ness of God. God has promised that He “will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8). Notice the promises of His presence when God is being magnified here. “I’m with you. I’ve got a plan. I’m going to take care of this. Watch what I’m going to do for you.” That’s awesome. STEP 4: Have faith.
“Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will suc-
Faith is believing the Word of God and acting upon
heart that as Your follower, I have not been called
it, no matter how I feel, because God promises a
to have a spirit of fear. Keep me from the pride that
good result.
breeds a sinful desire to try to overcome difficulties apart from You. I magnify Your holy name. I now
MORE THAN CONQUERORS
look to You as my only freedom from fear. I pray this
Romans 8:37 says, “we are more than conquerors
in Jesus’ name, Amen.
through him who loved us.” We are super-conquerors. God doesn’t just win, He crushes the enemy. That’s why you don’t want to get in that battle yourself. You might be able to eke out a further existence, but when God does it, it’s done. That’s the life of a Christian. When you’re walking by faith, you’re getting free! Free from fear.
ceed” (2 Chronicles 20:20). That’s phenomenal. Let
Is there a growing pattern of freedom from fear in
me just speak this over your life. Believe God and
your life? As a believer, you can know the truth,
believe His prophets—the people who have spoken
and the truth should be making you increasingly
and written for Him. Believe God and who He is.
free. Take the first step in becoming free in Christ
Believe His nature. Believe His Word.
by humbling yourself to God in prayer:
Notice the importance of faith. It’s always about faith in God. “Am I going to trust God in this situation? Am I going to believe His promises?” It just comes back to that again. Do you have some fear stuff in your mind? “Am I going to trust God?”
Lord, right now, I’m letting go of fear. Now I’m turning to You. Cause me to feel the peace of resting only in You. Cause me to remember that there is no freedom from fear apart from You. Father, engrave upon my
Good News Tracts 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, IL 60187 For helpful Christian literature, please write to the address above or visit our web site at www.goodnewstracts.org. Bible references: ESV.
©2010 Good News Tracts. Printed in the U.S.A. Cover image: ©iStockphoto. Taken from “Freedom from Fear”, ©1994 by James MacDonald and Walk in the Word (www.walkintheword.com). Used by permission.
STEP 3: Focus on the nature and the faithful-
JA M E S M AC D O N A LD
FEAR Breaking Every Chain
WHAT IS FEAR?
the future. No one’s afraid of the past. No one’s re-
cal pain. We fear our health and every little quirk in
heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the na-
According to the dictionary, “Fear is a painful emotion marked by alarm.” It’s “anxiety
ally afraid of the present. We can be upset about the
our body and another trip to the doctor’s and then
tions…none is able to withstand you” (2 Chronicles
present, but we don’t fear it because we know it. Fear
something going on and “Is the awful news com-
20:6). That is awesome! This is Your world, God!
related to impending hardship; a dread of an unde-
involves the future. Fear involves the unknown.
ing?” We fear physical pain. Then we fear emotional
It all belongs to You. Scripture says, “The earth is
sired encounter with a person or a circumstance.”
TWO TYPES OF FEAR
pain. Rejection. “Other people won’t be happy with
the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (1 Corinthians
me. They won’t like me.” Or worse, failure. “I won’t
10:26). This is the magnification of God. When God
Now here are two main categories of fear, just so we
be happy with myself.” “I blew it!” “I lost it!” “I’m not
is magnified fear is gone.
can get our hands around it. First, we fear loss. The
what I thought I was.” “I can’t do this!” So we fear
loss of people: “Will my husband always love me?”
Do you remember as a kid having a magnifying
loss. We fear pain.
glass? Does the magnifying glass make things big-
Something’s going to happen. The way I like to describe it is, “Something’s up ahead. I don’t want it. Something’s coming.” Fear is about as accurate as the local weather forecast. When the weatherman says, “It’s going to ‘x’,” is it always going to? No, it’s not. It’s not a perfect science. Fear is far from an accurate predictor. Fear forecasts what is not seen or known. This is helpful to me: “Fear is the opposite of all that Christianity is to be.”
“Will this treasured friendship last?” “Will I lose my kids?” The loss of possessions: “Yes, I’m fine to-
So what is the cost of fear? I’m telling you, we’re pay-
day, but will I always have enough?” “Will I lose my
ing a heavy price for fear. God says in His Word, “Fear
house?” “Will the kids have enough money for col-
not…I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa-
lege?” “We fear that the economy is in rough shape. I
iah 43:1). Fear not.
don’t know where things are going.” The loss of position: “I’m in over my head,” or “My boss thinks I
The Bible says, “You did not receive the spirit of
am,” and “People don’t believe in me,” and “I don’t
slavery to fall back into fear” (Romans 8:15). So I
know how much longer I’m going to have this job.”
can just tell you, unless you fear God (that’s a com-
We fear loss.
pletely different thing—the fear of God is a good thing), any other kind of fear has no place in the life of a believer. What do we fear? Well, in one word, what we fear is
Secondly, we fear pain. We put ourselves through an awful lot to avoid pain. In fact, we very often cause ourselves a lot more pain than we would ever experience in our attempts to avoid pain. First of all, physi-
Fear and a right view of God cannot co-exist. If my
ger? No, it’s just makes things look bigger in my eyes. In my eyes. When God is magnified, we don’t make God bigger. We recognize Him for what He really is through that focus. STEP 2: Move quickly toward God.
heart is filled with fear, I am not rightly estimating
The Bible says we should seek God “and find him…
God in His capacities and interest and His care in my
he is actually not far from each one of us” (Acts
life. What steps can you take to be free from fear in
17:27). Listen to me. When you find yourself in a
your life?
fear-inducing situation, God is not far away. He is
FREEDOM FROM FEAR
right there waiting for you to reach for Him. I mean
STEP 1: Magnify God.
“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in
He is right there! You might not see the results of turning to Him immediately, but you’ve got to know that He’s right there for you.
heart that as Your follower, I have not been called to have a spirit of fear. Keep me from the pride that breeds a sinful desire to try to overcome difficulties apart from You. I magnify Your holy name. I now look to You as my only freedom from fear. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Good News Tracts Fear (Walk in the Word Series) Pastor James MacDonald explains practical steps Christians can apply to break free from fear. Bible references: ESV. Package contains 25 tracts.
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