SCRIPTURE READING: ACTS 16: 16-39
FOCUS: “One day, as we were going to the house of prayer, we encountered a young slave girl who had an evil spirit of divination, the spirit of Python. She had earned great profits for her owners by being a fortune-teller.” (Acts 16: 16 TPT)
MEMORY VERSE: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4: 18)
Our Focal Scripture speaks of the young slave girl who was possessed with an evil spirit of divination, also known as the python spirit. So, Paul and Silas were followed about by the python spirit. One major strategy of the python is to instill fear into its victim or target. Pythons have sensors that help them to discern fear in their targets. Once a python is convinced that its target is afraid, it becomes easier for it to strike.
Friend, when the enemy is planting fear in you, he is simply configuring you to a more convenient format for him to strike. When the enemy plants fear in you, it is because your fear makes it easier for him to attack you effectively. Fear is the weapon of the enemy to bring negativity into your life. Fear is the strategy of the enemy to make you a victim of what you are afraid of. Fear is the strategy of the enemy to weaken your destiny.
Fear is not just the presence of the emotions of scare; fear is the display of wrong emotions through your actions. Fear is not just when you feel something negative; fear is when you act in line with the negativity you feel. If you are acting in line with every fear you feel within you, you are making yourself more vulnerable to the enemy. If you start to act in line with what you fear, you are simply making your fears become your reality.
In Job 3 vs. 25, Job famously said “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me”. If you continue to live and act in fear, you will simply actualize your fears. If you continue to fear what everyone else fears, you may end up with the same outcomes you would have wanted to walk away from. No matter how the feelings of fear come to you, let your faith in God swallow your fears.
God has not given you a spirit of fear; but He has given you a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a sound mind. Discard your fears. Do not fear what others fear.
FURTHER READING: ISAIAH 8, JOB 3, 2 TIMOTHY 1
DECLARATION:
- I discard my fears; I will not fear what others fear, in Jesus’ name!
