The Way of Escaping Fears
Once we recognize these unfounded fears which we need to battle, we must find the right way to CONQUER them. Psychological self-deception won't help. It doesn't really do any good to tell ourselves that death is not really an enemy — that it is a good friend. Such autosuggestion doesn't change the fact that death is a mortal enemy. The way to solve this fear — and to solve every unnecessary fear — is to recognize what it really is.
Paul tells us death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26). But Jesus Christ has made a way to escape its eternal consequences. "Our Savior Christ Jesus . . . nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel." "For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and sobering" (2 Tim. 1:10, 7, Panin translation).
But how do we lose the dread of death — and of all tire other fears and worries that haunt us?
Remember the first lesson we learned is that we need to recognize the distinction between helpful and harmful, uncontrolled fears. Fear may be either right or wrong depending upon our direction of this emotion. Proper fear stems from the drive for self-preservation. It is a signal of danger — a signal that we need to take ACTION.
Proper fear is in twit forms. One is natural fear of physical danger — the warning that we need to protect this life. The other is SPIRITUAL FEAR for our eternal protection. This fear almost no one recognizes. Yet without it, we will never be able to CONQUER uncontrolled fear.
This SPIRITUAL fear is called the FEAR OF THE LORD or the FEAR OF GOD. Like every other fear, it, too, has been misguided until it has become the fear of the devil!
The natural emotion of physical fear warns us of physical hazards. This is a learned fear. The spiritual FEAR OF GOD warns us of eternal dangers. It, too, is a learned fear. We have to learn about the power and authority of God. We learn that God gives life and also takes life. That is why Jesus said: "Fear HIM (Luke 12:5).
Why Is the Fear of God Necessary?
This present age has lost this healthy respect for God. Notice the example of Noah: "By faith Noah, warned concerning the things not seen as yet, with godly fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house" (Heb. 11:7). Noah feared the power of God. That was a right fear a proper spiritual fear. But Noah controlled his fear of God. He didn't let his fear worry and frustrate him. Noah ACTED on his fear. He did something about it!
The great importance of the FEAR OF GOD has been woefully misunderstood. Let's understand its full significance. "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Pro. 16:6). This fear warns us that God will punish us if we harm ourselves by doing evil!
When we do evil, we harm ourselves. To teach us NOT to do evil, God sometimes has to punish us. That is how the fear of God leads us away from the danger of evil both physical and spiritual danger. "The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom" (Pro. 15:33).
When we fear God, we respect what He says. What He says has been recorded in Ibis Word, the Bible. In the Bible is the wisdom of God. Its instruction tells us right from wrong. It defines for us the pitfalls of sin. It warns us of the dangers of evil which robs us of happiness and prosperity and eternal life. "The fear of the Eternal tendeth to life; and he that hath it shall abide satisfied, he shall not be visited with evil" (Pro. 19:23).
The need for the fear of the Lord is a New Testament teaching. Peter said: "Fear God" (1 Peter 2:17). It is repeated again in Rev. 14:7: "Fear God." The early Church of God had peace when "walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:31).
How to ACT on the Fear of God
How will the proper REACI'ION to the fear of God rid us of all the needless mental suffering we impose on ourselves? How will the fear of God teach us to manage, and direct our minds until we master every nervous fear?
The apostle John wrote: "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).
The worries and mental torments stemming from fears occur when LOVE has not been perfected. LOVE is doing what God commands: "For this is the LOVE of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3).
The commandments of God define right and wrong. They tell us of the dangers of sin. sin is the "transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).
By OBEYING God we avoid the dangers of evil and we fill our minds and emotions with LOVE. Love removes worries and torments. This is how we ACT upon the fear of God.
Now let us learn HOW TO ACQUIRE PERFECT LOVE. Here is what Peter says: "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness LOVE" (2 Peter 1:57). (The archaic word "charity," found in the King James Version, should be rendered LOVE)
Here are SEVEN STEPS you need to follow to rid yourself of fear!
First, notice that you begin with faith. What is faith? "Without faith it is impossible to please [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. l1:6).
You cannot FEAR God without having faith that He exists and that He rewards us for what we do, whether good or evil. Faith is not something you try to make yourself think you have when you don't have it. Faith is the recognition that God exists and that it is fatal to fall into His hands unless you turn from your sins! This faith is acquired. It is learned by experience. You cannot hypnotize yourself into receiving faith.
Maybe you are like the woman who wrote me: "I can't seem to make myself fear God." Of course you can't make yourself fear God! You have to experience the need of fearing God. Perhaps you need to become a constant reader of The PLAIN TRUTH to learn the authority and power of God!
Let's follow the instruction of Peter throughout his seven-fold plan to conquer fear by filling the mind with LOVE.
The SEVEN-FOLD PLAN
First, add virtue to your faith in the power of God. Virtuous means decent, chaste, modest, and well mannered. It is the opposite of coarseness and vulgarity. The first step is to remove the cause of self-condemnation, the secret sins that are often committed under the guise of extreme prudery!
We must let the Bible define decency, chastity and good manners for us. Study the lives of men and women recorded within its covers. Recognize their mistakes. Don't make the same mistakes. Remember, too, that the fear of God teaches us not to make up our minds as we wish to believe, but to believe and act upon what God lays virtue is. It is neither self-righteousness nor coarseness. It is proper refinement.
Second, add knowledge to virtue. Knowledge refers to the learning of ideas and principles of conduct. We must continually increase in knowledge until we clean up our character!
Third, add temperance to knowledge. When we learn that God permits us to use things that we thought were forbidden, we must exercise the proper balance in handling any new freedom. We must be temperate. Temperance does not mean prohibition. Prohibition is abstention. Temperance is moderate use! Paul said: "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things (1 Cor. 9: 25). Temperance means SELF-CONTROL. This is one of the most vital steps in controlling the mind and stilling fears. You need to exercise self-discipline over mind and body if you want to overcome fears.
Fourth add patience to self-control. Patience is that broadness of mind by which you wait for the result to be achieved. Patience is the opposite of worry. One who is patient does not become frustrated because problems don't always solve themselves immediately. Patience comes from exercising self-control under trial. "Tribulation works patience," wrote Paul (Romans 5:3). You can't sit down and make yourself patient. You must work at it, under trial and test!
Fifth, add godliness to patience. Godliness means to be like God in character. God defines His character throughout the Bible. Many "religious" people pretend to have godliness, but "they deny the POWER thereof" (2 Tim. 3:5). God is a powerful character, not a weakling. Godliness means strength of character — it sums up virtue, knowledge, patience, self-control. Too many try to imagine what God is like apart from reading the Scripture. Little wonder that they deny His Power!
Sixth, add brotherly kindness to godliness. It is often easier to act righteous than to be kind to a brother! James says of the human tongue: "Therewith blew we the Lord and Father; and therewith cone we men, who are made after God's likeness" (James 3:9). God is perfect. We need to be perfect. But our brothers have faults of the flesh. It is difficult to be kind, to be helpful, to be generous, to be stern only when necessary to fellow human beings.
In misguided zeal many impose their "kindnesses" on others. We must learn to exercise good judgment in being kind. On the other hand, many neglect kindnesses, which they can never make up This breeds sorrow and worry.
Seventh, add LOVE as a climax to perfection. Jesus said: "LOVE your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you" (Mat. 5:44). When you love your enemies this Much, you won't fear what they can do to you. Love, when perfected, casts out all fear! Jesus also said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15: 13). Perfect love even removes the most terrible fear of all — the fear of death!
What is LOVE?
Love is the perfection of God's law according to its spirit or intent. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10). You cannot love anyone without fulfilling the law. And you cannot fulfill the law completely without loving your neighbor and your enemy! Love sums up the spirit and intent of God's law. It is the summation of all that is good and right. The fear of God leads us to love.
Notice how the Scripture defines love in its fullness. (In the following verses the archaic word "charity" needs to be translated LOVE, which I have done): If I dole out all my goods, and if I give my body that I may glory, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing . . ." Brotherly kindness without LOVE profits nothing eternally! Love suffers long" — it is patient — is kind" — it includes brotherly kindness; "love envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up" — it doesn't exalt itself, it is virtuous — "is not unseemly, seeketh not its own" — love is directed away from the SELF — "is not provoked, taketh not account of evil" —it is patient and not resentful — "rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in the truth" — it is godliness.
Love "covereth all things" — it covers every requirement — "believeth all things" — love is not gullible (which a misreading of this verse might imply), but it believes all things written in God's Word — "hopeth all things" — it hopes for all the promises, which gives us courage — "endureth all things." LOVE rises above all conflicts, making it possible for us to rise above the sufferings and fears, which engulf this age.
Love NEVER FAILETH, (1 Cor. 13:3-8).
This is how YOU can conquer your fears and worries! Ask God for help to carry out His seven-fold plan to attain real peace of mind. "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Luke 11:9).
Reprint Article Reproduced from the December 1955 issue of the Plain Truth Copyrighted in 1955 by Radio Church of God