The news was not great. It was scary. The one thing a parent never wants to face. Hearing the diagnosis was like a bomb being dropped. A weight, too heavy to carry. And there, in the midst of the sounds, came the ugly arrival of one of their greatest enemies: FEAR.

Another time, another place, another family… they face something different. Battles outside that attack within. It’s like sloshing through knee-deep thick mud trying to push past the hurt. And guess which enemy is wading along next to them? FEAR.

Perhaps your story is different and yet you find yourself face-to-face with this same enemy. Fear doesn’t just arrive and condemn, it creates. It grabs your mind, your soul, and casts doubts and scenarios that cause you to freeze in your tracks. Forward progress stops or is greatly delayed.

Fear causes us to shift focus onto the enemy. We vividly see the worst case scenario and assume that is what is waiting for us. We turn our gaze toward fear and away from God.

When our focus has shifted, we give fear control and we stop trusting in God’s perfect plan and will.

Timothy faced this same enemy. Timothy faced persecution that could cost him freedom or his life. His mentor and father in the faith (Paul) was already in prison. Yet, in the midst of his imprisonment he sent encouragement to Timothy, and I believe, to us.

Fear is not from God! It is from the enemy. We have been given a different spirit. Fear has no place! Stand strong!

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (fear), but of power and love and discipline.” ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear has held many of us captive far too long. Stop living in fear of the enemy and his tactics. Stop serving fear! Fear does not have the final say. God does.