FEAR

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

This is the first week of Holy Lent.We enter a time for fasting and prayer. A time for soul-searching and sorrow for sin.

of recession and monetary crisis. The prices of most things, especially groceries and gasoline, are rising. The housing market is flat. For many of us, income is down, expenses are up. We look to the federal government to save us from disaster. Perhaps the feds will cut interest rates and prime the economic pump. The president is pushing for an economic stimulus package. Meanwhile our political candidates are tearing at each other’s throats like rabid dogs.

We live in a time of fear. This is the time to seek the Lord while He may be found. When fear grips us, it plunges us deep into the flesh and far away from the spirit.

The word “fear” occurs in the Bible 367 times. {Josh. 1:9} “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” God COMMANDS us to be strong and of good courage. We are not to be afraid. The Lord our God is with us wherever we go. I have noticed that, whenever I become afraid, the first thing that happens is that I forget that God is with me. I think that I have to deal with it by myself, and that God is nowhere to be found. And I am just too weak to handle it alone. Fear covers us with unbelief. Fear destroys faith. [2Tim. 1:7] “ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” God gives us power. God gives us love. God gives us a sound mind.

Next month, God willing, I will be 73 years of age. In the seven-plus decades of my life, I have found many things to fear. But I have also learned a few things about fear: The first thing is that 90 % of the things I feared never happened. So I went through all that fear for nothing. Some 10 % of the things I feared actually happened. Of these 10 %, about half were not as bad as I feared. Of those that were as bad as I feared, I learned that I was stronger than I thought I could withstand more than I had thought. The consequences of these bad things were not as bad as I had imagined. I survived them and life just went on rolling.

In 1973, when I was a young man studying Chinese fighting arts, I was introduced to a new teacher. He was Chinese. One day, I walked into the school for my class and my teacher said to me: “Today, I will teach you how to TAKE A PUNCH.” “You will learn how to take a punch and a kick and get up and keep on fighting.” Well, that sounded pretty good to me, until the lesson started. He put me in the ring with a fighter who was much better than I, and I knew it. He beat me and kicked me and knocked me to the floor many times. Each time, my teacher was standing over me, yelling at me to GET UP, DON’T QUIT, KEEP FIGHTING. You will never know how bad I wanted to quit. I was black and blue and my body was one big hurt. But, somehow, I was able to get up, again and again, and keep fighting. At the end of the day, I had learned that I could be hit, be kicked, be knocked down… And get up, again and again, and keep fighting. This is one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned. I felt victory, elation, and even joy. As I sat alone in the locker room, I could remember the fear I felt at the start of the lesson. And the lack of fear I felt at the end. I knew, deep down, that fear is a crippling disease It robs us of the very vitality of life. It is a torment, a living hell on earth. The fear of it is worse than the thing itself.

Jesus has much to say about fear. Let’s look at one passage. {Luke 12:4] “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” Don’t be afraid of money problems. Don’t be afraid of health problems. Don’t even be afraid of those who are able to kill you. There is only one that you should fear. That is the one who has the power to cast you into hell. There is only one who can do that: GOD HIMSELF. SO, fear God, and nobody else.

Jesus has a rather low opinion of the flesh, and a very high opinion of the spirit. He said, “the flesh profits nothing.” “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” “Do not worry about tomorrow. “Tomorrow has it’s own stuff. “Don’t worry until you get there.” Then don’t worry because you’ll be too busy dealing with the stuff to have time to worry.

Our blessed Lord Jesus is speaking about FAITH. Hebrews 11 says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” The rest of my message will teach you how to get faith. Some wise man said this: “Preach faith until you have faith. “And when you have faith, preach faith.” As a boy, I attended the Billy Graham crusades every time he came to town. He spoke of making a “Decision For Christ.” I would go down front every time and make a Decision for Christ. Billy knew that the decision for Christ was not salvation itself, but it was the STARTING POINT. It was starting your life in a new direction. It was the FIRST STEP.

Psalm 119 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” 2 Samuel 22:29 says, “for thou art my lamp, O Lord; and the Lord will lighten my darkness.” Fear is darkness, God is light. Now, I could quote scriptures all day long and you could be not much improved. So, if you want faith, how do you go about getting it? The first step is to recognize that it is not a self-help or a way to improve your low self-esteem. It is a fight, a life and death struggle. It is a battle which will continue until your life on earth is done. This battle begins with a decision to trust God. You cannot trust yourself and you cannot trust your feelings. Proverbs 28:26 says, “He who trusts his own heart is a fool.” This is how to do it: Go to your secret place, a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Turn off the phone and tell your family you are going to do some business with God. When you are alone, begin to pray: “O God, I CHOOSE to trust you. “I have been leaning on my own understanding and it has made me miserable. “My fear is eating me alive. “I choose to trust you and I choose to believe your Holy Word.” “I will make a time to be with you every day. I will read your Word and I will pray your Prayer.” Then turn to your Bible and read Matthew 5, 6, and 7. This is the Sermon on the Mount. Then pray the Lord’s Prayer three times. Do this for one week. Keep in mind that you will find yourself between what your mind tells you and what God tells you in his Holy Word. And you will choose, over and over, every day, to believe God over what your mind tells you. What I am giving you is NOT a formula for success. But there is power in reading a certain portion of the Bible over and over. There is power in praying the Lord’s Prayer over and over. St. Francis had the beginners pray the Lord’s Prayer 12 times every day. It helps to get your mind out of the way, and open your heart to the movement of God in your life. And you don’t have to think of things to pray.

In fact, the deepest experiences with the Holy Spirit are without words. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 6: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” This is the armor of God: TRUTH: Gird your waist with truth. RIGHTEOUSNESS: Put on the breastplate of righteousness. THE GOSPEL: Shod your feet with the gospel of peace. FAITH: Above all, take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. SALVATION: Take the helmet of salvation. THE BIBLE: Take the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. This is the whole armor of God.

In closing, I would urge you to consider one valuable resource in your time of fear: YOUR PASTOR AND YOUR CHURCH. There is something about fear that causes us to withdraw, from our family, from our church and from our pastors. There are many good people in your church who can be trusted. Reach out to them. Learn to reach out, overcome your hesitation. Hesitation and inhibition are fears. Founded on mistrust. Fear of being hurt. Reach out to the holy ones in your church. They are the Body of Christ. The holy ones will pray with you. They can keep a confidence. As a pastor, I want you to know one thing: You are the only reason that God keeps pastors on this earth. They are not here so much to preach or lead services, although they do that. Your pastors are here for you. And I love you.

Blessings in Jesus,
Dr. Hammond

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