An excerpt from How to Fight in the Spirit and Win by Dr. Donald Kivett

Chapter 5: Defeated by Worry & Fear

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The Bible tells us to be not ignorant of Satan’s devices. When we are spiritual warfare, one weapon Satan uses to try to defeat the people of God is worry and fear. No surprise here that this attack is launched against the mind because the enemy knows if he can get your mind, everything else follows.

Isaiah 26:3 states, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.”

Let me share this little story with you that really puts things in perspective:

Death walked toward the city. A man stopped Death and asked, “What are you going to do?” “I am going to kill 10 thousand people,” Death announced. The man ran into the city and warned everybody he could.

The next day, the man and Death met again. The man exclaimed, “You said you were only going to kill 10 thousand people; 70 thousand people died yesterday!” Death responded, “I did only kill 10 thousand people yesterday; worry and fear killed the others.”

-Author Unknown-

Satan is out to rob you of your peace. And the number one way he does this is through worry and fear. Because he knows if he can get you to worry about something long enough, he can get you to fear. If you fear, you will lose your peace.

The Lord told me that sometimes, Christians allow the enemy’s thoughts to become more credible than His thoughts. Paul warned us in Ephesians 4:27, “neither give place to the devil.” Since Satan cannot touch our wills, he works on something that will influence our will: our thought life. Our mindset. And he does this by power of suggestion.

“Since Satan cannot touch our

wills, he works on something that

will influence our will: our thought

life. Our mindset.

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The enemy will suggest a thought. When you stay focused on what the enemy has put there, what you are doing is saying that his thoughts are more credible than God’s. When you are holding onto these ungodly thoughts, this ultimately brings fear, which is Satan’s goal and purpose.

But there is something you must realize: fear can bring these thoughts to pass, just like faith will bring Godly things to pass. Look at our friend Job. He states, “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). Fear had brought to pass destruction to Job’s life. Just like faith brought him out of it as well.

If you are having any of those negative thoughts, you’ve got to cast it down. Quit thinking about the thoughts that the enemy is suggesting to you or else you will allow the enemy to bring to pass whatever you are fearing. Why? Because fear is the opposite of faith.***

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