched and wrote Rescuing Hope.  Let’s face it; this is a horrific crime that comes a little too close to home.  We’d like to avoid learning about it, but as Mary Flannery O’Connor said,

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”

Just because it is hard to hear and learn about human sex trafficking in America doesn’t make it any less true or necessary to learn.  With knowledge comes power, power to raise your voice and cry out against the evil invading our nation.

2 Timothy 1:7 says,

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

If God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, there’s only one other place it could come from and that’s the enemy.  He brings fear upon us to cripple us and keep us from acting. When that happens, we need to pause and ask God to reveal the lie we believe. Once He does, we need to ask Him to show us what the truth is in our situation.  When we know the truth, it will set us free from the lie and we can move forward [John 8:32].

God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but He did give us power, Holy Spirit power; the same dunamis power that raised Jesus from the dead [John 21:14]. He gave us love; the love of Christ [1 John 4:16]. And He gave us sound mind or reason [Proverbs 2:7].  The enemy knows if we embrace these gifts, we will be a force to be reckoned with, so he continuously tries to sell us a bag of lies.

We have a choice to make.  Will we believe the enemy or the Lord? If we choose to believe the enemy we will be crippled from ever making an impact in the world and in the Kingdom.  If we believe the Lord, we recognize that He will give us the courage to face our fears and move forward in spite of them, trusting His faithfulness to go the distance with us [Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:9].

What are you afraid of? Ask the Lord to show you the source and move from there. Refuse to buy what the enemy is selling anymore.