There Is No Need For You To Be Afraid

by David Laylor

Timothy 1:7 – “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

In 2002 on a bright spring Sunday I was completely overcome by the Holy Spirit. The Glory of God was all around me. It was visible, it was palpable, God was present with me… ME!! I was overwhelmed. The feeling was too much for me to handle. The simple explanation; it was like being tickled to hysteria. It felt wonderful but at the same time it was on the verge of being intolerable. My wife (then my Fiancee) was with me and confirms the Presence of the Holy Spirit.

After church she and I went to a fairly new Waffle House nearby. When we entered there were maybe 2 other customers and at the “smoking” end. We sat at the end closest to the office. The server was a 5’2″ black woman of around 50 years. She immediately moved to hover over our table as though she were a personal friend or had been invited to join us. She said, “I’m hanging out in this corner. There’s Power here!”

As she leaned in to place our drinks on the table she turned to me, nose-to-nose and said, “There is no need for you to be afraid.” In a prideful and egocentric response I immediately proclaimed that I am not afraid of anything. However, I was immediately convicted in my spirit because I most certainly was afraid; I was ever afraid of “powers and principalities in high places and of the rulers of darkness of this age and of spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

I meditate on this revelation often. Not on the fear but on God’s revelation. I believe He sent His Angel that day. His presence was so strong and so real… I am overwhelmed trying to find adequate words.
Power, love and a sound mind are Life. Fear, doubt, disbelief are death according to God.

Deuteronomy 30:19 – “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants”