“The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Proverbs 24:21).
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
The fear of man is another chain that each individual follower of Christ must shake off. This chain hinders the operation of faith. It causes us to fear persecution by those who do not hold to our faith. This persecution can take many forms such as the fear or being imprisoned, tortured, or even martyred which is happening right now in many countries around the world.
Jesus addresses this fear in Revelation 2:10: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall be tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
There is also the fear of losing family and friends for the sake of exercising faith in Christ in a manner that your family or church are not used to. In order to step out and exercise faith it may even cost you your job. One can easily be afraid of losing financial support.
In some cases, in order to step out in faith regarding healing, the medical profession could really make it hard on you and your family.
Hebrews 11 describes the “heroes of faith.” In order to exercise faith there were many difficult and challenging battles to overcome. Exercising faith is a fight of goodness against unbelief, all manner of human logic, and often times pure evil.
A revival of the anointing of the Holy Spirit will strengthen us to break free from the chains of fear.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell