A Spirit of Fear

by | May 31, 1999 | Deliverance, Fear, Intercession

The word “transformed” in Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 confirms this. It is metamorphoo, from which we get the English word “metamorphosis.” The concept is a process of change from one form or state to another from the inside out. The Holy Spirit within wants to go to work on us, changing what is contrary to Scripture that produces unwholeness in us. His greatest surgical tool is the Word.

In 1977 I witnessed a horribly gruesome automobile accident. The violence was indescribable. Being one of the first on the scene, I watched a young man die. Through the trauma of this event, a spirit of fear tried to overpower me. Using the indelibly imprinted scene I had witnessed, with relentless tenacity, it warred against my soul.

I felt fear all the time. I felt fear of being alone, fear of the dark, fear of the unknown and fear of just about everything imaginable. I couldn’t sleep at night because of the replayed horror I had witnessed and the spirit that was using it. I knew this was a spirit of fear, trying to use this trauma to create a strong­hold. Somehow I realized if I ever yielded to the fear, it would then own me. By refusing to act on it, I didn’t yield to it but always pushed through and did what I needed to do in spite of the feelings of fear.

The Holy Spirit made real to me the incredible power of His Word as a sword. He showed me that I would have to wage all­out war against this spirit and the trauma to my emotions by using “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). I obeyed. For close to a month, nearly all the time, I medi­tated on and spoke Scriptures concerning freedom from fear. Every possible moment I kept God’s Word on my mind and tongue-I was laying siege, releasing the anointing.

I believe it took so long because of the incredible trauma to my emotions when I witnessed the gruesome accident. But one day, as suddenly as it came, the fear and the spirit left. The Word had made me free, the seeds had born fruit, the siege was successful.

Hebrews 4:12,13 describes laying siege to the soul with the Word: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

These wonderful verses give tremendous insight to the transforming ability of the Scriptures to heal that which needs healing and destroy the strongholds in the soul. The words “laid bare” in verse 13 are from the Greek word trachelizo, which literally means “to seize and bend back the neck, exposing the throat, as with an animal being slaughtered or sacrificed. ” The word was also used to describe battlefield action. Need I say more? Ugly? Yes. Graphic? Very,

But this strong and violent word is describing what His Word can do-not to us-but to the problem areas of the soul. We are meant to see the power of His Word and the intensity of our great High Priest against those things in our souls that work against our well-being and the life of His Spirit.

Watchman Prayer by Dutch Sheets, p. 137-139. Copyright 2000 Gospel Light/Regal Books, Ventura, CA 93003 Used by Permission

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