Creflo Dollar - Conquering The Spirit of Fear - Part 1
Conquering the spirit of fear. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 7. Now verse 7 says this: He says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind". But he has not given us the spirit of fear. And certainly we can't argue with the fear that is flooding the earth in these last days and yet this is the year that God is gonna rise up and say, "Okay, it's my turn now". And as Christian people, we don't want to be in a position where we have normalized fear in our lives and we've accepted it and we have tolerated it. Something happens with your faith when you find that you're being controlled by fear.
And so you've got to recognize it, you've got to recognize that fear is not natural and you've got to recognize that it is not normal. You can't give it a foothold in any area of your life. You've got to understand this is Satan's platform. This is his method of operation. This is what he will use to try to get into your life and ruin it. And I know that you're in the middle of a pandemic and all that kind of stuff, but we will not fear. The Bible says though we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death we're not gonna be afraid. And you've got to be careful not to allow fear to control and dominate your life so much that maybe some of the things you open the door up to is because of fear and that's what I wanna show you tonight.
So he hadn't give us then the spirit of fear and so the solution just real quick is in 1 John 4:18. Flip over there. He hasn't given us the spirit of fear. Fear does knock on the door. Fear does show up. What do we do and how do we respond when fear knocks on the door and when fear shows up? Verse 18, very quickly. He says, "There is no fear in love". Think of that. He said, "There is no fear in love; because perfect love casteth out fear". And so perfect love is not how perfect you love God. It is how perfect God loves you. Only God's love towards us can be perfect. Our love towards him can't be perfect. You know, we can love God based on how God has loved us.
The Bible talks about that, the fact that we love him because he first loved us. He equipped us to be able to love. But the day you believe that God loves you, fear will be cast out. When you don't believe God loves you, then, you know, you'll rebel against the Bible. So that is your weapon, that is your counter punch. When fear shows up, you meet it with your faith in God's love for you. You meet it with "I believe God loves me". You make a declaration, "God loves me, and I know it. Therefore, I know this will be all right. God loves me and I know it. Therefore, I believe I'll get another job. God loves me and I know it," so whatever the fear is, you respond with perfect love and that perfect love will expel fear out of your life. If you understand that, say "Amen". Now, let's get into something here tonight.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 2. I hadn't shared this in quite some time. Romans chapter 8 and verse 2. We're gonna be very consistent about keeping fear under our feet. In fact, I don't know if you even want it under your feet. Just keep it away from you. Keep it away from you, and every time fear comes in, don't get this thing, "Well, it's normal," or "It's natural". Don't tolerate fear. Say this out loud with me, "When you tolerate fear you contaminate faith". See, something happens to weaken your faith when you accept fear on any level. And when it comes, and just be honest about it, you know, "God, I seem to be confronted with fear and I think I'm afraid, but I know you love me. And because you love me, then what your promise has already said to me will come to pass". This is how you resist fear and stay on top of it, okay?
Now, let's look at Romans 8 and 2. He says: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death". The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. Now, I'm gonna take you through a little journey here on this. Now, we've talked about the laws of the Old Testament. This is not the same law here. We're not talking about the law of Moses, okay? We are literally talking about spiritual principles. So here, when he talks about the laws of life or the laws that govern life are spiritual principles that have been given to you to operate in. The grace of God has already made available to you authority, okay? You have been given by Jesus Christ authority. That is the right to command. You have authority. You have authority to bind on the earth and loose on the earth. You have authority, okay?
Now, but understand something about laws. Whether they are under the law of the spirit of life or under the law of sin and death, laws are spiritual principles that govern life. And you gotta choose the right one. If you want to have a life full of the life of God, then you gotta choose the right law that governs that. If you end up with a life full of death and sickness and corruption, then you probably are activating the law that governs that. Everything in this earth operates, since we have been given authority, we have been given authority in this earth which means death and life is in the power of tongue. This is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is in the power of the tongue. The law of sin and death is in the power of the tongue. Death and life is in the power of the tongue. If you understand that, say "Amen".
In fact, let me show you this: Proverbs 18:21, and I need to just put my notes down for one moment so I can really explain this. I really feel like God wants to take us somewhere in this. Proverbs 18:21, turn there real quick, and then go back to where we came from. He says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof". Now, we're literally talking about, of course, what grace has made available to us, but the thing we don't talk about a lot is that grace has also given us authority to govern or to choose what law we want operating in our lives. We have a choice: death and life is in the power of the tongue. The Bible says we can choose life or we can choose death, all right, so you have the right to make a choice.
Here's what a lot of people don't get. A lot of times, it's just not the devil coming in and fear coming in, and you've got to eventually ask yourself the question, "What laws have I turned on in my life," okay? There, everything operates, listen, even in the physical world, things operate by laws. There's the law of gravity, okay? There's the law of lift. There are all kinds of laws that govern this physical, natural realm. Now, as Christian people, we've got to understand the laws of the Spirit and how those things will either govern faith or will govern fear.
Now let me give you this illustration. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That is a law, if you put life in your mouth and you speak the truth of God's Word and you turn on life with your mouth, okay, the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is responsible for turning on what I call the life cycle. The life cycle would include things like healing and prosperity and deliverance. It includes all the promises that God said you can have, but it's the life cycle that's been turned on, okay? So, the life cycle is going to lead you to abundant life. And, you know, you're speaking words and you're activating the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus.
Now, notice, the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus operates by faith. The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, turning on the life cycle, operates by faith. So you've got the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, it turns on the life cycle, health, healing, deliverance, and it operates by faith. Faith is necessary in order to see that operate in your life. Now, versus the law of sin and death. That law can be turned on as well, you know, by speaking death. And that law is responsible for the death cycle. It will include the things, the sickness, it'll include danger, it'll include all of the things that you turned on with your words and your mouth. So the law of sin and death turns on the death cycle and, watch this, and it has to have fear. Just like the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has to have faith, the law of sin and death has to have fear.
So even though the law of sin and death turns on the death cycle and all of those things that will eventually lead you to death, it requires fear in order for all of that to operate. If you see that and you understand what I'm saying, say "Amen". All right, so now here's the thing I want you to see here, were these two laws that govern life. I was confronted, I don't know how many years ago when I really got a hold of this, is that death and life is in the power of the tongue, and I'm like, "Death and life were in the power of the tongue. The tongue obviously has the ability to turn on the death cycle and also has the ability to turn on the life cycle".
So when you see things going on in your life, see if you can back up and recall what you've been saying. Because it's no longer just talk, it's something that you turned something on. You turned something on. And what happens is most of the world, they're not sensitive to this. They don't pay any attention to it, so they don't think that there's power in their tongue. They just say anything and just figure, "Oh, well, I'm just talking," or "I'm just playing," or "I'm just teasing". And this Scripture says that "death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof". Look at that same verse in the NLT. It's all of a sudden, I'm like, "Man, I really need to watch what I say".
I remember a testimony of this gentleman and he used to say, "I won't live past 30". "I won't live past 30". Do you know, on his 30th birthday, on that day, he died. And why? It was natural, some kind of weird cause. It's just like he just died. But everybody could recall him saying, all those years, "I won't live past 30, I won't live past 30". He turned on the death cycle. It started to work against him because he turned the law on and didn't even recognize, he wasn't even sensitive to the authority that he possessed as a human here, especially as a Christian, but he used his authority to turn on the wrong law. And the question is, are you using your authority to activate the wrong thing? Y'all don't wanna hear this. Most people don't wanna hear it. Because people don't like accepting responsibility for something. Nobody wants to do that.
We're used to blaming the devil or blaming God, and yet the Bible says in Genesis that the authority over everything has been given to man, that I gave you authority over everything he created, every creature, everything. And we don't see how powerful that is. He says, "The tongue," in the NLT, says, "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences". So, you gotta watch what you say. In the book of Psalms there's this wonderful Scripture, it says: "Lord, put a guard over my mouth". "Put a guard over my mouth". And what happens, if you hang around a lot of people who don't believe this, they'll just kind of just tell you, "Well, there ain't nothing wrong with that. I mean, you know, you can say that every now and then and you don't understand".
You've got to become sensitive to, as a Christian who has been graced with authority, you're walking around with an enormous amount of power and it's time for you to learn how to operate it. You've got an enormous amount of power. See, once you believe something and it moves you to say something, you're operating in creative power. You're turning on the life cycle and you're turning on the death cycle. And I'm not gonna sit around, allowing fear to move me into letting Satan borrow my tongue and my authority for me to speak death into my own life. I ain't gonna do that. Taffi and I were doing a little, I don't know what you call it, a little drama skit, you know. I said, you know, "Pretend, like, my fingers is, you know, the virus and, mmm, it's coming to you. Here it comes, Taffi, here it comes. Here it comes". I said, "Oh, it landed on your arms," and I'm like, "Oh, it's shaking. It can't stay on you. It can't stay on you. Move your hands". She said, "Hun". I said, "Oh, it just went away".
I wanted a picture of our authority over anything that touches us, over anything that touches us. I have been given the authority to loose the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus or even to bind sin and death. So there have been times I've... you all have, we all have, where I've opened my mouth and said something that I know turned on the law of sin and death. Now, I might not have had the fear there, but if I continue to talk about that, before you know it, I'm operating in fear and I'm trying to figure out where did this fear come from? We still don't take serious how we use our mouth. God's given us the very power in our tongue. We ain't even learned how to use it. We take it for granted, no big deal, yah, yah, yah.
And so what happens is, "The tongue can bring death or life". If you could listen to people who, you know, some of 'em, not all of 'em, but if you could listen to some people who are facing death, go back and find out how they've been talking. I guarantee you, you will find an association of what they have been saying and what is now manifested. Here's what I believe. Nothing just happens. Nothing just happens. We learned this past week that certain things happen that God allows happen to us to mature us, but I just don't believe stuff just happens for no reason at all. That's why you go before God and say, "Give me wisdom. Show me what's happening and if it's my mouth, if I need to put a guard over my mouth, show me my mouth".
And I pray that you'll begin to tremble sometimes at the words you hear yourself say. Something ought to be wrong. It should grieve your spirit if you open your mouth and talking about, "I just don't know how long I'm gonna be here. I think I'm gonna die of some terrible accident". Something ought to go off on the inside of you as a Christian that says, "Boy, shut up, and cancel those words you just spoke". Especially if you really believe in that. Are you listening to me? Now, go to Hosea. I wanna show you something here in Hosea and make a comment here. Hosea chapter 4 and verse 6. Hosea 4:6. And let's read it in the King James and then the NLT, Hosea 4:6: "My people are destroyed for," what?
Imagine the people that don't know what we're talking about tonight. Good Christian people. But they don't have any type of sensitivity to understanding that you're not just speaking words. Those words are turning on either the law of life in Christ Jesus or those words are turning on the law of sin and death. Those words are giving place for faith to work, or those words are gonna give place for fear to work. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," just because of what they don't know. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". Look at this in the NLT. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". And he says: "My people are being destroyed because they don't know me," wow.
And you know, to know about God eventually moves you to knowing God, but I don't know about you, but I'm done with playing, like, the Christian game. I don't want in on the Christian game and the church game. It's, like, this is for real to me. I'm done with all that. I love Jesus, I know Jesus. I wanna have the knowledge of how to operate in the earth. I wanna know if I'm doing something to cause some stupid stuff to happen in my life and, if I am, Lord, put a guard over my tongue. Help me to use my words the right way. I wrote this down. I said, "Most people's ignorance of spiritual laws results in a lot of their problems". Most people's ignorance of spiritual laws is a result of a lot of the problems they have in life. In fact, we mentioned this.
Let's look at Deuteronomy 30:19. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19. I thought about pausing and taking some time to look at the laws that govern life, you know, the law of faith, you know? But there's also the reciprocal of faith. See, this whole thing operates on reciprocals. You remember that term when you were in, maybe, I think it was elementary school and you were dealing with fractions? And the reciprocal of two-thirds is what? Three over two? I mean, they have something in common. They are both fractions, but the reciprocal of that original is inverted, okay? It's just like, you know, directions north and south are directions on a compass, but they're the opposites of one another.
And so, likewise, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death, they're both spiritual laws, but the law of sin and death is the reciprocal because he's not a creator, he's a imitator, okay? The law of sin and death is a reciprocal of the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus. And so you've got to see it this way: fear is, God didn't give it to us, so it didn't come from God. So that is the reciprocal of faith. And so, Satan operates with those reciprocals. He tries to take the reciprocal of God's Word and God's truth and he tries to invert it and give you the very opposite of it. And so, Satan wants you to operate by an inverted type of whatever God created. And so you gotta have faith in order to see the Word of God come to pass.
Satan says, "I'm gonna create a reciprocal of faith and call it fear". And his ultimate desire is to be the reciprocal of God. See, he wants to be like the Almighty God. But the fact of the matter is, you're from the angel class. You will always be from the angels class and God is your Daddy, whether you want him to be or not, you know. We know who you came from. And so you've got to be careful not to allow him... see, the only authority he has is the authority that you give him. He's been stripped of all authority and Jesus embarrassed him, stripped him of all of his authority, gave that authority to you and to me.
Luke 10:19 says: "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you". And so, Satan's like, "I'm without the keys," because he took the keys of authority away from him and gave 'em to us. So now what does he do to have authority in the earth? He's got to have, watch this, some body. He's got to get a body. He's got to get some body here to loan their authority to him so he can carry out certain, his will in this earth.
So he's got to get you to open your mouth, turn on the law of sin and death, operate in fear, and thus, even though you have the keys, you have given him the authority to use it and now you're being used for your own destruction, for your own unhappiness, for your own depression, because you let a slew-footed devil come in and deceive you with some Scripture that was taken out of context. You know, Satan always got to try to sound like God to get you, you understand? When he saw Jesus in the wilderness, he always said, "The Scripture says," "The Scripture says".