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| The Doctrine of Fear |
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8 The Solution to Fear The PPOG has been designed to remove all the cobwebs of fear from your soul replacing them with confidence in Bible doctrine. This leads to confidence in the Lord. That is the only true basis for spiritual self-esteem, which is confidence in yourself, and your relationship with God through Bible doctrine in your soul. Doctrine in your soul reminds you of the promise and encouragement of ROM 8:31, "If God is for us, who is against us?" This inevitably results in the greatest courage in life. It's more than physical or moral courage; it is mental attitude courage in all relationships, and in all circumstances of life. Fear is met and destroyed with courage. When you face your fear with courage, most of the time you will discover that it was not such a big threat after all. Paul stated this to Timothy who was intimidated by his congregation. It is a command which is given to anyone living in the PPOG. For God has not given to us a lifestyle of fear, but of power, and of virtue‑love, and of sound judgment. (2TI 1:7) Whenever we're afraid it’s because we don't have enough knowledge to make a sound decision. One of the biggest fears in life is fear of the unknown. If you know enough about something, you can deal with it. Every time you really stop to look fear in the face, and face it with the truth from God you gain strength, courage and confidence. "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about" (PSA 3:6). Courage is resistance to fear and mastery of fear, but it is not the absence of fear. The brave man is not the one who never feels fear. That would be unrealistic and irrational. The brave man is the one who masters his fears; the one who is willing to face problems head on. We all need the strength to endure the things which we cannot change. However, we also need the courage to change the things which should be changed. Most of all we need the wisdom to know one from the other. Every time fear comes into your life, you know you are not living the Christian way of life. The Christian life was designed by God to be the way of virtue-love, which is personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, and occupation with Christ. True courage is the result of virtue-love. True courage means sound judgment, thinking under pressure, and good judgment at all times. Sound judgment comes from Bible doctrine, not from emotion. The person with real courage is the person with doctrine in their soul. When David faced Goliath, he had doctrinal courage which was far superior to Goliath's loud-mouthed macho courage. Living in the PPOG is a life of courage. As we execute the PPOG we learn what true courage is and how to apply it. In the world, what passes for courage is often not courage at all, but simply arrogance and stupidity. It is virtue-love developed in the PPOG that casts out fear and replaces it with courage. Fear does not exist in virtue-love, but virtue-love drives out fear; for fear causes punishment. In fact, the person who is afraid has not been matured by virtue-love (1JO 4:18). If you have personal love for God the Father, and you understand His integrity you can rest on the entire essence and integrity of God. If you love God, then you know God. Understanding God's integrity gives you the confidence to depend on Him. If you are dependent upon God and His integrity, then having fear not only insults God. |
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