By Pastor Doug Cox

Walking down County Road at night is much different today than it was during the early 1960’s. Back then the streetlights were sparse, leaving shadowy, very dark grays in between where the light would lose its reach, especially on moonless nights. The two lane road was also lined with fifty-gallon barrels with the tops cut out being used as trash cans. It wasn’t unusual for a cat to jump out when passing by, but the most ominous thing for me in my early adolescence was, these cans were perfectly sized for a ‘monster’ to hide behind.

I remember times when I headed home after dark from my cousin’s house that I would let my imagination force me into an all out run for home, being afraid of that very thing. I remember tasting blood from my burning lungs as I ran into our driveway. Fear had gripped me.

Sometimes our fears are contrived. As a young boy I watched ‘The Blob’ and other scary movies on Frightmare which fed my imaginations and fears. I also came up with scary stories of my own and used them to scare my younger sisters. I thought it was funny to see them afraid but a different story when fear was chasing me.

There are times when fear is legitimate, like for the people who lived in the region of the Demoniac. One day Jesus and His disciples took a boat ride into the area of the Gadarenes. And “… when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit”. (Mark 5:2 NKJV)

This tomb dweller had been terrorizing the neighboring community and was supernaturally strong. The disturbed people tried chaining him, but their shackles wouldn’t hold. He would howl like an animal and cut himself with sharp stones. He was one legitimate scary dude, who was not of right mind and demonized. What do you do with someone like that? Thankfully Jesus knew and came to do something about it. He fearlessly set the man free and put him in his right mind.

Dealing with fear is part of our human experience and one doesn’t have to look very far to see things that can cause fear. However, it is important that Christians understand that our fears are not meant to dominate us. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy saying, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)

When I was young, I played in the playground of fear. It was exciting to be scared by movies and scare others. I didn’t realize though, that when I was running down the shadowy road on a dark night, it was a spirit of fear that was pushing me. A spirit of fear I had opened the door too. The devil uses fear. Playing with it can give an entrance for the spirit of fear to take control. The spirit of fear is not from God and we need to resist it with a knowledge of God’s love, power and a sound mind.

The Bible tells us the future options concerning fear. One is that “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:26 NKJV) The other is Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (NKJV)