Today the words that have me inspired are found in the second verse of John Newton’s famous song, Amazing Grace, which begins like this:

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;

Interestingly, Newton speaks of two kinds of fear here: a good kind of fear, and then some fears that need to be relieved. My assumption is that the good fear for which Newton was thankful was what the Bible describes as “the fear of the Lord.” The Scriptures are filled with exhortations for us to embrace this kind of fear that causes us to take God seriously rather than live our lives as functional atheists.

But what about the other fears that Newton was glad to have alleviated by his experience of grace? We could spend a lot of time speculating, but the rest of the song seems to suggest that the fears Newton had in mind were such things as:

  • the fear of death;
  • the fear of eternal punishment;
  • the fear of spiritual failure; and
  • the fear of spiritual abandonment.

Newton’s song can seem a bit triumphalistic in the sense that it can be interpreted as suggesting that once a person initially experiences God’s grace, all these fears will be forever banished from his or her heart.

But what do you think?

While it’s certainly true that the New Testament seems to encourage Christ’s followers to approach each day with a faith-orientation in place rather than with a heart that’s filled with fear, is it nevertheless possible that a sincere Christ-follower might find himself or herself passing through a season of life which is earmarked by a profound wrestling with a spirit of fear? Have you, as a sincere Christ-follower ever had the experience of doing battle with a spirit of fear sent by the evil one to take you down?

I have. And so have many other sincere followers of Jesus.

This is a difficult experience, during which one is tempted to wonder if God is really there, and if he is, does he really care. This is a hellish, nightmarish season during which one has to literally fight the good fight so as to stand firm in the faith rather than succumb to the temptation to defect from it.

A man known to us as St. John of the Cross wrote about an experience he referred to as the “dark night of the soul.” My version of this painful spiritual experience occurred back in the early eighties and lasted for a full eighteen months. While I won’t go into detail here about that ordeal, I will tell you that it greatly affected my walk with Christ and ability to minister to others. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 we read:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

When God has his way, this is what a dark night of the soul experience is supposed to do for us—make us better, more compassionate disciples, able and willing to minister his comfort to others.

In other words, God knows what he’s doing even when we don’t. With that thought in mind, I want to offer you today nine major lessons I learned from my year-and-a-half battle with a spirit of fear. I hope something I say here will resonate with you and prove to be both encouraging and helpful .

First, wrestling with a spirit of fear is nothing to be ashamed of. Though Newton’s song can make it seem like all our fears will be alleviated as a result of our first experience of grace, this just isn’t the case. Even the Apostle Paul admits in his letters that he knew what it was to experience fears during his walk his walk with Christ. Why should we assume it will be any different for us?

Second, at the same time, it’s also true that God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7), nor does he want us to live our lives debilitated by fear (Hebrews 2:14-15; Romans 8:15-16; Luke 12:32; etc.)

Third, while the main trigger for a battle with the spirit of fear seems to be a traumatic experience that shows us our mortality or underscores our helplessness, these traumatic events can be exacerbated by something as simple as too much stress. Stress is serious stuff! Too much stress can affect you spiritually as well as physically and psychologically! We simply must learn how to be busy without being in a hurry.

Fourth, we really do have a spiritual enemy out there, an enemy whose greatest ploy is to convince the world he doesn’t exist, and whose main weapon is the spirit of fear (Heb. 2:14-15) and despair. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that your life is ever just about you, God and your circumstances. This will cause you to blame God instead of drawing near to him. This is exactly what the evil one wants us to do.

Fifth, at the same time, the story of Job teaches us that it’s not only okay to be honest with God when you’re wrestling with a spirit of fear, it’s crucial. If you are genuinely feeling that you’ve been mistreated or abandoned by God, tell him so. The rule is: if you feel it, say it. At least you’re still talking to God instead of giving up on him!

Sixth, it’s also crucial to have other people you can talk to, and, perhaps more importantly, who will talk to God on your behalf.

Seventh, and this is very important, the key to overcoming a spirit of fear is to engage in spiritual warfare—we have to proactively praise and worship God in the face of our adversity (see Ps. 50:23; James 4:7-8). This is going to seem simplistic, irrational and, at times, even humiliating. But we need to remember that we Christians are called to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7) and that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

Eighth, keep reminding yourself of two things:

  1. While it’s true that “it is what it is,” it’s also true that “nothing is random;”in other words, the fact is that everything in life is a test;
  2. You don’t have to know all the reasons for why things are what they are; your job is to simply pass the test that’s in front of you right now!

Finally, we need to remember that when it comes to spiritual things, expectancy usually precedes experience. Therefore, keep expecting the Holy Spirit to break into your life, speaking to your heart words of comfort, encouragement and exhortation. If you don’t expect this to happen, if you don’t pray for it to happen, it probably won’t. This is a shame because it’s these periodic prophetic in-breakings into our lives that rescue us from the world, the flesh and the devil, that make our walk with Christ anything but boring and routine!

Again, I hope something I’ve said in this blog is helpful. This is a serious topic. No matter when you read this, be reminded by it that there’s a grace from God that can and will eventually set us free from any spirit of fear the enemy releases into our lives.

Furthermore, if you need someone to pray for you as you do battle with a spirit of fear, feel free to contact me via this contact apparatus on the home page of this website. I’ll be happy to be one of your spiritual friends, talking to God on your behalf until you experience … the grace that relieves us of our fears.

Something to think about.