I was reading a testimony from a man who was healed of cancer. He had only been given ten hours to live.

In his interview he made a statement that I am sure is relatable to many of us. He said, “I fought fear more than I fought cancer.”

When my incident occurred, fear came on me – I could feel it – it was not common for me, therefore I knew the moment it happened. For weeks I fought fear more than the sickness. I understood exactly what this man was saying in his testimony.

I learned a few things through this process that I would like to pass along. Perhaps you already know all these truths, or perhaps you will need to know them one day…

Fear is not an emotion. It is a spirit.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

If fear is present, it is not of God. It comes straight from the devil. It is one of his most effective tools. We must fight it as such.

The Bible says what we bind on earth is bound in heaven. We have to bind the spirit of fear and command it to go. Command it to bow its knee to the name of Jesus.

While I was driving today, I was thinking about fear and what God was showing me. The radio was on and a song began to play along the lines of what I was meditating on. One part said, “Fear will have to the face the God you know.” I love that part – if you stand against fear it must go. It has no choice. James 4:7 shows us this powerful truth. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Fear is his tool – resist it and it must flee. We have God’s word on it.

Fear begins with a lie.

It all starts with a lie. It may be “You are not going to make it through this.” Or, “You are going to lose everything this time.” Or, “Your children have are too far gone, they will never come back to God.” Whatever the lie is, there is only one way to fight it – with the truth.

The only way to resist fear is to be rooted and grounded in truth. We must know when fear comes it is not from God. Then, we must locate the lie that started it and replace that lie with the truth of God’s word.

If not dealt with fear will grow.

One of two things will happen. We will resist fear and it will go or it will grow and consume us.

The more we meditate on the lie that is bringing the fear, the more the fear will grow.

If we continue to meditate on the lies, fear will gain more and more influence until it has a more dominate place in our life than God and His word. We simply can’t allow that to happen.

Ephesians 4:27 tells us to give no place to the devil – when we allow fear to remain in our heart, we are giving place to the devil who brought the fear in the first place.

Fear affects our mind, our emotions, our decisions and it will affect our physical body if we allow it to remain. Therefore, we must keep the spirit of fear under the blood of Jesus.

As I said earlier, fear begins with a lie. Therefore, it can and will be overcome with truth. Keep the truth of God going in your mind and heart and coming out of your mouth. In doing this, you will keep fear at bay. So many times, the real fight is a fight against fear. The good news is that fight was already won – at the cross of Jesus Christ. He conquered the spirit of fear and rendered it helpless and ineffective.  We only need to stand steadfast in that eternal truth.