It was the early hours of the morning when I awoke. My husband and I had taken our camper out for a few days of prayer and rest. It was a Sunday night, and in uncustomary fashion, my husband had driven back into town to handle some business for Monday morning. He had planned to return to the campsite by midmorning.
In the meantime, I was alone in the camper overnight.
Now awake, I looked at my phone: 4:45 a.m. Since I typically get up around 5:00 – 5:30 a.m. to pray, I simply sat up and started praying. It was only a few minutes later when I felt the trailer shift as someone stepped onto the step leading to the bedroom door. Next, I heard someone try the latch to open the door, which, thankfully, was locked.
Heart pounding, I grabbed my gun sitting beside me and pointed it at the door as I continued to pray.
There were no further sounds from outside. A couple of minutes passed and nothing more. I got up and walked to the other door of the trailer and flipped on the outside light. I realized that since most of the other trailers had pulled out the day before, I was pretty much alone. What I wasn’t going to do was open the door to look around. Instead, I kept my gun drawn and continued to pray until it grew light.
While many people speak from dreams they have received from the Lord, in my life, more often than not, I actually experience events. I asked Doug Addison about it a few years ago. “You actually live out things where others often dream them,” he explained. “Some people receive insight from the Lord in dreams. You actually become the ‘dream.”’
It was an odd statement, but I understood what he meant. Too many strange things had happened to me in my life to miss the realization that there was more to these events.
That is the case with the camper experience and why I’m sharing it. I don’t feel it was just for me to learn from, but a message to others as well. We are living in a day in which fear is knocking on our door. The key is, don’t answer it.
“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).
“When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19b, NKJV).
The enemy has used fear as a tactical weapon for years, but never more so than in the day in which we live. Whether it has been the threat of COVID, inflation, famine, or simply listening to the news, we all have had ample opportunity to fear. What we need to remember is that while those may be real threats, we serve the one true God, who isn’t threatened by it. No matter the chaos happening around us, we should not be threatened, because we walk in a different realm.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isa. 43:2, NIV).
I want to encourage you with a word the Lord spoke to me on January 11 of this year. He told me it is to be our position.
“Who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions” (Heb. 11:33, NIV).
The position we must take to stay out of fear is to walk in faith. That scripture says through faith. Faith is the opposite of fear. How do you stay out of fear? You stay in faith. For that is how we will conquer kingdoms, administer justice, gain what has been promised and shut the mouths of lions.
Just as an animal senses when its prey is in fear, so in the spirit realm fear has a smell. May it not be found on us. We must choose to say no to fear.
In the early morning hours in that camper, did I have an opportunity to fear? Of course. I chose not to. Although my heart was pounding, I simply found a strategic position where I could sit and monitor both doors simultaneously. I kept my weapon drawn until either help came or light overcame the darkness. I held my ground, and I was fine. Had I opened the door to whatever was outside, there may have been a different ending.
We are living in days no different than those of the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews. They could have succumbed to fear. Instead they chose to walk by faith despite the fear that must have been knocking on their doors.
So, when fear knocks on your door, don’t open it. Just as the heroes of faith such as Moses, Esther, David and Daniel, we have the opportunity to say no to fear, choose faith and shut the lions’ mouths. {eoa}
Karen Hardin is a literary agent and writer. She is the author of Infected: How to Stop the Global Spread of Rage, Deception and Insanity and God’s Justice after Injustice. Her work has been published in USA Today, Western Journal, World Net Daily, Intercessors for America, Charisma, CBN.com and more. To receive her free weekly scriptural prayer targets for our nation, click here. Or you can sign up for her governmental and prophetic insights at karenhardin.com.
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