God Will Post a Guard Around Your Heart

Good morning. The Bible establishes that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind. Yet there are times in our lives that we can be plagued by fear. For some of us it's because of generational curses, abuse, mistrust or misuse. Whatever the reason the Bible provides a real answer for how to overcome and eradicate the spirit of fear from our lives. Philippians 4 1:11 provides the solution:

1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. 2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. 4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say , Rejoice . 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned , and received , and heard , and seen in me, do : and the God of peace shall be with you. 10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again ; wherein ye were also careful , but ye lacked opportunity . 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned , in whatsoever state I am , therewith to be content.

Verse 6 encourages us to not fear. The New King James translation uses the term be anxious for nothing. There's no need to live a life held hostage by fear. You can live in the No Fear Zone when you follow the advise of the scripture above. Let's see those steps below:

1. Let God know all of your requests. The first step in eliminating fear from our lives is to tell God everything. We should communicate with God all of our desires, goals, ideas and dreams. The scripture tells us that we can do this through prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. Prayer gets God's attention. Supplication is petitioning God or earnestly expressing to God what you want. It's your opportunity to explain your need. We must also make our requests know through thanksgiving. We must thank God for what He's already done. We must approach Him with a praise that shows Him that we know that He can and He will move on our behalf. We must have the perspective of David or of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that our God can deliver us--even if He doesn't, we won't lose our integrity, we won't bow down to the enemy because we know that we know that we know that we know that He is able!

2. Once we have made our requests known then the peace of God, which passes all understanding will guard or keep our hearts and minds through the power of the Son, Christ Jesus.

3. We must use our mental capacity to think about things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; virtuous, and worthy of praise.

4. The last thing that Paul admonishes in this text is that we apply all of the things that we have learned and all of the things that we have observed through the example of our leadership. He expresses that those that he's writing the letter to must have had a problem with fear, but that he has lived an example of how to force fear out and replace it with the peace of God.

If we are careful to do all of these things then we can win the battle of the negative emotion of fear. We can oust the spirit of fear and we can rest in the peace of God. We can cast our cares, our fears or our worries upon Him because He does care about us.

Read Hebrews 4:15-16. We must realize that God does not want us to be down. He does not want us to be plagued by fear or to live in a constant state of worry. That is why He sent His Word to encourage us. We've got to hide the Word upon the tables of our hearts because as Bishop Woods has stated, it is a mind game and a heart thing. Those things that we hold in our hearts become our outcome.

Be encouraged today that you CAN overcome the spirit of fear through prayer, supplication and thanksgiving!