Overcoming Fear

Fear is an over-awareness of the enemy. In contrast, the fear of God is our being constantly conscious of God. Just as Israel had different enemies, so we find that there are different enemies who try to make us more aware of them than of God.
The life of Christ is the greatest example of victory in this area, but since Moses is a type of Christ, we will find God's personal dealings of victory over fear in the life of Moses..

 

The seven longings of the soul or psychological desires are:

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1. Preservation.
2. Expression.
3. Security.
4. Loyalty.
5. Power (control).
6. Knowledge through three sources.
to. Experience through the five senses.
b. Reason.
c. Revelation.
7. Acceptance.
to. For appreciation of what we do.
b. Achievement- realization for what we have.
c. Recognition of who we are.
d. Affection (affection).

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1. The fear of death conquered.

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Ex. 3:6 “Then Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” Afraid of what? Of death. God later told Moses that no one could see his face and live. Ex. 33:20. Yet the spirit of Moses felt the same here. (There seems to be an apparent contradiction to this, as in Isaiah 6:1, etc. the answer is that they saw God the Son and not God the Father.)
How did God deliver you from this specific fear? The Lord did this in the same way that He delivered His disciples, who for fear of their lives kept the doors locked in the upper room. Jn. 20:19-21. The two greetings of “Peace be with you” reflect the Peace of His Word and the Peace of His Presence. And just as these are followed by “as the Father has sent me, so I send you,” that happened with Moses in Exodus 3:7-10.
It is also interesting to see that the same order is given to us as the Church, because after Christ gave us his three and a half years of his Word. He has then given us his Presence through his resurrection.
This is then followed by the Great Commission of Matthew 28. The reason for this order was because the Church was threatened by possible extinction and needed this weapon to overcome this fear.

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2. The fear of shyness conquered.

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Ex. 3:11a Who am I...? Satan would like to disable our instinct to express ourselves because of this fear. Currently this desire disables each of these instincts of the soul, which is why the enemy seeks to afflict us with each of these fears. So that we cannot march in the army of God.
How was Moses freed from this? The answer is “Go, for I will be with you” v.12a. When we witness of Christ to others it is important to be more aware that we are speaking to the Lord “you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8) more than to people.
The mountain man Elijah suddenly appeared before the wicked Ahab, the secret of the absence of fear of timidness is revealed in his words: “As the Lord God of Israel lives, in whose presence I stand.” 1R. 17:1. Elijah was more aware of God than of the king in his ivory palace.
Paul discovered that he had to be “delivered from the people…” before being delivered (sent) to them. Acts. 26:17. Our consciousness of God must exceed our consciousness of man. This is why praising and waiting in God's presence is so important.
We see this principle given by Christ to the Church. Because after the Lord gave the great commission of Matthew 28, He added: “...And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the world.”

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3. The fear of insecurity conquered.

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Exodus 3:11b “…and brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.” After all, how could a single man lead three million disaffected slaves across an impassable sea to an unknown country. Moses had to deal with this fearful question now, instead of waiting for the crisis to arise.
How was Moses freed from this fear? God gave him a confirming sign. v. 12. God's people would worship the Lord on his holy mountain.
Again we see this demonstration in the early Church. “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord helping them and confirming the word with the signs that followed it. Amen". Mr. 16:20; Jn. 20:20.
They also spent ten days on the holy mountain of God in his presence, worshiping the Lord in the upper room. Moses had the revelation of the first Pentecost. But the early Church had the true Pentecost visitation. God did not send his army helpless.

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4. The fear of lack of identity.

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Moses was afraid that the people would not follow him (be loyal to him). They might question his origin and background, in which case he feared his failure to meet the people's standard for a leader. Ex. 3:13a “...if they ask me: what is his name?”
How did God free Moses from this fear? By revealing his personal identity to Moses; for his knowledge of God. Moses went to tell Israel that “I am” had sent him to them. God “I am that I am... God of Abraham... Isaac... and Jacob.” v. 14,15.
God freed the early Church from this fear by the revelation of the resurrected Christ. In Matthew 22:32 Christ is equated with the “God of Abraham…Isaac…and Jacob” as being the same “God of the living.”
The resurrected Christ, expressed by the early Church, shows that they had the revelation of Him; as well as their enemies, “...And they recognized them that they had been with Jesus.” Because they did not have the mistaken identity of their God-given leaders, the early Church “continued in the doctrine of the apostles, in fellowship with one another, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts. 2:42.

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5. The fear of failure.

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Ex. 3:13b “What shall I answer them? Since questions four and five are both the answers for them, this overlaps a bit. But let's notice the vs. 16-22; They gave the answer to Moses. Because he was afraid that he couldn't control the situation. And God was calming his misgivings by telling him how it would go and what would happen.

How was Moses relieved from the fear of failure? In I Thessalonians 5:24 it says, “Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it.” This was the lesson God was teaching Moses. Inherent in your callings are your abilities. If an executive, on behalf of his company, sends one of his team to go and carry out certain orders, therefore his company is responsible for providing for his representation. How much more our chief executive gives us of his provisions: but only if we remain in our calling. God has a word for all of this, his grace.
The early Church exemplifies this grace. We see the same command that God gave to Moses fulfilled in Acts. “Go and gather together the elders of Israel.” We look at the twelve apostles acting in unity. Just as God gives these elders the revelation of his will and they with Moses confronted Pharaoh, so the apostles confronted the religious hierarchy of their time. This resulted in further oppression against them. However, the blessings that God promised Moses for Israel are also seen in the early chapters of Acts.
The Lord promised that he would stretch out his hand and perform miracles in the middle of Egypt (picture of the world). This is exactly what the early Church prayed for and experienced in the midst of opposition (Acts 4:28-30), thus overcoming the fear of failure.
“Miracles” also includes those of judgment such as the case of Ananias and Sapphira being killed. “And with great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.” Acts. 4:33

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6. The fear of the discrediting of the knowledge of God. Ex. 4:1-9.

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There are basically three kinds of knowledge. There is a knowledge that:
a. You learn by experience.
b. It is acquired by rational study.
c. Intuitive knowledge which includes what we learn by revelation or natural
(I Thes. 4:9) or supernatural.
“Then Moses answered and said, Behold, they will not believe me, nor will they hear my voice; because they will say: Jehovah has not appeared to you.” Ex. 4:1. Moses was afraid that his knowledge of God would be discredited when he shared it.
God gave him three signs to confirm his knowledge. Why three? Each one is related to the three kinds of knowledge mentioned above.

 

a. In verses 2-5 Moses had his shepherd's staff in his hand.

This figures his ministry and also everything he had learned through experience in it. It was as if God was asking him to cast all his experiential learning to the ground in the presence of the One who spoke to him from the burning bush. We all have our “longing for Adventure” which needs to be purified.

When Moses did so, the rod became a snake (it is interesting that the same Hebrew word, nachash, used for “serpent,” also means “to learn by experience.” Cf. Strong's Concordance. 5172 and 5175. Moses fled of the snake. He obeyed God and took it by the tail. He overcame the fear of danger, which was caused by the perversion of the rod turned into a snake. It is dangerous for us too when we learn by experience that we are outside the will. of God. This has passed through the state of death, burial and resurrection.
How many children of God have experienced this? This is a picture of Moses' own ministry. He had already tried to enter his ministry by killing the Egyptian. Then he had to escape for forty years. Now he saw the mixture of it and that before God he was like a snake. He had to have faith to take it by the tail. In other words, he was beginning his ministry where he had left off.

Moses' rod had now become the “rod of God,” v.20 What practical application do we get from this? Our desire for adventure knowledge acquired through our five physical senses needs to be purified. This process is called “desert.” We must stop doing our own thing, which is tinged with selfishness, to do the will of God, so that He may be glorified.

 

The early Church began to do “its own thing” like the eaglets in mom's cozy nest, they needed to be encouraged to fulfill the great commission. (Acts 8:1-4). Their “desert” was their dispersion in the martyrdom of Stephen. As Moses fled from the snake, so they fled in pursuit. Through great faith they went everywhere preaching the Word. God confirmed it with the signs that were followed.

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b. God deals with the leprosy of doubt.

Now let's see how God dealt with the fear of his rational knowledge being rejected. For the second sign that Moses received is how God dealt with the leprosy of doubt. Our soul with its five senses is possessive by nature (Luke 12:19). Our hand with its five fingers is possessive by nature, so it is a picture of the soul.
The second sign that God gave Moses was the sign of the leprous hand. Twice God told Moses, “put your hand now into your bosom” (Ex. 4:6). Moses had to overcome the fear of the curse, when he put his leprous hand into her bosom. He did it in hope and it was clean. The breast represents rest, putting the hand in twice represents the double rest of Matthew 11:28, 29.
The first is the rest of justification. As when Moses took out his hand the first time, so we see how cursed and unclean our soul is (Rom.7). But when we take up his yoke and learn of Christ, then we find rest for our soul (rest of sanctification. Romans 8 is the great chapter of hope in the Bible).

Hope is God's purifier (I Jn. 3:3). Hope establishes us at rest. Only when our rational knowledge is purified, and we are at rest, then we are out of the “danger zone.”
In Acts 7 we see Stephen's message as a logical presentation to help the Sanhedrin to know their Messiah. Although there were many priests who were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7), the leaders still rejected the knowledge of God. In chapter 8 we look at this presented by Philip to the Samaritans, confirmed by signs, and received.
This gave them hope in their misery, through this they conquered the fear of the curse. We see the double rest in Samaria, that of justification and that of sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

 

c. Then we see the fear of intuitive knowledge being perverted or discredited and how God deals with it.

God on high, like the pure beginning of a mountain stream that becomes a river, flows his knowledge of revelation into our spirit. Humanity, like Eve when she partook of the forbidden fruit, has blocked this flow by her willful disbelief of the Word of God.
In Exodus 4:9 God tells Moses to take water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry land. Then it turned to blood, the third sign. The Nile River was in the heart of Egypt. It is a picture of the flow of their hearts together. Moses could not explain each heart, but he could explain his own.
Since he was in Egypt, his heart appeared like water flowing with rest. So when God told him to take it, it is a picture of his own heart being separated from the rest of the world. Once he took the water, he then poured it on the dry ground where it turned into blood. As in the Passover, the blood meant judgment for the sinner, but mercy for the believer.
Love is a necessity, if we are a channel for this kind of knowledge (I Cor. 8:1) the very separation and pouring out of water shows the ministry of love to God and men. As Moses separated his portion of water from the vast Nile, he knew (as Paul's life demonstrates) that pure revelation knowledge comes by such separation. One must overcome the fear of being a loner as part of this price. This is why Balaam experienced the mixing in his revelation knowledge, as he would not pay this price, a warning for the end times. (Jude 11).
This is clearly seen in Acts 8, as Simon Magus and Peter's discipline in this situation is in sharp contrast to the revelation knowledge of Philip and Paul. In the midst of a great revival Philip was sent south and was supernaturally guided to witness to an African eunuch.

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Summary:

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We have seen how faith, hope and love are used by God to overcome the fear of perverting divine knowledge in its three areas and its three lesser fears.
A final word, faith, hope and love in three areas of discipleship. In Luke 14 Christ shows us that discipleship consists of stopping doing our own thing and doing the will of God (v.27), leaving what we have for what the Lord has (v.33), and leaving what we are ( basic identity, v.26) for who Christ is.
This requires faith, hope and love respectively. The three signs of Moses show this. The shepherd's rod shows what he was doing. The hand, possessive of its role, shows what he had. The spilled water reflects what he was.
7. The fear of rejection. Ex. 4:10-26
Remember that these types of fear are not mentioned randomly. As stated above they reflect the type of fear that is caused when the enemy presses our seven basic soul instincts. Also remember that the seventh, the desire for acceptance, is fourfold. Just as we saw in the sixth, where there were three resulting fears, here we will find four.

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a. The fear of rejection of what we do, or feel we cannot do.

As in the case of Moses, it guides us to the fear of inferiority complex. (V. 10). What is the cure from God? He reveals his creative will to Moses and asks him to obey (v.11, 12). Think how inferior the boy felt with the five loaves and two small fish. However, he obeyed Christ and saw God's creative will multiply everything, so any fear of inferiority obviously left him.
In Acts 9:1-19 we find the rebellious Saul of Tarsus suddenly blinded and fallen to the ground. As soon as he recognized his new Lord, he found someone to whom he considered himself inferior. But notice how his Messiah raised him up. He experienced the creative gaze again and God foretold His creative will for him, which he immediately began to obey.
b. The fear of rejection because of what we do not have is not limited only to the lack of external wealth, but here the fear expressed by Moses is that of not having enough moral wealth within oneself to live up to the high God's standard.
Knowing that God is a perfectionist Moses said in verse 13 “Provide another whom you send” (this is how the early Church read it in the Septuagint version), “send by the hand of him whom you shall send.” 1909 Version. The apostolic fathers interpreted this as the coming of the Messiah. This would be in harmony with Moses' fear of not measuring up to God's perfect standard.

Today many labor under this fear of not meeting the expectations of others or the standard of themselves. The cure for this fear is the righteous will of God. This includes right relationships. So God immediately prophesies to Moses that his brother Aaron will come to help him. Moses was also to take the straight rod (of righteousness) with him. (V. 14-17).
In Peter we see this fear of not living up to what some consider to be the correct standard of Justice, because Cornelius and his household (Acts 10) were uncircumcised. Well, for Peter to go there was to violate the Jerusalem standard. God had to repeat the vision three times and confirmed that he went with three men.

When Peter arrived, he held up Christ as God's standard (the rod of righteousness) in his message. Peter overcame this fear when he realized that it was God's righteous will for the Jew and the Gentile to be one in Christ. His example encouraged the rest of the church to be open in clarifying its standard.

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c. Fear of rejection because of who we are can lead to fear of resistance.

Few people like opposition. Moses could expect resistance from his father-in-law and friend Jethro, and also from his enemies in Egypt, when he returned.
What is God's response to this fear? God's specific will (v.18-20). God had specifically prepared Jethro. Moses' specific enemies were also dead.
In Acts we find that Peter was tempted to fear resistance when he met the brothers in Jerusalem (Acts 11). They strongly resisted him for going with the uncircumcised. Again the cure for this was to share God's specific will in detail. Then they glorified God.
Then resistance came from the people in Acts 12. King Herod killed James and then arrested Peter. Humanly speaking there was no way for Pedro to escape from prison. The church's specific prayer for Peter was made and he was delivered by the angel.
The Lord had told him to communicate these things to Santiago, because the sheep must give an account of itself to the shepherd. King Herod died a little later.
d. Fear of rejection of who we are to others leads to fear of being hated, especially by our loved ones (Ex. 4:24-27). Moses experienced this fear when, because of his wife, he had neglected to circumcise his son.

 

In Genesis 17:14 all the uncircumcised would be erased from the people, so God met Moses on the road and sought to kill his son. His wife reluctantly did the operation. What is the answer to this fear? It is seeing and entering into the ultimate will of God, immediately the prophecy of God came to pass and Aaron found Moses on the mountain of God and kissed him.

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This was the beginning of the revelation of God's ultimate will which still continues for his people. Moses' act of circumcising his son was necessary (I Tim.3:5) before he could rule the house of God. (Heb. 3:5).
Again the question of circumcision is given in Acts 15. Except here the answer was in reverse. It was no longer a “duty” to have a sharp stone to cut the flesh, but now true circumcision is worshiping God in Spirit without having confidence in the flesh. (Phil.3:3).
God's answer to this fear of being hated and misunderstood by our brothers is found again by the revelation of God's ultimate will in Acts 15:16-18. God revealed the prophecy of David's future tabernacle as being the entrance of the Gentiles. The people rejoiced when they could dispensationally see where all things would fit together.
These points are not just brief moral lessons, but in an age of nuclear weapons where fears abound, God wants us to know that we are safe in the Rock.