Fear is contrary to God’s will for humanity. That was why man never experienced it until he disobeyed God. It was never a part of man’s original condition. Having made man without an iota of fear in him, God saw that it was good. Hence, fear in human beings is alien to anything God cosiders good for them. Fear robs people of their sense of dignity and consigns them to a life of bondage.
    Fear has always led people to disobey God because it is its nature to distract them from both the ability and willingness of God to fulfil His promises. Fear opposes God’s will. Zechariah, the father of John the baptist, put it thus: “To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” (Lk 1:74-75). Our enemies (Satan and his demons) are well-versed in the art of deploying fear as an instrument of coercion to achieve their purpose, but God wants us to SERVE HIM WITHOUT FEAR. If we yield to fear, it erodes our sense of holiness and righteousness.
    According to Mark Virkler, “probably the the most paralysing emotion which can overwhelm us is fear. No other emotion can so effectively negate our faith, stifle our joy, disrupt our peace and manacle our walk with the Lord.” Although it is true that you can have doubts in your head and have faith in your heart, you cannot yield to fear and also walk by faith at the same time. Should we allow fear to rule over us, we consequently lose our joy and peace.
    Just as faith comes from God’s word that we hear, fear comes from Satan’s words that we hear and give our attention. Both faith and fear are governed by a similar principle; they are communicated. Mark Virkler describes fear as, ” The result of the incubation of Satan’s mendacious evaluation of life.” Fear comes from analysing and meditating on Satan’s assessment of people, circumstances and life in general. Whenever we view the world through Satan’s eyes, fear becomes inevitable.
    For instance, the Bible says of Peter, “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”” (Matt 14:30). Peter had been walking on the water by faith, based on a word “come” which he had received from Jesus (Matt 14:29). However, his progress towards Jesus on the water was shortlived, because he began to sink. Fear had overwhelmed and paralysed him to the point of sinking.
    Peter did not begin to sink because he was merely human and should not be able to walk on water, neither did he begin to sink because the wind was boisterous nor yet because Jesus had changed his mind about Peter’s walking on the water. Peter began to sink because he had yielded to fear. Shalom.