Faith is a spiritual force. Fear is the reciprocal force. In other words, fear is exactly the same force as faith but going in the opposite direction producing the opposite results! Being the same spiritual force however, fear operates by the same laws as faith.
For example, we know from Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It doesn’t come any other way! Since we know that truth, we also know that fear comes by hearing the words of the devil. It doesn’t come any other way!
Let’s look at this principle in action over in 1 Samuel 17. Look at what Goliath said, “And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” – 1 Samuel 17:8-10 KJV
NOW pay very close attention to verse 11, “When Saul and all Israel HEARD THOSE WORDS of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.”
They heard those words! WORDS of the devil and “great fear” came!
As we read down through, we see from verses 16 and 23 that Goliath drew near morning and evening for 40 days and spoke those very same words over and over!
Oh, but now look at verse 24 and we gain more insight into the strategy of the devil.
“And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.” – 1 Samuel 17:24 KJV
Here the Scripture says “when they SAW the man they were afraid!” We know from the first part of this chapter that Goliath was approximately 9 feet 9 inches tall! He was huge and powerful and, with all of his armor and weapons, very formidable looking!
There is a saying that “a picture is worth 1000 words.”
Now pay VERY close attention. I’m about to say something that is absolutely essential in becoming victorious in every area of life. I believe you will see clearly what I’m talking about as we go through the rest of this letter.
It was the words of the devil that brought the fear NOT Goliath’s size BUT it was the picture of Goliath that amplified the effectiveness of the words! (Read that again because we are going somewhere specific with this.)
This is actually quite easy to see. What do you think would have happened if Goliath had some out in all his armor and weaponry, looking all big and powerful, but said, “Let Saul and all of Israel know that I have come to believe in the great God of Israel. I will fight your fights and I defy any man to come against this great people!”?
Are you kidding me?! There would have been rejoicing throughout the land!
Different WORDS – same picture!
In actuality however, the picture – the image – of Goliath increased and amplified the fear that the ungodly words brought into the people.
We see this same principle in operation in Numbers chapter 13 as well.
“And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back WORD unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and SAID, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him SAID, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an EVIL REPORT of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, SAYING, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:25-33 KJV
Do you see it?! Words + saying + evil report = FEAR!
Notice something else though in those last two verses. Words and phrases such as “eats up the inhabitants” and “we SAW men of great stature” and “we SAW giants” and “grasshoppers in their SIGHT” all painted a picture!
In this example however, the people did not even see these things with their own physical eyes. The image was created in their thoughts and imaginations (notice it’s the same root word – “image” and “imagination”) and it amplified the effect of the report and produced great fear! As a matter of fact, it produced such great fear that they were ready to kill Caleb and Joshua!
Satan still works the same way today. This is why the news media doesn’t just have someone read the facts about something like a pandemic and leave it at that. They talk about what it might be, what it might do and how catastrophic it might be and then they show pictures of people dying, a picture of the virus and the most extreme forms of death that they can find to paint that picture so that your imagination runs wild and magnifies the effects of the words to create great fear! Great fear will bring great destruction into manifestation!
You have to remember, satan learned how powerful the combination of words combined with imagination is way back in Genesis 11. The people had decided to build a tower to heaven! That’s no small task but look what the Lord had to say about it, “Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” – Genesis 11:6 KJV
Now that is power! The combination of agreement and words combined with the picture in the imagination!
Satan knows full well all he has to do is get you listening to his words of destruction and paint the picture in your imagination so that you meditate on it day and night (the reciprocal of Joshua 1:8) and then he can produce any type of theft, death or destruction he wants in your life.
So, what can we do about it?
Step 1: Proverbs 4:20-22. Keep the Word of God before your EYES! Solomon learned that from his dad, David. You know the guy that defeated Goliath! In Psalm 119, David talks about how much he loves, studies and does the Word of God in 171 out of 176 verses!
Step 2: 2 Corinthians 10:4-6. Casting down IMAGINATIONS and thoughts that exalt themselves against your knowledge of God and what He wants that you have learned by doing Step 1. Bring EVERY thought into captivity that is contrary to the Word!
Step 3: Philippians 4:6-9. Don’t worry about ANYTHING! This is a result of Step 2! Now, peace enters the picture and you can build up a Godly stronghold by filling your imagination with things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and good reports. If you are going to have any excellence and power, you are going to have to think on these things and then you are going to have to be a doer of the Word from Step 1!
Wow! The Holy Spirit just pulled the curtain back and laid some things out plainly and simply for us this month! Get your imagination working FOR you instead of AGAINST you by implementing these things in your life today. When you do, you just watch how the new pictures amplify the Words of God and result in great faith!