War Zone- Week 4 Tactics of the Enemy vs. Strategies of the Believer (Fear Part 3)

We are continuing in our study on the tactic of fear. Just a reminder: Merriam Webster online dictionary defines fear as: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger; anxious concern.  

Today we will be digging into the Word to take a closer look at another common fear that Christians face today.    

Fear of the Unknown (Vain Imaginings).   

Example 1: Abraham    

In Genesis 12:10-13 we read, Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”  

Here we see that Abram was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him to take his wife Sarai for themselves. While the Egyptians may have had a bad reputation, Abram could not have known if they really would have killed him to get Sarai.  He was so afraid that he asked Sarai to lie to protect him. 

Example 2: Ananias 

Acts 9:10-19, Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”  And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. (ESV) 

We know from reading the beginning of Act 2 that Saul had been given letters from the high priest authorizing him to go to Damascus and if he found any members of the Way (followers of Christ) he was to bring them to Jerusalem where they would stand trial and ultimately be put to death.  

The news about Saul had traveled far and wide.  Christians everywhere knew that he was on the hunt to persecute and kill those who put their faith and trust in Christ. So, when Jesus spoke to Ananias and told him to go to speak to Saul, it seems natural that he would feel fearful.  He even went so far as to remind the Lord that Saul was looking to arrest Christians.  However, when Jesus told him that He had chosen Saul, Ananias, went without hesitation and found Saul just as Jesus had said he would.   

In these two examples we see opposite responses to fear.  Abram allowed vain imaginings (uncontrolled (baseless or worthless) thoughts that overpower our rational thinking)i, to cause him to fear.  On the other hand, Ananias, chose to obey and trust God with his life and went to see the very man who had come to Damascus with the intention of arresting him.   

In this life there are many things that can cause fear in our hearts.  We, like Abram and Ananias, have a choice to make when fear arises.  We can yield to the fear, or we can choose to walk in obedience and faith in Christ.    

I do not know about you; however, I do know me.  The enemy knows me too.  He knows how to plant fear into my mind and if I am not careful, I can find myself stewing over that fear.  If I allow vain imaginings to infiltrate my thoughts, before I know it, I can work myself into a mess.  When I finally realize what has happened, I discover that I have played out every possible scenario in my mind only to discover that 99% of them could never happen.  The sad thing is, the only thing the enemy did was prompt me to fear, I, in my own mind, did the rest.   

Vain imaginings as defined above are baseless and worthless thoughts that we allow to go uncontrolled/unchecked in our minds. As we allow them to build and develop, they begin to cloud our rational thinking and take our focus off the promises of God.  These thoughts are not based on truth but on lies.  Thus, they are not honoring to God but to the enemy of our souls.   

2 Corinthians 10:5-6, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (ESV) 

Here Paul admonishes us to take all vain imaginations, thoughts that are contrary to our knowledge of God (the Truth), captive and make them obedient to Christ.   

Psalm 23:4, Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 

In Psalm 23, David is writing a reminder to himself.  He is looking back from his throne as king to remember the things God did for him as a shepherd.  He uses shepherding metaphors to describe the way God cares for him.  We too must remind ourselves of the way God has cared for us in the past and not allow ourselves to fear the future or the unknown.  God, who was faithful in our past, who is faith now, will be faithful in our future.   

Philippians 4:6-7, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

Here Paul is reminding us not to allow worry/fear to overtake us.  We have a Father who desires to give us good things.  He not only wants to give us good things, He wants us to walk in His peace which will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  When fears come, which they will, we need only take them to the Father, lay them at His feet, and allow Him to wrap His arms of peace around us to protect us.   

When any of us sees a hurting child, our first reaction is to want to comfort them.  We pick them up and wrap our loving arms around them to protect them from hurt and make them feel safe.  How much more does our Heavenly Father desire to wrap us up and keep us safe?  He is always there to offer His peace and comfort; however, we must lay our fears and worries down to receive it.   

In conclusion, our mind is a battlefield.  The enemy wants to control our thoughts.  If he can get us to focus on and believe every vain imagination, he wins, and we lose.   

Fear of the unknown is a breeding ground for vain imaginings.  In the Word we are commanded 365 times to “fear not”.  We know from this that God takes fear very seriously.  If He says something once it is important, however, to say it 365 times shows us the importance of not allowing ourselves to fall into the trap of fear of the unknown.   

We have a choice just as Abram and Ananias did. Will we resist the devil, cast down vain imaginings, and put our focus and faith in Christ, or will we give in to fear?   

Works Cited:

i https://junedoyle.me/2018/01/15/guard-against-vain-imaginations/#:~:text=Vain%20imaginations%20is%20when%20we,he%20wins%20and%20we%20lose.