Rabbi Schneider - The Fear Factor
Fear is one of the greatest enemies that you and I face in our life. Most of us found that when we were young children, we were afraid to die. Do you know that the fear of death, we're going to be talking about this in the last broadcast in this series, that the fear of death is the mother of all fears, and that through the fear of death, through this root fear, all other types of fears emerge, and that Jesus came to destroy the root of all fear, the fear of death, we read in the book of Hebrews? We're going to talk about the fear of death, beloved, as we conclude, but I want to move ahead today from where we picked up last week, and I want to say this, that many of us that are watching this broadcast today, we consider ourselves in some degree leading lives that are set apart for the Lord. The Hebrew word for that means holy. Holy means set apart. We've cleaned up our life on the surface, many of us. We're not doing some of the things that we used to do as unbelievers.
The Lord has shown us to give up certain areas of our life. We're attending a church or a Messianic synagogue, we're giving to the Lord, we're sharing our faith, we're doing the things that we're supposed to do as believers, and yet one of the areas, beloved, that some of us haven't addressed in our life, one of the areas that some of us have not yet cleaned up in our life, beloved, is the root attitude that we carry in our hearts of fearing. Do you know that a good view of Scripture, a good review of Scripture shows us that fear is one of the most common sins that the Lord rebukes? 110 times in the Bible the Lord commands us, do not be afraid. The reason, beloved, fearing is such a serious matter, because it reflects our relationship with God. You see, when we're fearing, what we're actually doing is we're magnifying the devil and we're putting the devil on the throne rather than God on the throne. You see, God is not the author of fear. The devil's the author of fear.
Now, as a slight qualification here, we do know that we're to fear the Lord. I'm not speaking about fearing the Lord. I'm speaking about fearing what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm speaking about fearing growing old. I'm speaking about fearing being alone. I'm speaking about fearing being in a car wreck. And we're going to talk about all these individual types of fears and how to deal with each one specifically in a few moments. But right now, I'm just talking about, beloved, the attitude. Fearing grieves God. Because when you and I fear, what we're actually saying is, God, I really don't trust you. And as much as we should want to stop fearing just so that we can feel better, because no one feels good when they're living in fear, as much as we should want to be delivered and free from fear just so that we can enjoy life more, beloved, there's even a greater reason to overcome fear. And the reason is because it grieves God.
When I fear and when you fear, it grieves God. Basically what we're saying to God is I believe in the devil more than you. That's what we're doing. Because God said I'm going to be with you tomorrow. You should not fear. You should not be afraid. Jesus said do not be afraid. But when the devil comes and he puts all types of strange and foul imaginations in our mind and we begin to believe him and begin to focus on the imaginations rather than on the truth of what the Lord has revealed in his word, we're actually magnifying Satan with our mind, magnifying Satan with our energy and heart above the Lord. And so fearing is a grievous sin because what we're doing is displacing God from being on the throne of our heart and mind, and we're putting Satan on the throne of our heart and mind. And I hate to think about Satan being able to go before God and pointing at me, saying look at him. He doesn't really believe in you. He's bowing down to me. His allegiance is to me because he's trapped in fear.
So I want to overcome fear in my own life not just because I'm interested in feeling better. I want to overcome fear in my life, beloved, because I don't want to grieve God. I don't want to see God looking down at me giving attention to Satan rather than him. It grieves me, it grieves God, and I hope, beloved, that it's grieving some of you. Because the desire to please God is a powerful motivator that will energize us, beloved, hallelujah, to overcome fear. The bottom line is 110 times God commands us, do not be afraid. In Joshua chapter 1 verse 9, our theme Scripture we're going to read once again. Hear the word of God. I know I'm reading it every week, but power, beloved, comes from the repetition of the word of God. It's living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. The word of God expresses, beloved, the heart of God. You see, without a thought, there could be no word.
So the word of God is the manifestation of who God is. Hear the word of God. Joshua chapter 1, verse number 9. The Lord says here to Joshua... by the way, Yeshua's name comes from Joshua. It's the same name in Hebrew. And so here we go. The Lord says have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Why does the Lord tell Joshua not to be afraid? The Lord tells Joshua not to be afraid because God says I am with you wherever you go. Wherever you are, Joshua, I'm going to put my foot on the situation. I'm going to bear the power of my presence and bring my power and presence into your situation and into your life wherever you are.
So don't be afraid. Don't be afraid when you see the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites and the Jebusites. Yes, they may appear bigger to you in the natural, but don't be afraid, because wherever you're going to go, I'm going to be with you, I'm going to be going before you, I'm going to be fighting for you, I'm going to be supernaturally at work in your life, I'm going to be paying attention to the details, so don't keep your eyes on what you see and be made afraid, because you have a supernatural God that's doing supernatural things in the heavenlies, and he's fighting for you.
And beloved, you and I need to develop confidence in the word of God, that the same word that he spoke to Joshua, the same word that he spoke to Abraham, the same word that the God of Israel spoke to Isaac and Jacob, the same word that Yeshua speaks to us, beloved, we need to believe that word is all the same word, do not be afraid, and we need to learn, beloved, how to master fear. We need to recognize that it's an enemy, we can't tolerate it anymore, it's a foul spirit, it's not to be cuddled it's not to be sympathetic with. We have to declare war on fear. Jesus said in the book of Revelation that hell was for the fearful and the unbelieving.
So Father, I pray right now that many I know, there are thousands and thousands that are watching this broadcast, Lord, that are living in the foul spirit of fear. Father, we know that it grieves you, that basically Satan is laughing because he has your children fearing rather than trusting you, and he's laughing at you, God, because we're not trusting you. And so Father, I repent. And I repent, Father, on behalf of myself, and Father, I also repent now on behalf of your children that are watching this broadcast now that are guilty of this same thing, living in the foul spirit of fear, living the life out of a strange, foul imagination, Father, forecasting all types of dooms and doubts rather than being confident in a God of loving kindness who has a covenant with us that will be with us even into our old age when our hair grows gray and we breathe our last. Father, we reject Satan. From this day forward, we reject Satan, we reject fear. Father, by your power and by your grace we have made up our mind to stand up in courage, God, in boldness, and in strength, Father, warring against fear. In Yeshua's name, amen.
Now, when the Lord told Joshua to be strong and courageous and to not be afraid, he uses some particular Hebrew words there that we're going to show on your screen in just a second. I want you to see what these Hebrew words are, because they give us insight into what it is that the Lord means when he says do not fear, but be strong and courageous. A few of the Hebrew words for fear are the word Aratz, which means to tremble, to be in dread of, to be terrified of. Another Hebrew word for fear is the word yaw-ray, and it means to be made afraid. But I'm concentrating now not so much on the fearing, which by the way, beloved, was the first word out of Adam's mouth when he sinned in the garden. He sinned in the garden, he began to run from God, and when the Lord caught up with him, Adam says to God, I was afraid.
So this is man's enemy. It came from the very beginning. The root of it is Satan, the root of it is sin. It's your enemy, and it must be mastered and defeated. The other Hebrew word is yaw-ray, to be made afraid, to be put in fear. But the Lord says I don't want you to run, I don't want you to be made afraid, I don't want you to dread, I don't want you to have all types of vain imaginations, imagining your future to be some kind of dreaded doom. I want you, the Lord says, instead to be strong. And that word for strong is the word chazaq, and it means to fortify. You see, God wants us to be strengthened. He wants us to harden ourselves. He wants us to increase in power against fear.
God wants you and I, beloved, to overcome fear. God says to you, I am on your side, I want you to win this thing. And if you'll put your faith in me and trust in me, you'll win this thing. I want you to harden your heart against fear. At the same time, the Lord tells us to be strong, chazaq, he also tells us to be courageous. And the Hebrew word there in Joshua 1:9 for courageous is the word Amatz. And again, it carries with it the idea of being hardened, to be strengthened, to be obstinate against. God wants you and I to win against this enemy, beloved, called fear. We cannot allow it to stand in our life. It brings shame to Jesus.
So Father God, I ask you to help me today. I ask you to help your people today, Father.
We must stand up and throw fear off our life. I don't know what some of you are afraid of today. I know for me, the thing that I had to do battle against, and I thank God for the victory, because he's given me a real peace, but I used to fear terribly for my children. I would fear when they'd be on the road in the automobile, that they were going to get in an accident. It would torment me. I was overwhelmed by it. But hallelujah, I learned, beloved, that I need to break this thing off, that it brings dishonor to God, that it's a lie. I needed to learn how to trust God. And hallelujah, by the grace of God that's in Yeshua, I did it, and so can you. Whatever you're afraid of today, you can break the power of that thing off your life and trust in God.
Let me tell you, Jesus said that fearing doesn't add anything to your life. All it does is take away. Jesus said that fearing doesn't add one cubit to your life. In other words, when you fear something, it's not bringing you anything good. All it's doing to you, beloved, is robbing you of experiencing God's presence today. All fearing does, beloved, is rob us of being able to abide in the Lord and to enjoy his presence in the day at hand. Fearing doesn't add anything, beloved. It just takes away your ability to walk with God in the present. That's why Jesus said don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Tomorrow will have enough evil of its own. And God's going to be there, too, and you'll be able to crush tomorrow's evil under your feet just like you're doing today. We must make up our minds, beloved.
You may not drink, you may not smoke, but if you're living in fear, it's a tremendous sin. I believe it's worse than drinking, it's worse than smoking and all the superficial things that Christians oftentimes place so much emphasis on. It's comparable to what Yeshua said to the Pharisees. He said you tithe dill, mint, and cumin, but you neglect the weightier matters of the law, love, mercy, and peace. He says these you should have done without neglecting the others. Yeah, we shouldn't do the things that are wrong in the outer realm of life, but even more weighty, beloved, is this aspect of fearing. Remember the first thing that Adam said when he sinned in the garden to the Lord was I was afraid. It's the root, beloved, of evil, and we need, beloved, to destroy it under our feet. Satan's chief tactic is fear.
And so as we continue on today, I want to just to help you and I make up our minds that fear cannot be tolerated. Do you know Israel is a prophetic symbol of our life today in the Spirit. Israel is a shadow of the church. Now, I want to make very clear I don't believe that the church has replaced Israel. But I'm has replaced Israel. But I'm saying that what God did for Israel in the material, natural realm, it's a shadow of what God is doing for us today in the spiritual realm. And God made a promise to Israel, right? To go into the promised land and take it. The Lord said it was a land of milk and honey, it was a land of abundance. But when the Israelites got to the border of the promised land and they sent the spies in, in Numbers chapter 13 and 14, what happened? The spies let what they saw with their eyes produce fear in their heart.
Most of us know the story. The spies came back, and they reported to the children of Israel there's huge people in there, they're giants. We're not going to be able to take the land. Joshua and Caleb we know are the only ones that had confidence. They said surely the Lord will give us success, and we'll be able to take the land. But the fear of the rest of the spies spread through the camp, and as a result of that, beloved, the children of Israel ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years longer. Fear keeps you and I out of our destiny. Fear keeps you and I out of experiencing the abundant presence of God in our life. Fear keeps us from being able to trust God and experiencing his peace, his love, and his joy. Even as fear kept Israel out of their promised land, it's fear, beloved, that will keep you and I out of entering deeper into Jesus and experiencing his presence and the fruit, beloved, of his Spirit in our lives. We must conquer it.
We read in the book of Numbers chapter 14 these words. Joshua and Caleb said, do not rebel. Listen again. Do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear. For the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. Notice how Joshua and Caleb spoke of fear as being in rebellion. And we need to understand this. It is rebellion, because we're choosing to not believe God and to not believe his word, but rather, we're believing instead the devil's, beloved, foul imaginations. We need to not trust what we see with our eyes, because the world is passing away and all that's in it. We need to not be deceived by what we hear with our ears. We need to trust, beloved, in the word of God. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen us that we might seize God's word and stop letting anything else in, whether it comes from our eyes, our ears, or any of our other sensory gates. We must, beloved, declare war and overcome this thing. We need to make up our minds that we will not, beloved, be held in chains and in bondage to fear any longer.
How many of you right now, you're listening to me today, and you know that this is one of your biggest problems in life, that you are constantly fearing? Some of you are like hypochondriacs. You sit in front of the Internet researching your health symptoms all the time, and pretty soon you've got this and you've got this and you've got this. I mean, the list goes on and on. We go from the abnormal fears, fears that make no sense in reality, people that can't even leave their home because they're feeling so terrified. God loves you. He wants to deliver you from that. But in reality, there's not even any reason for most of you not to leave your home. It's just some inordinate fear. To the fears, beloved, that we have that really seem to represent dangerous situations.
Fears, for example, of if you live in a really bad neighborhood where there's a lot of crime, maybe you're afraid of getting robbed or you're afraid of getting assaulted. And if you're getting older in life and you see many of your friends getting sick, whether it's a heart attack or cancer or a stroke, I mean, these are real dangers that you could understand in the natural why someone would fear these things. So whether you're fearing something that doesn't make any sense in reality, in other words, you're fearing something that's not really realistic, or whether you're fearing things that are realistic, in either case, beloved, fear is not an option.
See, when Jesus was in the boat with his disciples and the rains came and the winds blew and it looked like the boat was going to sink, it was filling up with water, that was a realistic problem to be afraid. And yet Yeshua stood up when they awoke him, and he rebuked them, and he said why were you afraid, you of little faith? Yeshua said that the reason for their fearing, even though it was a dangerous situation, was their lack of faith. He didn't consult with them. He didn't have all kinds of apathy. He rebuked them and he said where is your faith? Fear is foul and it's of the devil. So it doesn't matter if you're in a situation and you're saying yeah, but the economy's bad, yeah, but other people that I know are losing their job, yeah, but my neighbor down the street, he just lost his house because he couldn't pay his bills. I mean, things that are real dangers. God's word to you, beloved, is the same.
Do not fear. Trust in me. I'm your God. I will be with you. I will provide for you. I'm going to move. Believe, and you'll see the glory of God. We must, beloved, recognize that fear is of the devil, and as children of God we must not let it stand. God said be courageous, be strong. Harden yourself against it. Seize my word. Don't let anything else in. Stop allowing these foul imaginations in your heart. Stop allowing the devil to make you afraid. You must crush it under your feet if you're going to obey me and love me, in Yeshua's name, amen. Let's look at the patriarchs' life as it speaks, beloved, of how they walked with God free from fear. Remember I said to you that fearing, beloved, is one of the areas that the Father addresses most often in our lives, again, often as we're putting emphasis on the superficial, this man gambles, and you know we go into all these superficial things.
Let me tell you, fearing is a way bigger problem, and it speaks to each one of us. The Lord said to Abraham these words in the book of Genesis. Hear the word of God. The Lord said to Abraham, Genesis 15:1, Fear not, Abraham. Actually fear not, Abram. His name hadn't been changed yet. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield. That's an awesome word, beloved. And the Bible tells us in the book of Galatians that you and I have received the blessing of Abraham. Why was Abraham not to be afraid? First of all, God tells him not to be afraid, and then God gives him the encouragement that's needed not to be afraid. And what was the encouragement that was needed? God said I am thy shield. Fear not, Abram. Fear not Abram. I am thy shield. God was in front of Abraham, protecting him.
You and I both know what a shield is. It protects us from the darts and the arrows and the bullets of the enemy. And God is saying to you and I, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of economic collapse. Don't be afraid of your country being taken over by a foreign enemy. Don't be afraid of growing old. Don't be afraid of getting sick. Don't be afraid of suffering. Don't be afraid of evil. Don't be afraid of witnessing. Don't be afraid of man. Whatever it is that you're afraid of, God said do not be afraid. I am thy shield. And we need to take ahold of that and say yes, oh God, you are my shield. I will not be afraid. We need to get into agreement with the word of God if we want the Spirit of God, beloved, to flow through us like rivers of living water. We do not have a choice with this. This is not an option. This is not a truth that you can jump into 50 percent.
Beloved, we must take this whole truth. We must swallow it. We cannot tolerate fear. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield. The Lord continues with Isaac. In Genesis 26:24, the Lord says to Isaac, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not fear, Isaac, for I am with you. Why was Isaac not to fear? Because the Lord was with him. And the Lord is with you and I today as well. Now, beloved, tune in next week. We want this word to keep getting into us. I encourage you to get the entire series. But we want to receive your word, Lord. We want to eat your word. We want it to roll through us. Jesus said, Yeshua said if my words abide in you, ask what you will, and it will be given to you. Jesus said if my words abide in you, you'll bear much fruit. We want this word of courage. Jesus said my peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Beloved, we must conquer fear.