A compelling reason for driving the spirit of fear from your life is that the unchanging spiritual principle that is fear becomes a magnet to attract the thing you dread the most. This principle goes all the way back to Job: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me" (Job 3:25).

Contrary to popular religious belief, the terrible things which happened to Job did not unexpectedly strike because the devil got permission from God to bring those things to pass. Job had been living for years in fear and dread of those things happening. In fact, one of the first things we are told about Job is that he was "continually" offering sacrifices for his children. He was afraid they might have committed some awful sin.

And it was so, when the days of their (his sons) feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts."

Thus did Job continually. In Job 1:5, Job was consumed with fear: He was afraid his children were going to curse God. He was afraid he was going to lose everything as a result.

As we discover in subsequent verses, Job's fear caused God's hedge of protection around him to be lifted. God did not lift the hedge; Job's fear did. His fear became a magnet that attracted the very thing he dreaded the most.

It is not hard to see how this could be. As you have seen, faith and the peaceful confidence which it brings activates the law of life in Christ Jesus. Under this law, there is no disaster, no calamity, and no harm. Fear, on the other hand, activates the law of sin and death.

When Job allowed a stronghold of fear to take root in his life, he was wide open to whatever the devil wanted to do to him, and God was honor-bound to let it happen! This happened because it was Job's choice to live in fear rather than faith in the promises of God.

God Respects Our Choices
God will never override your will. He will respect your choices. Now, I know that no person in his or her right mind would ever choose to be sick, poor, or stricken by tragedy. However, we do often choose to give heed to the devil's words rather than God's words. And, as we have seen, fear is the reciprocal of faith. It works the same way, only in the negative.

Just as the force of faith goes to work to bring about the good things God has promised, fear - when activated - goes to work to bring about the very thing of which you are afraid. How does fear come? Fear comes by hearing, and hearing by words of the devil.

In fact, any principle in the Bible which involves faith and its ability to bring good things to your life also will apply to fear and its power to bring destruction to your life. For example, we are told in Romans 10:10: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Just as heart-belief and mouth-confession of God's Word brings about the blessings of salvation, when you have fear in your heart and speak it out loud with your mouth, it brings about destruction.

That is why fear is a magnet for the things of which you are afraid. When you operate in fear, the law of sin and death goes into motion to bring about the very object of your fear.

Christians need to take steps to eliminate doubt and fear from their lives. I want to see my brothers and sisters in the Lord living under the blessings of the law of life in Christ Jesus. Examine yourself. Of what are you afraid? What worries and anxieties consistently occupy your thoughts?

Are you afraid you will never find a suitable wife or husband? Are you afraid of losing your spouse? Are you afraid that your children are going to rebel to be harmed? Are your fears health-related, financial, or relational?

Identify your fears, then attack them. Make a quality decision right now to uproot that fear which has plagued you for years. Purpose to remove it. Do not wait for it to manifest before you take action. Do it now!

Source: Uprooting the Spirit of Fear by Creflo Dollar.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers