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Grace takes away Fear

Posted 29 Jul 2011

Grace takes away fear

29^th July 2011

A friend told me a story the other day of how a young man involved in Kabbala (an occultic Jewish mystical system) had not been moved by anything she had said about the gospel, until she said she had found peace through God’s grace. This singular fact stopped him; stripped away all his rhetoric; his questions; his justifications; his doubts, and his fears, and reached deep down into his soul to win him to Jesus Christ.

After spending time with God I went to bed last night almost overcome with fear concerning something somebody had done, but woke up this morning without a trace of it left in my heart. I realized then the powerful agent that God’s grace is! I knew perhaps a little more what David meant when he wrote, “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice” (Psalm 5:3), and again when he said, “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble” (Psalm 59:16).

What do we learn from God’s grace?

God’s grace teaches us foresight: to know in any and every situation that God will come through for us EVERY TIME! It gives us stronger faith to trust God in the nights, and not to be overcome by anything that might come our way; not to give up the ground God has given us; to hold onto him like Jacob did at Jabbok (Genesis 32:24-32). God swallowed up Jacob’s fear and replaced it with faith! New vision through God’s grace will come in the morning!

God’s grace takes away our fears: We might think of God’s grace in terms of what it gives us. We receive from God’s kindness so many great things such as life, joy, peace, power, patience, faith, hope, anointing, love, et cetera, but we might not think of what God’s grace takes away. It takes away our fears and gives us God’s peace.

God’s grace increases our faith: Think about it – if we take away faith what do we have? If we feel overcome, let us simply ask God to increase our faith and he will… every time! That is what the scripture means when it says, “He who calls you is faithful, and he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). The word “call” is kaleõ. It means in the Greek, “the nature of the speaker dictates the nature of the calling”, and “to give a name to”. Therefore, the name and nature God gives us could be no greater, since it is God himself (2 Thessalonians 2:16) that gives it! He has already enabled us through the Spirit to respond in greater faith.

God’s grace never leaves us: Jesus said, that he does not leave us as orphans (John 14:18), but that he comes to us. He said that he gives us the Holy Spirit, the Helper, who teaches us all things (14:26). He said that the peace he gives us is not as the world gives (14:27). He said to the disciples (and thus to all born again saints also) that they were “already clean” because of the word he had spoken to them (15:3), and then exhorted them to “abide” in him. In other words, he was encouraging them not to merely rest on their eternal salvation, but to press on into the greater blessing of growing in him (15:4). Knowing that God never leaves us is what enables us to carry on. Knowing the power of his grace teaches us that how well or badly we might have done does not have the power to hinder our next steps.

God’s grace gives us his peace: Walking with God is only enabled by God, but it involves a partnership with us also as we respond to his love – his peace is already received at our salvation, but greater peace results from the choice to trust him by putting our faith in him. Faith grows as he gives us the peace he has promised. The peace Christ gives, not only increases our faith, but it takes away our fears. It is a peace that does not need explanations. Paul said, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). We can only get it in Jesus Christ. Jacob got it by going to God at Jabbok. Every unsaved person needs only to go to him. God, as he did for Jacob, will take their names and their old sin-dominated nature, and give them his name and nature.

Fear flees before the face of God. As we behold his face in our troubles, fear has to go. The writer of Deuteronomy stated, that the enemy who comes to you in one way, will flee in seven ways (Deuteronomy 28:7)