IT TOOK FAITH FOR PETER TO WALK ON WATER, IT TOOK FEAR FOR HIM TO BEGIN TO SINK.
FAITH IS A NECESSITY FOR THE LIFE AND EXISTENCE OF A BELIEVER.
WHEN FEAR IS NOT ADDRESSED, FAITH IS AT RISK.
FEAR IS THE ANTICIPATION OF SOMETHING UNDESIRABLE HAPPENING.
FEAR IS A STATEMENT THAT INSULTS THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD.
FEAR IS A NEGATIVE IMAGINATION AND WHAT YOU IMAGINE MOST TIMES EMERGES.
THERE WAS NO MONEY WHEN THE GLORY DOME CONSTRUCTION STARTED, WE JUMPED INTO IT AND THINGS HAPPENED.
SOME ACTIONS SHOULD HAVE CHANGED YOUR LIFE THAT YOU DIDN’T TAKE BECAUSE OF FEAR.
FEAR MEANS DOUBTING GOD AND BELIEVING THE DEVIL.
ALL THE CALAMITY OF JOB WAS A CATASTROPHE FROM FEAR.
RATHER THAN BEING AFRAID, DISCARD ANY DREAM THAT IS NOT SCRIPTURAL.
WHAT MOVES GOD TO WORK IS FAITH.
I HAVE SO MANY ASSIGNMENTS TO DO IN MY LIFE, I AM NOT IN A HURRY TO AGE.
I AM STILL RENEWING MY LICENSE AS A MEDICAL DOCTOR BECAUSE OUR MEDICAL SCHOOL WILL START SOON.
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “THE WORST ENEMY OF FAITH – FEAR” || Midweek Power Communion Service || Dunamis International Gospel Centre || Glory Dome, Abuja ||
The subject tonight is titled “THE WORST ENEMY OF FAITH – FEAR” In this subject of faith, our objective today is to understand the adverse effects of fear. In fact, the first thing is to understand what fear is. Church Gist. Second is to understand the adverse effect of fear. The third is to understand the sources of fear and number four, understanding the cure of fear.
Matthew 14:24-31. There are 3 things I want us to note as we go on this subject.
1: Faith is an inevitable necessity, if I can use both words, for the life and existence of the believer, inevitable. “The just shall live by faith.” It’s an inevitability. Church Gist. We saw that the other day. “The Inevitability Of Faith.” It’s an inevitable necessity. Habakkuk 2:4. That the very existence of the believer rests on his faith.
2: The worst enemy of faith is fear. Church Gist. It took faith for Peter to walk on the water, it took fear for Peter to begin to sink. Matthew 14:28-31.
3: Until fear is taken care of, rather, until fear is addressed, faith is at risk. The challenge of many people is not the absence of faith, but the abundance of fear. Church Gist. It’s not a matter of “I can’t have faith.” It’s a matter of there is too much fear. Until fear is addressed, faith is at risk. That is, for as long as fear is in place, faith has no future.
I am perceiving that I might not finish this subject today if we are to treat it very well. I’m suspecting that we might continue by Sunday or maybe Wednesday.
What Is Fear?
I’ll look at…the first 2 definitions are (from) the Oxford Dictionary and then, the third one is a modification of the definitions.
1: Fear is a unpleasant emotion that is caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm. Church Gist. You just feel somehow. An emotion that is not pleasant because it is in the vicinity of a threat of danger, the threat of pain, the threat of harm.
2: Fear is the feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something. You wrote an exam, “Will I pass? Will I not pass?” Fear is the feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety of someone. Church Gist. “I am on this journey. Will I go safely? Will I reach?” In the village or when you’re travelling somewhere, (your) mother or father or relations, they will be worried and frightened until you reach your destination. The feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something.
3: and then this is the worst, it’s my own modification of the same definitions of the Oxford. It says that Fear is the anticipation of something undesirable happening. It’s an anticipation where somebody is expecting that something that he doesn’t like will happen, that something undesirable (will happen). Church Gist. That’s the kind of thing that job did. Job 3:24,25. An anticipation of something undesirable, something unpleasant, something unwelcome. Call it the negative imagination of disaster. Where you are negatively imagining disaster. The negative imagination of problem and like we have said many times, what you imagine most time emerges. That is fear.
What Is The Impact Of Fear? When fear is on ground, what does it do?
1: Fear undermines the almightiness and goodness of God. Fear disbelieves that the almightiness of God is bigger than the wickedness, than the powerfulness of the devil. It undermines. Fear is faith in the reverse. Church Gist. Fear is a neutralizer of faith in God. When you are afraid, you are saying that God is not as powerful as people think. When you are afraid, you are saying without speaking words that God is not able to do what He says He will do. Fear is a statement that insults the omnipotence of God. Fear says that it is possible for the devil to defeat God in your life, it’s a possibility, it is suggesting a possibility. That is the disaster of fear, that is the calamity of fear. Fear is a question mark on the loving kindness of God and that was what happened to Peter in Matthew 14 when Jesus was standing beside him yet, he was looking at the storm. Church Gist. He was more moved by the event around him than the powerfulness of the One who told him to come on the water. He undermined the Master behind him and overrated the storm. Matthew 14:30.
2: Fear exaggerates the wickedness and powerfulness of the devil. It exaggerates it. When you are afraid, you are allocating the devil power he doesn’t have or you are giving him power to the extent to which he doesn’t have. It exaggerates the wickedness and the powerfulness of the devil. Church Gist. Job 3:25. ‘The devil is bad and he is showing me his badness’. What would have happened in that courtroom when that woman, our beloved sister here, saw that devil sitting in the Court, with the beards and with his demonic perfume and doing his incantation, was for her to become so afraid, especially looking at the picture of such a demonic incarnate. You know what she did? She went and sat close to the man and began to tongue her own ‘tonguing’. Church Gist. When the man saw that power pass power, he stood up and went out of the Courtroom. She followed the man out. That was how the case was thrown. Fear is an exaggeration of demonic ability, satanic ability, demonic power, it exaggerates it.
– I believe that somebody will catch something here tonight because I am here against every demon of fear that wants to make the devil look more powerful than God.
– I arrest that devil and send that devil back to hell.
– If you are saying Amen, say a louder Amen.
Fear means you doubt God and you believe the devil. It is doubting God and believing satan. You doubt the almightiness of God, you believe the powerfulness of the devil. (In) summary, you believe when you fear, you believe that the wickedness of the devil will defeat the goodness of God. Church Gist. That’s the summary of your belief, that the wickedness of the devil will defeat the goodness of God. I have never believed that one day in my life that the day will come when darkness will be more powerful than light. Church Gist. When people come and say they dreamt useless dreams or even myself saw what is not scriptural and what is not true or what is not in line with the character of God, I throw it out as hogwash.
What is fear? I want you to see…if we stop here tonight, when you see fear, you’ll be running. Church Gist. When they say they are selling fear for 5 dozen for one naira, you’ll say “I’m not interested.”
3: Fear gives prohibition to the working of the Almighty. It limits the working of Jehovah. Fear is giving God…you are prohibiting Him from working because what moves God to work is faith. Church Gist. What stops God from working is fear which is a department of doubt. Hebrews 11:6. If you want to move God, give Him faith, you want to stop Him, produce fear.
– Someone, say aloud Amen.
Are you ready for number 4? It is the opposite of number 3.
4: Fear grants permission to the devil to work. Fear is giving satan a license for activity. You want God to work, give Him faith. You want the devil to work, give him fear. Job 3:25. Satan went into action. All the things that you heard that happened to Job, house burnt, everybody died, children, everything, investment gone, himself became almost leprous, every single thing that was the calamity of Job was a catastrophe from fear. Church Gist. Nothing makes God happy like He is believed and nothing makes the devil happy like when the believer is afraid.
– Is God speaking to somebody here?
There is an easy way to know where the devil wants to work and what he wants to do and before he goes to work, he releases fear ahead. Fear is the dispatch rider. When you see the road is being blocked and the Police everywhere, soldiers everywhere and you see the entourage riding, it’s sealed. Church Gist. There is presidential movement or executive movement going on. Do you know the executive movement of satan? Fear, doubt, unbelief, anxiety, sleeplessness. That is the entourage that goes in front of satan. When you see those ones, know that the oga himself is on his way coming.
– That will never be your portion.
Audacity in the Spirit is not a luxury. It is not reserved for people who decide to be bold. It’s a survival means. It’s a survival strategy so that you don’t end as a victim and you don’t end like chicken. Church Gist. You need to identify fear from a distance and deal with it frontally. I’ll tell you more things very very soon. I think that is what we might just deal with tonight, the disaster of fear. Fear grants permission to the devil to work. Job 3:25.
5: Fear paralyzes profitable action. It paralyzes action that should have brought solution. Those actions are paralyzed by fear. Church Gist. You know what happened to Israel on the battlefield in 1 Samuel 17:8-11,24. This was a time to fight, the fight was paralyzed by fear. The action that should save your life can be negated by fear. “Don’t go out. You won’t pass the exam. You don’t need to read. Church Gist. Just forget, you have already failed. That lady, you want to tell her you want to go and marry her? Don’t bother, she will say no.” The heart is beating until another person marries the person you are meant to marry.
Do you know I have seen this? While we were growing up as young men, I saw a young lady close to a young man. Once you saw them, you thought that they would be husband and wife tomorrow. Church Gist. For one reason or the other, the young lady married another person, the young man married another person. Do you know what (was) the challenge? After they married, they were still walking together, still friends. I don’t understand how devil suffers some people. You saw your wife, you went and married another person. Church Gist. You saw your husband and said no and married another person and then after you are married, you are still moving together with or without sin, plus or minus, query. Do you understand what I’m saying? What kind of confusion is this?
Action that should save your life, fear doesn’t allow you to act. Step out in the morning and go from office to office. One young man went from office to office, graduate. Church Gist. They said they have a job, the job that they have is only for School Certificate holders. He said “Give me the job. I will do it until there is an opening for a graduate.” They said “You mean it? Take the job and we won’t give you that one. We will give you the one that is your level.” Boldness and audacity.
Someone was told somewhere, they said “We are looking for somebody with job experience” You know what he told them? He said “Employ me free of charge, don’t pay me. Church Gist. When I get job experience, interview me again. Just employ me, I will be coming to work. I will look for money to transport and come to work every day until I get job experience. When I get job experience, interview me.” He was employed on the spot. The gold belongs to the bold and I’m talking about the boldness of faith. Fear paralyzes profitable actions. Church Gist. If you mind reactions, you don’t take action, you don’t take the right action. If you mind reactions, if you mind consequences, you won’t take steps. That’s what fear does.
We won’t be here now…when they did the setting out, even that was in Area One Church, when they did the setting out at first, the foundation was so big but it was too late to reverse, to decrease it. Church Gist. We jumped into it and fled. The same with this construction. When they were mentioning the bill and budget of many things how many years ago, the custom duty that was paid to clear the perimeter beam, the iron on the wall, the iron that the roof will rest on, the iron, the duty was over 90 million then at that time, not today. Church Gist. You can just imagine what it will be today. Then it has built 3 Churches, 3 moderate size Churches then and not that the money was on ground before the building started, we just jumped into it and then things are happening.
– Am I speaking to somebody?
There are actions that should have changed your life, you didn’t take it because of fear. There are actions that should have changed your destiny, you couldn’t take those actions because of fear. Church Gist. There are moves that could have occasioned your healing.
– But today I decree, it is over in the name of Jesus.
– If you are saying Amen, say a louder Amen.
6: Fear causes established results to disappear. Results that were already established disappear by fear. Already established results disappear. Church Gist. What you had before, you begin to lose them when fear is allowed. Job 1:1. Fear is no respecter of people. Job was upright, he had integrity, he had character so, sin was not one of the causes of his own fear as we’ll look at later, the root or causes of fear. Church Gist. Job 1:1-3. Fear came until Job lost 7 sons and 3 daughters in one day by fear. 7,000 sheep ended in one day, 3,000 camels disappeared, 500 yoke of oxen disappeared, 500 she asses disappeared. Everything Job had that was established before disappeared by the arrival of fear.
“This my marriage is too good. I pray that it doesn’t go sour. Oh Lord, I beg, let no strange man carry my wife. Let no strange woman carry my husband.” Fear, until one day and then, the fear will begin to raise suspicion. Church Gist. “Where are you coming from? Let me see your phone, who called you?” and the man says “You know what? These things that I am not doing that you are suspecting me, let me try it” The fear is causing actions that are making results to disappear. “I am too healthy, I am too strong. Everybody in my family has hypertension apart from me. May I not have it” Fear. “oh Lord, I have seen people rise and crash. Here am I, I am up, millionaire, billionaire.” The devil says “What are you doing differently that you think you can’t crash?” Fear. Church Gist. All of a sudden, business investment begin to go bad, wrong investment, before you know it, what he had already begins to disappear until he comes to the level of where the fear wants him to come.
– Am I communicating at all?
Fear is a bad boy. It’s like corona bad boy.
Somebody, lift your right hand and say “In the name of Jesus, I reject fear in my life. Church Gist. The spirit of fear has no place in my life. Fear, I reject you now!”
Listen, Peter was already walking on water, he was not planning to walk on water. He didn’t need more effort to walk on water. Walking on water was already established, when he feared that result disappeared. Church Gist. Matthew 14:30. What sinketh Peter? Fear. What dissolidified the water? Fear. What dematerialized the water? Fear. What caused the water to lose structural integrity to hold Peter? Fear. The moment fear came, water showed Peter that he was liquid. If you don’t want to lose it, don’t fear for it. Don’t nurse the fear of losing it. If you don’t want to lose your health, don’t nurse the fear of losing it. If you don’t want to lose your peace, don’t nurse the fear of losing it. Church Gist. You don’t want to lose your life, don’t nurse the fear of dying before your time. You don’t want to lose the tranquility and serenity of your family, don’t nurse the fear. You don’t want to lose your seed, don’t nurse the fear.
If I don’t say anything beyond what I am saying now, I have already over preached. There are some things you see in scripture and I am going to show you one of them that will frighten you at the end of this message. Church Gist. I’m rounding up on this point and then, we’ll continue next time. Fear causes established results to begin to disappear. If fear would cause the result you have already to disappear, how do you expect fear to attract anything new into your life? How do you expect fear to establish anything around you?
7: Fear brings the climate of torment. 1 John 4:18. Fear increases miserability. Church Gist. The fearful is miserable. Fear makes people miserable, tormented with misery, tormented with vulnerability. Fear can make you suspect everybody until you begin to suspect yourself.
I knew a man, if you talk anything, he’d say “In the village, they are all witches, everybody is a witch” You can’t travel, you say “Everybody is a witch” If you are a witch, are you not bigger than witches? You know there are masquerades that come out in the village that smaller masquerades will run. There are types that come out like once in a year. At the most, once in 6 months or so. They are not normal, that the ordinary ones that are on the road, they have to take cover by virtue of power that passes power. Don’t make your life miserable. Have you seen little children before? (Screams in fear) in the night, ‘ojuju calabar’ (a witch) is coming. I don’t know why ‘juju’ has to be calabar all the time. Do you understand what I’m saying? You are just like a shadow of yourself. You run at the sight of (a) cockroach. The rat is a suspect. I remember somebody testifying of that long mouthed rat the other day. Hallelujah!
– Somebody, lift your right hand and say “I reject the torment of fear. I refuse to be the victim of fear. I cannot be tormented by fear. I reject the climate of torment. I refuse to be rendered miserable by fear now!”
Even medically, anxiety neurosis is a condition. When the doctor doesn’t know what to do, he says it’s some form of anxiety neurosis. “Everywhere is worrying me, over everything, over sweat, everything” Before he enters exam hall, he has to go and urinate how many times. Church Gist. Those are neurogenic symptoms that just came on you under pressure. Now, that is a normal…please, don’t blame yourself for that one. I am talking about when such things become exaggerated, multiply that kind of situation a thousand times because that at times can be physiological. Church Gist. You can just be under pressure, some upsurge of hormones. Do you understand what I’m saying? Multiply that, when somebody is in that kind of state of sweating, all manner of things day and night. The sound of a grasshopper will wake him from sleep.
– That shall not be your portion.
– Today I declare, every trace of the spirit of fear is broken in the name of Jesus.
– If you have lost somebody before, you won’t lose another one another time.
– and you shall fulfill your days.
8: Fear brings disastrous outcomes and I’m going to say a few things here. Fear causes changes or outcomes that may not line up with reality. When you look at the reality of things, what we see when there is fear does not line up with the reality of things. Church Gist. Proverb 23:7. Please, understand that fear is a negative belief that produces negative outcomes. By fearing, one is believing the negative.
While I was a medical doctor, fully practicing, because today, I’m still licensed, I (still) renew my license for whatever it may be worth, very important because our medical school will start one of these days and then, anything is possible. Church Gist. So, there was one thing that I saw when somebody is diagnosed HIV positive or a terminal disease, for as long as they were not aware that such a thing was in their system, they are robust, they are fat, they are chubby, they are normal. They are just normal and alright. The moment the diagnosis enters their ears, under 2 (or) 3 weeks, rapid degeneration in the system, rapid degeneration in their mindset. In just 6 weeks, you won’t believe that this was the person you saw 6 weeks ago, he has dried up. He was not stooling frequently before, it arrived on the spot. Why? Fear brought outcomes that are not consistent with the reality of things. Church Gist. The sickness or the affliction may not have developed to the stage where it should produce such symptoms but because he got to know that this is the situation and the fear of it arose, he began to degenerate rapidly.
You know, is it an acronym they call it? FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real. Church Gist. That is what they call fear, once the devil begins to give you evidence that is not real.
– Somebody, say Amen.
You know, there are people who died before the accident finished. The vehicle went up, it landed. In between up and the landing, someone has taken off. Church Gist. By the time it landed, do every examination, you won’t find the trace of head injury, you won’t find any blunt abdominal injury, you won’t find any chest injury, you won’t find any injury that warrants death. Church Gist. The heart just cut, like they say. “So, I’m dying like this?” Somebody say “God forbid” and then, that was the end, he has taken off. Fear will give outcomes that are not consistent with reality.
I’ll tell you this final story. A man who is like a plumber, a technical person, was working in a cold room. You know a cold room, the kind of place where they put fish, frozen fish. Churches Gist. You know that kind of very big cold room. This Man had a need to work inside the cold room. I don’t know if it was Smith Wiglesworth or Zig Ziglar I heard this story from and he suddenly got himself accidentally locked up inside the cold room. He became afraid that he was going to freeze to death. He became very, very frantic. He did everything possible, scratched the wall, did everything, it didn’t work. Church Gist. Then, he wrote a note “I am freezing to death” Long story made short, he didn’t make it. When they came to open that cold room, all the symptoms and every evidence of a person who died by freezing were on him yet, the cold room was not working, it wasn’t working. He wrote “I’m freezing” It was not working. Church Gist. By the time his mind concluded he was inside a working cold room, it sent signals into the systems, the parasympathetic nervous system and all the systems to comply with whatever he was feeling in his mind that was not real in the physical. So, his fear gave him symptoms that did not exist.
– You will not end like that
Are you hearing what I’m saying here today?
Symptoms, situations, conditions, burdens. There’s an experiment they call Neuropsychological Conditioning. Church Gist. Whenever, the Pavlov’s experiment, you ring a bell and the dog comes and you give him food. Tomorrow, you ring a bell, he comes, you give him food. Next tomorrow, you ring a bell, he arrives, you give him food. 5th day, you ring a bell, even if there is no food, he will be salivating because his mind is conditioned that bell ringing is consistent with food eating. Church Gist. That is what happens. The body begins to recondition to function in certain ways if the mind is made to believe certain things.
– You will not die before your time.
There are people who are not looking as young…a medical doctor told me the other day, he said “I want you to tell us the secret of your youthfulness” As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. The other day, my children were talking, they said “Daddy, why are you acting so youthful like this?” I said, “Those of us that are in our twenties, that is, all of us that are in our twenties, why should we behave as if we are fifties or sixties?” Church Gist. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. I have so much assignment to do in my life, in my time and I am not in a hurry to age. I don’t know about you. There is so much to do. I need the energy of 20-something even if I am 80-something because it takes energy to fulfil destiny. It is the people that are strong that do exploits. Church Gist. There are people who are so old now because that’s what they are thinking. “You know, I’m not a young person anymore” and you are 40-something and you are 30-something. You are a young person, even if you are 80, you are a young person.
– Somebody say a loud Amen.
Did somebody get anything here tonight?
Lift your right hand, say “I reject the spirit of fear”
9: Fear endangers your eternity. “Pastor, is that not heresy?” Fear endangers your eternity. Revelation 21:8. Church Gist. Fear is putting you in the same class witch witch, with murderer, killer, with liar, whoremonger is prostitute and patronizer of the same, because prostitutes have to have customers before they can have business. Prostitutes and ‘manstitute’.
I know a madman in the Town where I grew up who patronizes prostitutes, mad man. Yes, in his madness, the madness was not enough to take his mind away. Church Gist. You know what happened? I was told he ran mad because he touched somebody he was not meant to touch and the man of the person ran him mad.
But, I was wondering, why the fearful? Fearful means “You don’t believe me. You doubt me. You don’t really believe me. You may be going to Church but you don’t believe in me. My Word has no place in you. That is why your life is filled with fear.” You know, there is a rationale for everything God does. The fearful. Church Gist. “You can’t believe me and believe more in the wickedness of the devil than my powerfulness. You are elevating the devil above me.” You can’t carry this raw Bible and believe this raw Word and believe this living good God and still be a victim of vegetable jellyfish fear. “You don’t really know me that’s why you are afraid. You can’t know me and fear the devil.”
Stand up on your feet.
So, the matter is beyond just victory in the Earth. The matter is whether you know God enough to believe Him and refuse to fear. Do you know the Word of God enough? Are you walking with God enough to make the devil to be a joker in your face? God has no space in your life, His Word has no space in your heart and so, your life is filled with the fear of the devil. Church Gist. “If you don’t believe me and you don’t know me and you believe more in the devil than in me, why do you want to spend your eternal destination with me? Go to the one you fear most. Go to the one you reverence. Spend time with him, the one you believe more.”
Treat fear like you would treat iniquity. Church Gist. The way you would treat anything that can take you to hell, that is how to treat fear because we just saw it and it is advantageous to have faith in God because it is key to all the results you are looking for.
– You will fulfill your days!
—Prayers—
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