Be not Afraid!

These were some of the first words of the great St John Paul II as Pope in his first public address on 22nd October 1978 after his election on 16th October. In his book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope", St John Paul II explains that these words were inspired by the Holy Spirit to urge Christians to conquer fear. He reflects:

"The exhortation “Be not afraid!” should be interpreted as having a very broad meaning. In a certain sense it was an exhortation addressed to all people, an exhortation to conquer fear in the present world situation … Why should we have no fear? Because man has been redeemed by God. When pronouncing these words in St. Peter’s Square, I already knew that my first encyclical and my entire papacy would be tied to the truth of the Redemption. In the Redemption we find the most profound basis for the words “Be not afraid!”: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (cf. Jn 3:16)"

How powerfully these words speak to us now in the last week or so of 2021! How prophetic they are! How apt they are for times such as these... "Do not be afraid" appears in the Bible 365 times - once for every day of the year. Is that a co-incidence, or a Holy Spirit God-Incidence? I think the later. It seems clear that the Lord is trying to tell us something with this specific repetition of 365 times..... Perhaps this is one of the ways the Lord is shouting at us "Trust Me every day of your life - Surrender everything and you will have no need to fear anything!"

“Be not Afraid”..... Let us partner with these powerful words! Let us be in agreement with them! Let us agree that in Jesus, we are redeemed and we are free. We belong to Him and we have no need to fear anything when we are in Him.

I invite you now to declare the Truth in your lives... You don't have to partner with fear. Fear is not your friend and fear is not part of who God created you to be.

So take a moment now to partner again with your True friend Jesus: * Lord, forgive me for fellowshipping with fear as my friend.

* Lord, forgive me for believing the lies that You are not in control or in charge and that You will not protect me.

* Lord, forgive me for not trusting You and for not believing in Your power and goodness.

* Forgive me Lord for wanting to be in charge over my life and not surrendering everything to You because of fear.

* In the name of Jesus, I surrender ALL that I am and ALL that I have to you, Lord. I give up control over my life and my decisions and choices and I invite You to take charge Jesus. Every time I take back control Jesus, I invite You to ask me to make a fresh surrender.

* In the name of Jesus, I renounce the Spirit of fear.

* In the name of Jesus, I renounce the Spirit of Control and Self-reliance. In Jesus name, I renounce anxiety and worry.

* In the name of Jesus, I renounce the lie that God is not powerful enough and that God is not in charge.

* In the name of Jesus, I renounce [insert here any other words or lies that Holy Spirit is placing in your mind]. * In the name of Jesus, I command all the spirits that I have renounced to leave me right now.

* I praise and thank you Lord for all You are doing in me in this moment. Thank you Jesus that I have renounced fear and surrendered myself again to your majesty.

* Holy Spirit, please bring Your peace, calm and joy into my heart right now. Heavenly Father, I invite You to come with the Holy Spirit to me in a new way. Father God, bless me as your well-beloved child who has no need to fear anything with You as my Father. Father, I know that You are blessing me with a new Spirit of Boldness and Fearlessness! Thank you Father for my victory over Fear.

Sue is the Team Leader of Unbound Lincoln and involved in the training of Unbound Teams across the UK.