A CALL to be FEARLESS
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-by Danny Korakas.
The "fear Of Man" is no secret and an increasingly relevant issue
that must be addressed as the days ahead unfold. Many within
the church body are in the grip of this paralyzing mindset. Those
called and commissioned within the prophetic umbrella cannot
possibly be God's messenger and mouthpiece and yet, fear man.
It becomes increasingly more frustrating to move in obedience to
the Lord's voice if there is a tendency to withdraw out of anxiety or
a fear of another's opinion or response.
I am sure that many (like me) have prayed for the Lord to "use me,
write through me, and speak through me." If you have prayed this
prayer, then be certain that the Lord will begin dealing with
elements of the fear of man in our lives. (It is essential that we
understand the impact of this work in our lives as a prophetic
people to fulfill the mandate in our time of destiny). Many out of
pride may already be rejecting this word in their lives. However, we
are all guilty to one degree or another and this refining work will
enable the fullness of prophetic ministry to flow in and through our
lives to others in a practical -- everyday way of life in producing fruit
that remains.
I have read that we are afraid or fear others because we are too in
love with ourselves. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and
many times we don't even realize it. When the Lord deals with the
love of ourselves -- He simultaneously addresses the fear of man.
Simply put, the fear of man is but a symptom of self (ish) love.
Overcoming our love and protection of self is certainly an important
key to our prophetic destiny.
Our "love" for affirmation and the acceptance of others can be a
hinderance of our prophetic impact. The longing for others to
"understand our heart" and to comprehend our words and actions
can be a bondage to our kingdom liberty. Far to many are
stagnated in the mire of the fear of being misunderstood or
misinterpreted. Our love and desire that others embrace our words
can easily taint and water down the truth that may change lives.
The anointing upon a message is not graded on a curve and there
must be greater accuracy beginning to arise upon our voices. The
words of the kingdom today must be shared with the purity of
fearlessness and the confident assurance of the word being from the Lord.
If we choose to speak or write a word that we declare to be from
the Lord but are eaten up with man's approval -- the word will be
tainted with wordy additions of the flesh and emotion rather than
Holy Spirit. We must be content with the approval of the Lord in
obedience to His voice and the exercising of wisdom of when and
when not to speak. (The learning of this "wisdom" has been very
painful at many seasons in my own life). On the other hand, Jesus
was many times misunderstood and His words were rejected.
However, He never justified Himself for the sake of approval and the
admonishment of others. We can be content that if the words we
speak are from the Lord -- Those who reject it, do not reject us,
but the Lord.
To overcome our fear of man, we must be willing and expect to be
misunderstood and unappreciated. Only then, will we have the
kingdom liberty and anointing to partner with Christ in changing
the world around us. Not only that, but without recoginizing the
neccessity of dealing with rejection...We will not prophetically mature.
The fear of acceptance and the longing for a title of validation will
likewise render our words in a polluted state. The conflict of
interest is obvious in that those who give titles cannot be offended
or challenged by those who seek the title of validation from their
hand. (Simply put, we don't bite the hand that feeds our desires
and needs -- both good and not so good). Even friendships and
forums such as this may find the fear of man hindering our genuine
spiritual growth. We must admit that the tone and intensity of
many words we speak are predicated on the desire of another's
feelings about us. We need to speak soft when the Lord directs
and we need to speak firmly when the Lord directs. Again, we
must be obedient to the Lord within our calling and not a slave to
the feelings and fear of man.
Certainly, it is the love of self and our desire to protect the sacred
cows of our pride and presentations that stunt our spiritual growth.
I have stated in the past that pastors will continually have a difficult
time in bringing a clear, lasting, and life-changing ministry to
fruition if they rely upon the finances and recognition of those
whom they preach to. Again, a definite conflict of interest arises
that creates a religious line that must not be crossed without
offending and thus, cutting off the money and support of one's
ministry. Do many of today's "leaders" fear man more than God?
In overcoming the fear of man, we must not look to man for our
ministerial support and approval...But to the One who graced us with it.
Abraham rejected the gifts of the King of Sodom, and afterwards
the Lord said to him, "Fear not, for I AM your exceeding great
reward." Since the Lord is our Provider as well as our Provision,
we must look to Him alone. We do not look to gain "seed"
supporters, "seed" partners, "seed" pledges, weekly tithes, and
weekly offerings. We look to the Lord to anoint and empower our
prophetic commission through a life of the giving of ourselves.
This does not mean that other people will not bless us. Yes, the
Lord will use others to richly bless us and He delights in this.
The point is the position and understanding of the fear of man and
the effect that it has had upon the church. It has crippled our
supernatural ability and made us a laughing stock to the
discerning folks of everyday life. We have become a caricature of
the church that Christ left us because we have created a system
built upon the fear of man for both spiritual validation and promotion.