"For God Has Not Given Us A Spirit Of Fear"

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For God has not given me the spirit of fear…” (2 Timothy 1:7) 

This is the verse that I would say out loud in my bed whenever I was afraid as a child. I grew up in the Philippines in a missionary family. When I was a kid, I remember a woman who came to my parents’ church one day. She was demon possessed. My dad was preaching, so my mom and the deacons where in the office with this woman. She was possessed by many demons and they gave her strength that took many men to hold her down. I remember trying to peak into the office, but I wasn’t allowed to get close. It was after that day that I realized that demons were real. I was absolutely terrified at the thought. I had already asked Jesus to be my Savior, but the thought that they were real shattered my world. Every night, when it was time to go to sleep, I would tell my parents I couldn’t sleep because I was too scared. It was a struggle every night, for a long time. My parents told me “Yes, demons are real, but God is stronger. Whenever you get scared, say these verses out loud. If you are scared and you can’t say anything else, just say the name of Jesus out loud. Even if you have a nightmare, just say the name of Jesus out loud.” The fear didn’t leave me right away, but I at least had something to fight the fear with. After a while, I wasn’t terrified to go to bed. I am so grateful that my parents gave me the tools to fight this fear. Even today as an adult, if I ever get struck with fear, you will probably hear me proclaiming the same thing I learned when I was a little girl.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For God has not given me the spirit of fear…”