The Bondage of Fear

 

The Bondage of Fear

By Liz King

    Are you in bondage? Do you feel helpless? Are you retreating from life? Do the circumstances of your life have more power over you than the omnipotence of God? Do you trust the trial or situation more than you trust God? 

    Fear is absolutely prevalent in today's society! It’s everywhere. People are held captive in fear to the point they are in bondage and don’t even realize it. They have more faith in fear than they do God. Fear ultimately boils down to where your trust is.  God showed me this a little over a year ago.  My father had covid and ended up in the hospital.  He has diabetes and was considered high risk.  Things weren't looking good for him.  As I started freaking out and began thinking of the what ifs, I heard God say, "Do you trust me, or do you trust covid?"  I automatically said, "I trust you." Then I heard the still small voice say, "No, do you TRUST ME, or do you TRUST covid?"  I stopped and was shocked! I was trusting covid, not Him.  I had put my faith in covid, not God.  God then told me that my father was his child and had full control of the situation, but I had to trust HIM! That changed me.  Our faith is where we put our trust.  It is what we entertain and who we believe to have control.  If we give power to the circumstances or the influences of the world, fear will become a prison and it can be crippling. 

    After covid I have seen people huddle in fear and live in a place of anxiety.  People have more faith in a virus, a mask, a vaccine rather than God.  This is not about covid, this is about fear.  Covid produced fear.  People locked themselves up in homes and many continue to stay in their homes and live in fear of interacting with other people. They live behind a mask and not behind trusting God.  There mask was their security, not God.   Anxiety, worry, doubt is all tied into fear.  Fear means you lack trust in the omnipotence of God.  We can go through situations without God and drown in our own imprisonments, or we can do them with God and experience freedom in the crippling circumstances.

    Fear caused the Israelites to wander the wilderness for forty years and never got to see the promise land because they saw the Giants as more powerful than the promise God had given them that he would give it to them.  Many claim to be Christians but live in the bondage of fear.  They will say they believe in God, yet they believe in circumstances surrounding them has more power than the God who spoke everything into existence. They unknowingly choose to live in bondage.  Faith is hard but it is built on the promises God has given us and HE CANNOT LIE!  It is about trusting who he says HE IS!  It is about knowing and recognizing who is in control and who can change our circumstances.  God has the absolute final say.  Does that mean everything works out the way we want? No! It does mean that we have the peace and freedom knowing that God ultimately knows what is best for us even if we don't see it at the time.  It is about living in his ultimate freedom rather than what we think our human mentality of freedom is.  So, I ask you, where is your trust?  Is it him? Is it in yourself? Is it in your circumstances.  How can they tell you who you are or what God's plan is for you or your life when it has no real power.  It only has power because you have given it power.  You trust the fear rather than the true goodness of God.  Who hung the moon and stars? Who makes the sun shine every day? He is more faithful than that.  He loves us.  If your trust your fear more than God, then you are actively walking towards fear and away from God, denying his omnipotence and his providence.  You trust fear more than him.

    When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faced with the fear of the fiery furnace when they denied worshipping the statue of Nebuchadnezzar.  They knew who was in control and they trusted God rather than trusting and submitting to fear.  They knew God could save them from the furnace and even if they died in the furnace they would still be in the glory and promises of God.  God did protect them in a supernatural way, because he was in control of the circumstances.  Their faith in him meant they handed God their circumstances and took it out of the hands of the circumstances.  They did not submit to fear.  If they had that would have put them in spiritual bondage.  They had the faith and confidence of God's omnipotence.  So instead of giving into the fear they trusted God and gave him the situation.

    We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Our books in heaven are already written.  Our days were decided even before God set the foundations of the earth.  The thing is, are we going to fulfill God's heavenly book or ours?  He is a much better author than we are.  If we do not trust God, we will not fulfill what he has written for us in his book.  Fear separates us from others. It separates us from God.  There is only one thing that can cast out fear and that is the perfect love of God.  Why do we choose to trust the flawed and corrupted, rather than the perfection of God.  He gives us tools to overcome but if we don't turn to him and utilize the tools, he has given us, then we will remain in the bondage of fear.  Fear leads to hopelessness; love leads to hope and freedom.  Fear shuts you in and you find your securities in perishable and destructive things.  The enemy wants nothing more to separate you from others, God, church, and life. He wants to separate you from hope!  The enemy WANTS you to live in bondage.  They want you to give into fear.  Why do we surrender to the fear and circumstances rather than falling into God? The prince of Peace, the Alpha Omega.  He paid a horrible price for our freedom, which many of us choose not to live in.  Fear means you think you know better than God does.  You trust yourself and your circumstances more than God.  You give the power to the circumstances and fear rather you give into the power of the cross.  Jesus destroyed fear on that cross. It answers to HIM.  

    What is holding you in bondage? What is keeping you from stepping out, surrendering, and trusting in God? What is defining you and your freedom?  How has trusting fear been so far?  Fear just adds to more fear.  There is a famous saying, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."  That hill to stand on is Jesus and it's a hill worth dying on because it comes with a promise!!  Life!!!!  If you live in anxiety and fear, surrender it to God and see what he can do with it.  He is always waiting for you to call on him.  He is a gentleman and does not force himself on you.  He waits for you to turn to him.  Do you want to trust your life with the perishable circumstances, or do you want to trust your life with the winner???  He is not perishable!  When you are able to trust him, you are able to overcome.  When you overcome you are able to grow and fulfill the purpose, he has planned for you.  Pain and circumstances are only temporary, and he supplies the things you need so you can overcome. You don't have to fight alone.  He gives beauty for ashes. Trade your bondage for freedom.  Surrender your doubts for truth.  Throw away the chains of fear and live in the victory.  Our freedom is in Christ.