How do I grow in the prophetic? Part 1: fear versus faith
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). Satan’s kingdom operates on the principle of fear, even his demons serve him out of fear. Fear comes with lies that dilute our faith and quench the work of Holy Spirit in us. God’s Kingdom operates by faith, and faith is the superior power to fear. Faith is what we are designed for and are called to be defined by. We were given faith and not fear. If we keep our faith, we will live undiminished lives like the heroes of faith described in Hebrews 11.
Fear prevents us from hearing God
Hearing God for ourselves and others is part of our inheritance as the children of God. We prophesy according to the measure of faith at work in us, so in an environment of fear the prophetic cannot operate properly. So fear robs us of the good gift that the prophetic is meant to be to us. To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the “common good” (1 Cor 12: 7- 11).
When the prophetic is squashed, diluted or rejected, the Body of Christ is robbed of a “good” that God intended for it. The purpose of the prophetic is to encourage, build up and console people (1 Cor 14:3) and to build up the church (1 Cor 14:4). In the same way, the prophetic is meant to impact and affect every sphere of society, from the home to the office and from education to parliament. There is no sphere of society that cannot be impacted by the voice of God through His children.
Fear causes us to take our eyes off God
When our eyes are fixed on Him, the sky is the limit, dreams are gateways and we stay seated in Him in heavenly realms. But when our eyes are on ourselves, our kingdoms or the things we fear, we get bogged down to the natural and we become out of touch with the spiritual and the supernatural. Simply put, we lose our super and are stuck with just the natural.
Job uttered these haunting words, “for the thing that I fear has come upon me, and what I dread befalls me” (Job 3:25). There is truth to that statement; fear is a lie that creates after its own kind. But the more glorious truth is this: in the same way, faith is a force of Truth that creates after its own kind too. Both operate in the invisible realm and impact the visible. But like I said in the beginning, faith is the superior power.
Fear’s disguise and God’s gifts
Sometimes fear disguises itself as reasoning, but when the mind rules the spirit we step out of the realm of faith. The children of God are led by the spirit, not the mind (Romans 8:14). The mind is indeed a gift to us, but its proper place is to be in submission to the ruling of our spirit as we follow Holy Spirit.
God purchased our freedom from enslavement to fear at a high price. Let us then remain free and refuse to be enslaved again. God gives us many gifts, the best is sonship, and with it comes some other good gifts like faith, hope and love.
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear again, but you received the spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’”. Romans 8:15