Defeating the Spirit of Fear through our Authority in Christ

The Invisible War 4: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear’ Psalm 27:1-3 KJV

Fear is one of the most effective fiery darts the enemy uses to render many of us ineffective in this invisible war. You see you cannot walk in fear and overcome Satan. This is why the Bible contains more than 365 exhortations to ‘Fear not’. This is an important command from Jesus Christ, our Commander-in-Chief – ‘Fear not.’

Our eyes must be opened to see fear as an enemy. The devil is using his spirit of fear these days, to cause many to be weak and ineffective. Fear brings bondage (Hebrew 2:15). Some are walking in the fear of death or some other phobia. Others are just generally fearful and they think this is normal. No, the righteous are called to be as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). There is no reason why we should walk in fear.

‘For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ Romans 8:15 (KJV)

We can walk in boldness and freedom from fear because we know that we belong to God and he has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. We must resist fear because it opens us up to the attack of the enemy. In the story of my friend who was attacked by the witch (in part 3 of this series), it was fear that opened the door. Indeed, there is no witch or demon who has authority over a believer unless we give it to them. When we are controlled by this spirit of fear, we open up ourselves to the enemy’s attacks. We must resist fear because it is a weapon of the enemy and does not come from our Father:

‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind’ 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

To be effective in spiritual warfare we need to understand and be convinced of our authority in Christ. To walk in fear is to demonstrate that we do not understand our authority. If you are born-again, Christ has given you his authority over all the works of Satan and his demons. Through his glorious victory at Calvary, Jesus has authority over all the powers of hell:

‘… and having spoiled principalities and powers, he (Jesus) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.’ Colossians 2: 15 (KJV)

Through the cross, our Lord defeated the devil and all his cohorts and took the keys of hell and death from them. That is why it is written:

‘….God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)

It is based on this victorious authority that Jesus commissions every believer to go and win the world for him:

‘And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.’ Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

When we are born into God’s family, Christ by his Spirit lives in us and gives us his authority to be sons of God (John 1:12). This is why Romans 8:15 says we have received the Spirit of adoption. When you are adopted into a family you receive the name of that family, and with that name you have whatever authority it carries. We too have been given the authority in the mighty name of Jesus. So when we come against the devil in spiritual warfare we do not come in our own power but in our delegated authority from Jesus Christ. This is what makes the enemy tremble.

When Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you’ (Luke 10:19 KJV), he was also talking to every believer. Our authority is derived from the authority that Jesus (who lives in us) has over the devil. That is why it is written:

‘Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (Satan)’. 1 John 4:4

We do not go against the devil in our own name but in the name of Jesus. When we resist the enemy in that name they have no choice but to obey. It has nothing to do with how strong we think we are, it has to do with the authority of him in whose name we come. In Togo, where I used to be, we had traffic wardens. Now if that same man were to attempt to control the traffic without his uniform, he would be run down by some vehicle. A man is no match for a vehicle in motion. But in his uniform he represents the entire power of the state of Togo. And because of this delegated authority, drivers obey him, for to mess with him would be to mess with the Togolese authority. This is the same with us.

So arise and shake off fear and begin to resist the devil in the mighty name of Jesus until you have enforced the Lordship of Jesus over every area of your life. You can no longer afford to throw up your hands in helplessness. You have been given authority. Use it! If you do not use your authority angels will not resist Satan for you. God is calling you to resist him and he will flee. Can’t you see the enemy’s works in you and around you? Stand up now and fight for your life, for your loved ones, for your nation and for all the nations around you. This is war!

Let us pray: Father, we thank you that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to our Captain, Jesus Christ. And we thank you for giving us this authority by which we can tread upon every work of darkness and prevail. We refuse to walk in fear. We refuse to give place to the spirit of fear. You have given us a Spirit of power that makes us bold to confront and defeat the enemy. We are fearless because we know that you are always with us. Lord, cause these revelations to percolate into our spirit man. Teach our hands to war and our fingers to fight in Jesus’ Name!

FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: Please go through all the references in the article and also 1 John 4: 14-18; Isaiah 43:1-3; John 14:27; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Eph. 1:20-23; 1 John 2:14; 3:8; 5:4-5