Personal Revelation: Fear NOT! God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear

The Lord keeps showing me that fear is not of Him. I believe one of the major deceptions of the evil one is getting us to think that our fears are really answers from God telling us not to do or think certain things. Scripturally it is clear. Let’s look at a few verses and examples.

Paul taught, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:7-8). I believe this is one of the jewels of revelation. I have never found an example in scripture when the Lord uses fear to dissuade or discourage someone from moving forward in a particular course of action or thought. There is a righteous fear of the Lord, but that is describing a holy respect for God, not the fear described in this post.

“Fear not!” I just did a search on “fear not” in the scriptures. It comes up many, many times in the scriptures. Usually it is the Lord or His messengers telling the people to fear not. So many experiences in the scriptures and my own personal experiences have taught me that fear seems to always be at the gate of faith, opportunity and blessings from God. We have to walk through and into the face of fear to get to the blessings of God. Joseph Smith’s first vision is a great example of this.

Joseph shared, “After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me” (Joseph Smith History 1:15-16).

Even though he spiritually prepared himself and went before God in sincere prayer, he was attacked by the evil one. In Joseph’s 1835 account of the first vision he stated, “I made a fruitless attempt to pray; my tongue seemed to be swollen in my mouth, so that I could not utter. I heard a noise behind me, like some person walking towards me. I strove again to pray but could not. The noise of walking seemed to draw nearer. I sprung up on my feet and looked around but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking.” The devil will try to incite fear in any way possible.

The first vision is a great example of the adversary trying to use fear before a great spiritual manifestation or experience occurs. But Satan will also use fear to keep one from believing in a spiritual experience after it occurs as well. Moses seeing the Lord is a great example of the adversary trying to get you to worship him and disbelieve the great spiritual experience after it happens. It is interesting that in verse 15 of Moses 1, Moses recognizes that Satan’s glory is darkness unto him and Moses commands him to depart and deceive him not. The author of deception is darkness. His tactics are darkness. Fear is a dark feeling. Do not be deceived by fear. In verses 16 and 18 Moses commands Satan to depart but the evil one doesn’t leave. Satan rants in a loud voice and commands Moses to worship him. At this point Moses is being overcome by evil. The record states, “...Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell” (Moses 1:20). Fear brought the bitterness of hell. Fear brings fruits of the evil one. When we listen to our fears, we’ll notice fruits of the evil one subtly enter our mind and heart. It can completely overcome us if we don’t recognize what is happening and cast out the evil one. Moses drew upon the Lord to overcome. The scripture reads, “Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory. And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan. And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.” (Moses 1:20-22). When Moses used the name of the Lord, that is when the devil had to leave his presence. So we must recognize fear when it comes and cast out the evil one in the name of our holy Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has one of the best talks I’ve ever read on this topic of the adversary seeking to use fear to stop our progression on the path of illumination and revelation. I highly recommend it. I was led to it when I started dating my wife and was about to turn back. Here is the link https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland_cast-not-away-therefore-your-confidence/

As I ponder the decisions, questions and revelations I’ve received in my own life, the devil will always be there seeking to make fear a factor in my decisions moving forward and in my reflections about the past. Fear is the opposite of faith. That has become more and more clear as I continue to battle this in my life.

My thoughts go to Alma 32:21 and Ether 12:6.

“And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21).

“And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6).

I feel like these verses and experiences have taught me that faith isn’t so much in being absolutely certain in the answer from the Lord before moving forward. He gives line upon line and as we have faith to move forward He opens the way before us. We have to step into the fog or darkness, hoping and placing faith in Jesus that He will deliver us...not because He has spelled everything out for us and because it all logically comes together in our minds before stepping forward. We have to place our faith and trust in Him, in the small assurances and answers He has given us.

There is a great scene in the Indiana Jones movies. He comes to a ravine, a cliff, and there isn’t a bridge there. He has to step onto the empty space, trusting that there really is an invisible walkway there. It is a marvelous explanation of faith. We have hope that He will provide and deliver us. Sometimes we sit there and we ask and ask and ask for an absolute revelation and firm answer, telling Him that if He will just give us the full answer we will exercise faith and doing what He tells us to do. But where would the faith in Him be if we knew 100% the course we should take? It’s easy to have a law of Moses guide book and then exercise faith to follow it. What is difficult is exercising faith in Him as we inch our way out onto the cliff, believing in Him to provide a solid surface to walk on even though we can’t see or feel it there until we shift our weight fully on the foot that is walking off the cliff. Even though He has done that over and over again for us in our lives, it still requires faith each time to walk off the cliff.

Logically, it doesn’t make sense. It is a paradox and God seems to enjoy those paradoxes. I think it’s because He takes joy in revealing Himself to us in the details, as we feel and know there was no way things would have worked out if it wasn’t for His involvement in our lives.

Jeffrey R. Holland and the scriptures state it well. He said, “After you have gotten the message, after you have paid the price to feel his love and hear the word of the Lord, ‘go forward.’ Don’t fear, don’t vacillate, don’t quibble, don’t whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord was doing here for the children of Israel. Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There’s always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, ‘Brethren [and, I would add, sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!’ (D&C 128:22).” (“Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Jeffrey R. Holland, Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Mar. 2, 1999, BYU Devotional).

These are higher doctrines of revelation that the scripture so beautifully share with us as we enter these roads. It is imperative that we live worthy of the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives and trust the grace of Jesus Christ as we diligently seek Him. There is no substitute. It takes work and a heart centered in God and His ways above all else. My prayer is for the strength to always live in the meekness of His Spirit, ready to respond as He gently leads me along. Praise be to God for His goodness in leading us along to Him!