This past Wednesday, we turned on the television to hear the Fox news reporter announcing that several tornadoes were headed directly toward Bethany, Oklahoma. Our ears perked up due to the fact that Mark’s siblings live in Bethany. We watched as the storm chaser drove down Interstate 40 and announced that he was exiting at Council Road, the very same exit we use when going to visit family. It was amazing to watch as his camera focused on the funnel clouds, we couldn’t believe we were witnessing this storm at the very moment it was happening. We were fearful for our family.
Our grandson, Will, witnessed the reports five years ago as a tornado went through the Memphis area and destroyed Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, leaving pain and devastation. Since that night he has been very fearful of storms. If he is outside and dark clouds begin to gather, he makes a beeline for the house. Our daughter works very hard to protect him from hearing any weather reports that might indicate a tornado is headed anywhere close to their home. He is gripped with fear at the thought of it.
I was reading a testimony recently of a young woman who has walked a very hard road the past few years and especially, these past four months. In her story she spoke of experiencing the grip of fear and being paralyzed by it. When describing the fear she had experienced, she referred to it as ferocious. That word jumped off the page as I read it. Ferocious!
When I think of something ferocious, I picture a large lion, a wild African hippopotamus, a python or a crocodile. But, there is one more visual I have and that is the picture of Satan with all his demons gathered around him. He is a ferocious one, the enemy of the believer, the author, creator, and instigator of fear.
Take the crocodile, once he gets his teeth in you- there’s no letting go. He will shred a human to pieces. His grip will render one totally helpless. Satan works much like the crocodile. He bites and when he gets his teeth of fear deeply embedded into your soul and spirit he leaves you totally helpless. He uses fear to get you down and then he goes for the kill. I heard a Christian speaker once say that Satan discourages, defeats, and destroys. I have certainly found this to be true in my own life.
Four years ago, I was gripped with fear. Mark was without a job and was beginning to show signs of the rare condition he had been diagnosed with two years before. It was, as my young friend described it, a ferocious fear! I was paralyzed by it- emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Satan had his teeth deeply embedded into my heart and soul, I was helpless. I spent many mornings in my corner chair crying out to God. I desired to be rescued. At night I would lay in bed with tears flowing down my pillow as I pleaded with God to help me. For three years I struggled, wrestled, and fought with my enemy as he desired to devour me.
Slowly, day by day God began to deliver me out of the grips of this ferocious one who had held me with his deadly hold. One morning God reminded me that as His child and because of the victory Christ won on the cross, and by His ascension, I had all power and authority over this enemy who desired to destroy me. He took me to several verses, such as 1 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Isaiah 41:13,“For I am the Lord your God who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you. Do not fear, I will help you,’ declares the Lord.”
Daily I began to claim my position as a daughter of the King, taking power and authority over this one who held me tightly in his ferocious grip of fear. Slowly his hold loosened and I began to experience peace like I had never known before, an assurance of God’s love and provision became real to me. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27
Peter warns us to “be of sober spirit, be on alert. Your adversary, the devil (Satan), prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” His advice to us is to “resist him (Satan) firm in your faith, knowing that the experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen!” 1 Peter 5:8-11
Just as the lion and the crocodile seek to devour their prey, Satan seeks to devour through his deadly ferocious grip of fear. But, if we cry out to the One who is stronger and more powerful than any other, He hears us and will rescue us. “I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen. I will pray as long as I have breath.” Psalm 116:1-2 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” 2 Timothy 4:18
There will always be things to fear in this life, such as the first day of school, the delivery of a baby, tornados and hurricanes, but we as children of the King of this earth have nothing to fear from Satan.
Father, thank you that when we cry out to You for help, You hear us and deliver us from the enemy, the one who desires to hold us within his ferocious grip. How mighty, powerful, and gracious you are to save us from the grasp of fear that often entangles us and renders us helpless and feeling hopeless. When we call out, we know that You are on your way! Thank you for the precious gift of peace and joy that fill our hearts upon being rescued from the deadly poison of the enemy. Power and authority have been given us through the sacrifice of Your Son’s shed blood and for that we will be eternally grateful!
dianne