Fear Can Hinder Your Healing—Here’s How to Overcome It.mp4

God's plan for every one of us is to have a sound mind. It's really part of the inheritance of the believer. And so you need to stop and tell yourself, a sound mind is my inheritance. A sound mind is my precious possession. God's given it to us. And so we could say this, a sound mind is a peaceful mind. And if we're not experiencing peace in our lives, we are not fully benefiting from our inheritance. You know, the devil doesn't want you or any Christian to have a peaceful mind, because he knows that a peaceful mind is a receiving mind. And you know, when we're anxious or worried or fearful, it's like an invisible barrier that rises up or a shield, and it keeps the Word of God and the power of God from getting in to help us. So Satan doesn't want you in a state of peace, because then the Word of God is going to work in your life, and you're going to have the victory that Jesus paid for you to have. You know, have you ever noticed, if you've been in a place where your thoughts are racing because you're worried about something, it's almost impossible to pay attention to a sermon that's being preached, or pay attention to a page in your Bible when you're trying to read, or a book that you pick up that you think might help. As long as your thoughts are racing, the Word cannot get through, it cannot penetrate. And so we have to figure out how to get out of that state of mind and how to get into a state of peace, which is why I've been teaching these episodes. You know, we have to remind ourselves that anxiety, fear, and depression are never from God. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 7, it says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now, I like the Amplified Classic for this. It says, For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear, but he has given us a spirit of power and of love and of a calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. So we see a lot of things from this passage here, and we're going to talk about this today further. According to this passage, fear is a spirit from Satan, and that spirit is going to cause a person to be timid or cowardly. You know, the reason people don't like public speaking is fear. The reason people won't put themselves in a situation where they'll stand up for what's right in a crowd, it's cowardice, it's timidity, it's fear. It's just fear. But we can all get to a place where whatever the Word says we're supposed to do, we can do it without fear. It's so important to have the peace of God and to have a sound mind. Now, here's an example of fear. Fear will keep people from pursuing a dream. Fear will keep people from furthering their education. Maybe they're afraid they can't pass the test. Maybe they're afraid they're not smart enough. Fear of failure has kept people from launching out and doing bigger things for their lives. Fear can also keep people from going places they need to go. Fear is paralyzing. Fear is of the devil. You know, during COVID, we saw the spirit of fear in full force. And it's a good thing we can bring it up now without being harassed about it. You know, really what happened during COVID was reasonable people began to fear even leaving their homes because they heard so much negative information on the airwaves that they were really believing a lie that if they left their homes, if they went out in public, that they would contract this deadly disease and they would die. Now, did people die from COVID? Yes, they did. But did you know that people die from pneumonia every year? People die from cancer. People die from all kinds of things. It's irrational to think that isolation is going to solve the problem. You know, really, if you just logically think about it, the quality of life became so poor for so many people that it wasn't even worth the isolation. But we saw the power of the spirit of fear in operation where people believed what they heard to the point that they had phobias that were irrational. I personally witnessed during that season several distant family members die during COVID, but they didn't even die from COVID. They died because they couldn't get the medical treatment they needed because they were told don't come to the hospital because you might get COVID. And so we see it was so irrational, they could be alive today if it wasn't for irrational thinking. And so that's what fear does. The spirit of fear causes us to be irrational. But since we never want anything from Satan, we have got to resist fear every time. And really during COVID, that's when we started producing our first videos for online viewing because people were isolated in their homes. And the very first thing the Lord had us teach on was how to resist fear. We taught no fear here. We're not going to be governed by a spirit of fear. We're going to be governed by what the Word says. And if you're governed by what the Word says, you're not afraid to die. Amen. That may be strong words for some people, but sometimes fear needs to be slapped in the face. Now let's look at the rest of that verse and see what God has actually given us. Number one, we see that God has given us the spirit of power. That Greek word for power here is the word dunamis. And that actually means explosive, supernatural ability, power, and strength. Well, how many can see that's the opposite of fear? And this is where we get our word dynamite from. And the fact that this word dunamis is used means that we have supernatural ability and strength that the Holy Spirit has given to us to overcome anything in life. But especially fear and anxiety. You know, Jesus also told us in Luke 10, 19, He said, Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. You know, that included COVID during COVID. Why am I bringing that up? Because it still has left such an indelible imprint on my mind of what fear can do to people. But we had been given authority over COVID. We've been given authority over all the power of the enemy. We've been given authority over poor diagnoses. We've been given authority over financial despair. We've been given authority over bad relationships and really over grief and sorrow. And so Jesus gave that to us and knowing that puts us in a place of power. Since fear is the power of the enemy, and Jesus said, I've given you authority over all the power of the enemy. We have authority over fear, but we've got to remind ourselves of this truth again and again. Now, the second thing we see from this verse that God has given us is that God has given us a spirit of love. That word love is translated from the Greek word agape. Agape love is unconditional and sacrificial. It is the God kind of love. And we know this, that God's love is so powerful that it never fails. So when we're yielding to the spirit of God, we cannot fail. You know, according to 1 Corinthians 13, it says the love of God never fails. It's also important to note that this kind of love will cast out fear. And we're going to see that in 1 John 4, in verse 18 from the Amplified Classic. It says, You know, think about this. If you get a bad diagnosis, then you're going to fear the effects of that disease. You're going to fear the possibility of dying from that disease. So what you're really fearing is the possibility of, or the thought of, punishment. But God's not in the punishment business. He doesn't punish us through sickness and disease. So that's one area that you need to stop fearing in. But it says here, So he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love, is not yet grown into love's complete perfection. You know, the more that we gain understanding of the love of God and the love that he has for us, the less we'll fear in life. Because fear is an enemy of faith, and it really comes from not being fully assured that God loves us, that God cares for us, and that God will deliver us out of every negative situation. We've got to trust God more than we trust what the devil's lying about. Now, a third thing we see from this passage is that God has given us a sound mind. You know, a sound mind is a calm mind. It's a well-balanced mind. It's a disciplined mind. A sound mind is a peaceful mind. And there's only one way to obtain a truly sound mind, and that's from the Word of God. And so we've got to take the thoughts of God. We've got to learn to start thinking his thoughts instead of squirrely thoughts. You know, a squirrely mind is a mind that Satan has gotten a hold of, and it's all over the place, running rampant with wrong thinking. But we've been given the task to take on God's way of thinking, and it's a process. It's something that we do day by day. A famous preacher that I followed closely said this, your mind doesn't stay renewed any more than your hair stays combed. So every day we wake up and we're continually renewing our mind to think right, because every day Satan brings more possibilities and opportunities to worry and fear, and really to think wrong. And so we're to renew our minds by meditating in the Word of God day after day, week after week. And you know something? The more we embrace God's thinking, the more it reveals just how unsound we really were, but it leads us into a pattern of peaceful thinking and peaceful living. And you know, this is what happened in my life. I lived with anxiety 30 years ago, really from the time I was born until I was about 30 years old. And I thought it was normal. But one day when I had that panic attack, I realized I'm not normal. And you know, you don't have to wait until you get so far out of control that you're having panic attacks to apply the truth from this message. But I learned that I could renew my mind to think like God thinks. And now I'm in a place in my life where I'm rarely ever troubled by fear or anxiety anymore. And God wants to do the same thing for you. God has given you a sound mind, a peaceful mind. It's your inheritance. Hallelujah. Again, I want to encourage you to get a copy of my new book. It's going to be so helpful to overcoming fear and anxiety and even depression. And of course, that's available by scanning the QR code. Also, if you were blessed by today's message, I want to encourage you to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Until next time, I want to remind you that God has a purpose for your life and it's so much greater than you know. God bless you.