Yeah, Fear is a Lie

In case you have been wondering where exactly fear and worry and anxiety and stress and control fit into the equation, they are all LIES and we know that everything boils down to LIES vs. TRUTH. A "pandemic" (as in our current state of affairs globally) is an outbreak of a disease over a whole country or the world. A spiritual pandemic (as in what can be happening on the inside of a person) is an outbreak of a lie that takes over the entire soul of a person or eventually over their entire being (spirit, soul and body). To understand what can be done about BOTH EQUALLY, we MUST head to the scriptures and start to clue into what Jesus (through his bond servant, Paul) was tipping us off to.

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Talk about a statement. In fact this entire chapter in Ephesians contains some of the boldest, most brazen and unashamedly confident instructions that we are given as people who are to follow Jesus at all costs and trust in the Lord more than anything and anyone on the planet. This chapter starts and ends peacefully with some really good advice on child rearing and the varying relational pitfalls that can pop up as we interact with those younger than us; and then it sprinkles in a healthy dose of grace and peace and love at the end. But just WHAT was that middle part?

Yeah, that part. Starting with verse 10 and riding hard through to verse 18, those medieval scriptures are clawing for our attention as if what they are saying is a KEY to what we face in the world all around us, especially in times of "pandemics". To walk, jog or run BOLDLY and CONFIDENTLY through this life NO MATTER what comes along, verse 12 gives us the clue of all CLUES. THIS STUFF IS NOT NATURAL. The origin and source of these "attacks" whether or not the attacks end up affecting our body naturally (according to verse 12) is SPIRITUAL. Starting in verse 10 Paul, like any good lawyer making the case, wraps up his presentation by saying FINALLY, meaning that for 51/2 chapters he was building up to something. With his statement in verse 12 (that our fight isn't against flesh and blood) he sets off a five alarm fire drill in the ancient world that is even felt in our post modern society today. Most people currently on the planet earth don't believe in aliens from outer space, the man in the moon or Big Foot as being "for real", therefore it makes a hard sell to get people to believe that we are being confronted RIGHT NOW on all sides, top and bottom by super human spiritual beings that aren't friendly. This is one of those BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND moments, the only thing is that you are going to leave your posterior vulnerable if you do.

Paul the Apostle is telling us (from top to bottom) the highest ranking to the lowest ranking: principalities, powers, rulers of darkness & wicked spirits in heavenly places are all a hierarchical organization that are hell bent on OUR destruction. Before going any further we have a disclaimer that we MUST interject right now, every single one of these evil, spiritual "monsters" have ALREADY been ETERNALLY defeated by our Savior through His resurrection. Even so, they still kick up their heals with one thing in mind, which is our destruction. Being oblivious to this reality leaves us in a "taking candy from a baby" condition that results in us being under attack, threatened, terrorized without having a clue as to where it is coming from. This is why Paul said to STOP LOOKING AT FLESH AND BLOOD for the answer to who your enemy is. Now that this has been established, we can write with all confidence even as the Apostle Paul, FINALLY! Hopefully we get it now, because we need to keep ourselves from getting hung up on the distractions that attempt to refocus our attention from the reality that there ARE dangerous things happening in the unseen.

As we write this, it seems as though evil spiritual beings are being unleashed against humanity at an accelerated speed during this time in history. Last time we checked we were still hanging on for dear life to the book of Jude, and today we woke up smacked in the face by the prophecies of the book of Revelation. For ages we have read about angels and demons fighting in the heavens, until most recently (and as it reads in the book of Revelation) the devil and his evil forces have been descending into the arenas of mankind as we have never seen before, because his time is running down. Now back to the book of Ephesians, we can see that after we were instructed about warfare and battlegrounds, we were encouraged to put on the WHOLE armor of God. Simply put (as opposed to turning it into a mechanical exercise) we put that armor on by being aware of our provisions and we go about our business by FAITH. "Our business", is when we are faced with or it has been revealed to us or even when we suspect that there is some evil supernatural activity going on behind the scenes, we confront it and oppose it with the power and authority that God has given us within the Name of His Son Jesus; and we don't mess with the rest, because we are in the business of seeing results EVERY time.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his young minister trainee, Timothy, who was facing threats against his life, in order to encourage him to keep going. Firstly, he points out that the real enemy isn't people, but rather a spirit of fear (LIE). Then secondly, Paul counters it with the knowledge (TRUTH) of Timothy having power, love and a sound mind. This is a perfect example of someone driving out lies by applying the truth.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJ)

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

So whether we are dealing with things physically, mentally or spiritually we have ALL that we need to combat the source, not with our ability to wipe down every surface that we touch, nor with our ability to scream and yell "thus sayeth the Lord" at everything we perceive as a threat; but with the TRUTH that God built into Jesus' death, burial and resurrection all easily wrapped up in the Name of Jesus. Today and every day KNOW the ENEMY we are TRULY dealing with and do not give it what it wants: our reality, our focus, our time and our peace.