Freedom from Fear: LIVE with Neil Anderson
…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Psalm 34:4–7
We know that fear has to have an object, and that object has to be both present and potent. God is both omnipresent and omnipotent; He is the one fear object that can expel all other fear objects. Someone asked, “Can you love God and fear Him at the same time?” I said, “Absolutely! Just like loving a strong parent in your life. Yes, it’s a little scary to come under their authority sometimes (especially when you screwed up). But—you still love them and respect them.” That fear is also a sense of awe. There’s no way that we can comprehend in our minds the Almighty God. When we look at the reality of living in the presence of God—someone who knows everything about you, knows the thoughts and intentions of your heart. The fear of God is a powerful motivator in our lives. Fear always is! It motivates us toward good behavior when we have the right fear object and toward bad behavior when we don’t.
A phobia is an irrational fear—which means we are believing a lie when we give power to our phobias. The first thing you should do about anything is pray. Listen to this prayer written in my recent book, Letting Go of Fear:
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you as my child. I put myself under your protective care and acknowledge that you are the only legitimate fear object in my life. I confess that I have been fearful and anxious because of my lack of trust and my unbelief. I’ve not always lived by faith in you, and too often I’ve relied on my own strength and resources. I thank you that I am forgiven in Christ. I choose to believe the truth that you have not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love, and of sound mind. Therefore, I renounce any spirit of fear. I ask you to reveal to my mind all the fears that have been controlling me. Show me how I have become fearful and the lies I have believed. I desire to live a responsible life in the power of your Holy Spirit. Show me how these fears have kept me from doing that. I ask this so that I may confess, renounce, and overcome every irrational fear by faith in you. In Jesus name I pray.
So what we’re going to do is look at this whole issue of analyzing your fear, essentially identifying all fear objects. What is that you are afraid of? And when did you first experience that fear? I’ve learned over the years that when you deal with people’s difficulties, you always go back and look at what events were taking place in their life at that time. There is always a cause and effect. The natural world will always see that as an exterior cause, but I believe that it begins with a believed lie. It isn’t exterior; it’s really an internal battle for your own mind. And if you believe that lie and act upon it, it will be the basis for many other fears that follow. You can’t overcome an irrational fear if you haven’t come to terms with what it is you believe. In other words, if you don’t identify the lie, there is no repentance process. So it is very important that we bring God into this process. I don’t want to just give information, I want transformation. And if you want transformation in your life, you’re going to have to include God in your life, allowing Him to be the Wonderful Counselor, the one who came to set captives free and heal the wounds of the broken hearted.
I don’t believe you’re going to have any kind of lasting, significant resolution of anything in your life until you get back into a righteous relationship with God. When you analyze the fears that you have in your life, you have to realize that fear itself is a powerful motivator. An irrational fear is either preventing you from doing what is right and living a responsible life, or it is compelling to do something that is irresponsible, or it has prompted you to compromise your witness for Christ. We have to take a serious look at what is controlling our lives. So what do you do?
Answer. Be honest with God. Start there. Confession is just agreeing with God. In Acts 4:31, it says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” It is really the mark of a spirit-filled life to live a courageous life—which means that faith guides your life, not fear.
Once you realize and analyze that there is a lie you have been believing, that needs to be renounced. Renounce the lie, confess to God that you have bee fearing something that you should not be fearing, then choose the biblical truth in faith. Next, you work out a responsible plan for responsible behavior. Now, the queue to any cure is commitment. If you know something out there is controlling you life, there has to be a plan put in motion that gives you concrete steps to get over the fear. You will never get over it unless you do it! Feel the fear, and do it anyway. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is choosing to ignore it and live by faith. That’s what real courage is.
I’d like to share a precious testimony of somebody who had a real legitimate fear that they overcame:
Having only been a Christian for 5 years, I was just coming to understand that many of my experiences of fear and anxiety were not of God but were of Satan. I couldn’t drive over bridges without feeling like I was going to lose control of the steering wheel. I could see myself and my car going over the side, and this totally took over my mind as I came close to any bridge. I would become paralyzed by fear, breaking out in a sweat and almost being unable to breathe. I would call for Jesus to get me over—and He always did—but still the fear would come back the next time. So I would try to avoid using bridges or just not go where I wanted to. As a result, I was not enjoying my life to its fullest as I was living in bondage.
One Sunday in church, a friend of mine came over with a book, plunked it into my lap, and told me to read it. That book was The Bondage Breaker. I read through it and went through The Steps to Freedom in Christ. When I first read it, I didn’t sleep very well. That first night I dreamed that Satan was taking me from room to room in a large mansion and was showing me everything he said he owned and how he could make it mine. I woke a number of times and found myself repeating Scriptures out loud and calling on the Lord for help. The second night, I did not have the dreams, but I woke up at 3 a.m. shaking violently as if terribly frightened. I felt no inner fear, only this physical manifestation. I fell back asleep and woke up an hour and a half later, and as soon as I woke, I felt very refreshed and calm and sensed the Lord saying to me,” I told you that I would never leave you nor forsake you.”
Soon after that I had to cross a bridge. When I came within a hundred feet of it, I loudly said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I bound you spirit of fear. For Jesus is driving this car now, and I am only the passenger.” I sailed over that bridge and talked happily with my daughter who was in the backseat. I do not experience that fear any longer, and I know I no longer will. And it certainly does not own me.
Somewhere along the line, you have to do the thing you fear the most. And if you do the death of fear is certain. There is no other way to overcome it; you have to do it.
I remember when I first got married, my wife had a fear of flying. Joann and I met at the University of Minnesota; we dated that fall. Then I went off to the Navy, and we reconnected 5 years later. But in those 5 years, she met another man and married him. Nine months after they were married, he went down in a plane crash and died. It was a real tragedy. She had another experience in 3rd grade, when a plane went down in Minneapolis two blocks from her house; it took out two houses and killed all of the passengers on board. Those are two powerful images and allows you to understand why she would have this fear of flying. It took some time, but she overcame the fear. And fear was no longer controlling her life; she could fly to Singapore, England, you name it.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
John 8:31–32
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.