Fear Marks The Spot

When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them. [Joshua 5.1]

There was no imagination required to understand that Israel was accompanied by the LORD.  His manifest presence with Israel had become famous all around the land.  The surrounding nations were well aware of God's obvious favor upon the Jewish nation and these surrounding nations furthermore knew that they were in trouble.

I need to understand the application of this story to contemporary God followers!  Although we are not in a land war because we are not acquiring lands, we are still very much engaged in warfare!  Our warfare, according the the Apostle Paul, is not one of flesh and blood however but of the spirit (Eph. 6.12).  So if we, as Christians, are engaged in a spiritual acquisition of territory, what spiritual equivalent to the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast should know and fear our reputation?

The answer becomes clear when we understand our enemy!  Once again, the Apostle Paul defined the enemy of Christ followers in Ephesians 6: ...evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, [we are fighting]against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

So, because we are not fighting against a flesh and blood enemy, but against a spiritual enemy, we should expect to see manifest evidence of that spiritual enemy's fear IF IN FACT we have the LORD's presence and IF IN FACT we are 'on journey' to where He is leading us!

So what does a spiritual enemy's fear look like?  It looks like fear.  Any person controlled by the enemy will be paralyzed with fear!  Unfortunately, many of us have see this fear in the mirror!  But before losing heart due to this statement, understand that the fear seen by Israel served to encourage them that the LORD was on their side!

Let's reverse engineer this scenario!  It could be deduced that when we encounter fear, whether in ourselves or others, we may, in fact, be closest to seeing the power of God manifest in miraculous ways if we proceed forward!  Fear then, really is a road map to the will of God!  Fear marks the spot where love is to conquer.

We should train ourselves to understand that fear is the natural result of an encounter with God.  Instead of avoiding fear, we should engage it head-on because that fear is as real an indicator of God's favor and blessing to proceed forward as any written document or verbal command!

Perhaps we would be well-served then to understand how fear manifests and what it looks like when it does!  Rather than try to define fear however, we would  be far better off to understand what fear is not!  Fear is not love.  On the contrary, perfect love dispels all fear (I John 4.18) so we might accurately discern that when we or those we encounter are not operating in love, then fear is what that action or attitude actually is (even though we may call it selfishness, bitterness, jealously, etc.).

Again, what should we do when we encounter fear?  We should see it as God's invitation to conquer!

If we see fear in ourselves or others, we should understand that God wishes for us to move forward in love (and consequent obedience) to accomplish what it is that God wishes for us to accomplish.

This 'pool' is deep...

Father, I have begun today to consider some ideas I have never really considered before.  Please help me to consider what You are saying to me when I encounter fear - either in myself or others.