by David Miller
Black Bart, who robbed 29 Wells Fargo stage coaches
between 1875 and 1883, managed to strike fear in the hearts of his victims.
Bart used his evil demeanor to ignite fear in anyone unfortunate to be on or
around a Wells Fargo stagecoach during a robbery. Bart used fear to get his
victims eyes on their circumstances. He knew distracting his victims from what
was true was his only hope for a successful robbery and get away. The truth
about Black Bart was in the 29 robberies history documents; he never once fired
his gun or took a hostage. He used a mask to hide his true identity and used
the mask to strike fear in all of those he robbed. Like Black Bart, Satan uses fear as a tool to
distract us from what is true.
Satan's understanding of who we are in Christ is evidenced
by his repeated attempts to get us to submit to fear. When we are fully aware
of the truth of who we are in Christ, we will not be afraid. The only thing
Satan can do is to distract us from this truth. He does this by attempting to
re-direct our focus, from who we are in Christ, onto our seemingly fearful
circumstances. Satan knows he can't rob us of our riches in Christ, so he has
no choice but to encourage us to lose sight of all we have and all we are in
Christ.
Though we may lose sight of this, at times, God continues
to prove Himself faithful in our lives. Remember when the Armenian army
surrounded the Israelites camp? (2 Kings 6:15-17) A fear struck
servant came to Elisha with the disheartening news. However, Elisha assured the
servant and said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are
with them.” (2 Kings 6:16 NKJV) Elisha prayed and instantly the
servant's eyes were opened to see the hills, all around, covered with horses
and chariots of fire. The truth was that God had provided the Israelites more
than enough protection from the Armenians. Elisha's eyes were on what was true
while the servant's eyes had been distracted by the surrounding enemy.
Though, in Christ, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), on occasion, we
allow intimidating circumstances distract us from this truth, and we submit
ourselves to fear. Just as the turbulent waves of the sea distracted Peter from
Jesus' invitation to walk on water, causing Peter to be consumed by the waves,
when we focus on the waves in our life overwhelming feelings of helplessness
rob us of doing the impossible through Christ. Like Peter, when we fix our eyes
on Jesus we are able to confidently rise above our fears and miraculously walk
to Jesus, by faith.
All throughout the Bible, God instructs people to not
fear. Though we may feel sometimes this is easier said than done, it is no
coincidence that when you add up all the instances in Scripture where it
instructs, "do not fear," "fear not," and "be not
afraid" they total 365 occurrences--one occurrence for every day of the
year. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us never will we face a day that we
will ever have a valid reason to be afraid.
Scripture to Claim:
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)
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
