Instead of fearing, we can rejoice. "Behold, I have given you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you" (Luke 10:19). Christians must not accept being held in check by the enemy, they must defeat the enemy ; they must not be the ones who suffer but rather those who lead the fight. We are not besieged ; we are not back to the wall. Far from it, we are the valiant troops of God, sent to free the hostages from hell. We are the conquering forces of the Lord.

Jesus said many times, "Do not be afraid !". But that's not all, he was an extraordinary psychologist. Notice what he said : "Do not be afraid, just believe". It was always more than simple : "Do not be afraid", or : "Take courage, be strong". That alone would not have changed much.

Fear is a force, and it must be countered by equal force.

Fear is a negative force. His symbol and the negative sign. Once, someone told me : "Fear is the dark room in which people develop their negatives". Only a positive force can cancel a negative force. This positive force is faith. So Jesus always said : "Do not be afraid, only believe" (Luke 8:50). The opposite of fear is not courage, but faith.

"And the victory that triumphed over the world is your faith" (1 John 5:4). The faith is a weapon with multiple possibilities. This is not presumption or bravado ; remember the sons of Sceva. A trembling believer makes Satan a conqueror, but faith scares the enemy. We are not called to tremble, but to exercise authority to shake hell. "Benaja went down against the Egyptian with a staff, tore the spear out of his hand and used it to kill him" (2 Samuel 23:21). So we will remove the fear from the hands of the enemy, we will use his own weapon to shake the demons.

Jeremy Sourdril