Satan uses intimidation and threats to get us to act upon our fears. Fear will bring things to pass just as faith will. Job said, "The thing, which I greatly feared has come upon me" (Job 3:25).
If you have a fear of failure and are being intimidated or threatened by Satan, there is absolutely no way that he can cause that to become a reality unless you start acting on what he says.
Gloria Copeland once shared with me that she asked the following question: "Father, can the devil do anything that he wants to do, anytime that he gets ready to do it?" God told her, "If he could do anything he wanted to do, anytime he got ready to do it, then why would he have to deceive you first?"
Satan is limited when he can't get you to act on his threats through fear.
The Choice Is Man's
Man stands in a strategic position. He can be contacted by both God and Satan. You might say that man is the establishing witness (Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1).
Satan brings intimidation and threats and if man acts upon them, they come to pass. God contacts man through His Word and if man acts on His Word, It comes to pass.
The choice is man's.
The devil cannot do anything unless he first comes in and deceives, intimidates, threatens the man and then gets him to fall for it and to act in fear. If he can get man to act in fear, then he has a legal right to cause it to become a reality.
All of us have been through difficult situations where it appeared that there was no way out. I would be lying to you if I said I have never been in any difficult situations. But praise be to God for His Word! If it were not for God's Word, I would have failed miserably long ago.
God always provides a way of escape, but you must approach the trial with a right mental attitude. The only way that you can develop a right mental attitude about it is to know what the Word says.
If you do not know that God will provide an avenue of escape in every situation then you will enter that problem with a negative, attitude, and Satan will beat you. The Word says in Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all."
Even when the pressure comes, you can think positively, according to what God says in His Word. You can laugh at the devil and say, "Satan, I am not moved by this. Bring what you will, but God will always provide a way of escape. You are not going to defeat me this time. The only way you can do that is if God fails. And He is not going to! God is the great I AM. He is on my side and you can't beat us."
Approach the pressure that Satan is bringing against you with a positive, right mental attitude. That is what Peter means when he says, "Gird up the loins of your mind." In other words, get ready to do something that may be strenuous or difficult.
When difficult times come upon you, that is when you, as a believer should excel. "Word people" should excel when the pressure is on. That is a tremendous testimony to the world.
Anybody can go through a trial and come out on the other side beaten and worn out. There is a strength that comes to one when he is approaching every situation with a right mental attitude. You can approach each problem through God's avenue of faith and come out victoriously or you can approach it through Satan's avenue of fear and be defeated.
The decision is yours.
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Ministries
