A Life-Giving Response to Fear-Saturated Times

Fear is a spirit.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7

The only way to defeat a spirit is with the opposite Spirit. We don’t fight a spirit of fear by redirecting fear, we don’t fight a spirit of criticism by criticizing and we don’t fight a spirit of anger with more anger. But I am seeing that the spirit of fear has saturated the world and even the church.

The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5). When responding to trying times, the life-giving Spirit of God should be our loudest message for we are carriers of the gospel which literally means "good news". The gospel is life-giving & contagious. If our message drains more than lifts, deters more than compels, it's not the gospel. It’s religion and politics.

Although we are called to be sober-minded and to speak up for justice, our overwhelming message should be that there is hope, there is a light in the darkness and there can be peace in the midst of turmoil. If we fight the spirit of fear with the life-giving Spirit of God, the church will be the most hopeful and life-giving people to the world around us and we will reap a huge harvest!

As Christians, we have a decision. Do we deter or compel people with the gospel message?

“The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.”

Acts 9:31

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

Romans 12:12