“Keep it subtle, underlying, visible but not quite tangible in most of their lives. Bring it close to them, but not near enough that they will experience it firsthand too often.”
Cause fear, and it does not matter to our adversary what type of fear it is, these are his orders to those that fell with him. Most of this fear is directed towards the brute beasts, the wicked the wrath of God abides on, but if some of it falls upon those who have been born-again, all the better.
Fear almost always involves the loss of something, and that most often has to do with our free will, our ability to choose the path we desire for ourselves.
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” (Gen. 4:7)
The Mosaic Law was intended to cause obedience because of love, but fear of personal and national repercussions if it was not obeyed was also intended. It caused the loss of complete free will by imposing commandments that the Israelites were to adhere to.
When the Lord Jesus Christ said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) He was saying that if you are going to follow me, if you honestly love me, you will deny yourself and all your desires, you will give up all your free will for me, you will die to self.
I do not believe that while we are in the flesh that this is possible, for our main adversary is our flesh, and as long as we reside in it, we cannot fully adhere to 1st Peter 1:16, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
And that because of this truth. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18)
And so that fear that Satan places upon all mankind needs to be modified for those who have been crucified with Christ, that loss of free will must be related towards us in our continuing fellowship with the Lord.
“How could He continue to love you after that great sin, if you honestly were one of His you would not have those thoughts, you would not have said that or done what you did.”
“Get thee behind me Satan” does not work in this scenario, for it is not our adversary that we need to look at, but ourselves.
Temptation denied or fallen into, we are accountable, and that accountability often means the loss of something, something our flesh that serves the law of sin relishes.
I offer you two choices here, “Thy will be done” or “What I want does not matter.”
One of those statements you will agree with, the other you will rebel against, yet both are true, they mean the same thing.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
You gave up your right to make the decision of the path of your life when you were crucified with Him, yet our flesh wants to hold onto a vestige of that free will, and the fear that Satan will assail us with is this, that we were not honest in that decision, that our assurance is not guaranteed, that we can lose that gift, or sin so grievously that the Most High will revoke it from us.
Faith must be tested to grow, and every time that we exert our free will against the will of God, when the mind of Christ within us gives way to the flesh that serves sin, this should be our response.
“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalm 51:4)
The fear of the way this world is heading, of the approaching darkness is nothing in comparison to the man who has dishonored the name of his Father in heaven.
That broken and contrite heart He will accept, then you will grow in His grace.
