Spirit of Fear

An On-Us Episode You Didn’t Know You Needed

I didn’t plan to record this episode.

I was in the middle of recording something else entirely when this topic surfaced—uninvited, unedited, and unmistakably urgent. I followed it. I hit record. And what came out was a conversation about the spirit of fear that I’ve been wanting to have for a long time.

This episode felt on us—not polished, not rehearsed, but necessary.

In it, I share a very personal moment: the second time I recognized the spirit of fear attempting to enter my life. The difference this time was awareness. I saw it quickly, named it, and refused to let it stay. That alone is worth talking about, because fear rarely announces itself loudly. It comes quietly. Cowardly. Subtle enough that we often mistake it for wisdom, caution, or “just being realistic.”

Fear Rarely Arrives as Panic

One of the most important things I talk about in this episode is how fear actually presents itself.

Fear is not always dramatic. It doesn’t always look like anxiety attacks or racing thoughts. Often, it shows up as hesitation. Withdrawal. Silence. Avoidance. A shrinking back.

Scripture names this clearly:

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

Fear is not from God, and it does not produce clarity or sound judgment. It produces retreat. It convinces us to lower our voice, delay obedience, and stay small.

Spirits of fear want us to cower—not because they are strong, but because they are not.

Fear Wants Permission

Fear does not force its way in. It waits for a door.

And often, we open it ourselves.

We open it through what we repeatedly allow into our lives—what we watch, what we listen to, what we speak, and what we rehearse internally. Our mouths, eyes, and ears are not neutral. They are gates.

Jesus speaks to this principle in a way that is intentionally serious:

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.”
—Matthew 5:30

This is not about literal self-harm. It is about radical discernment. About understanding that what we allow access to our lives has real consequences. If something repeatedly pulls us toward darkness, confusion, fear, or compromise, we are instructed to remove it—not manage it, not excuse it, not spiritualize it.

The Delusion Fear Creates

One of the more deceptive things the spirit of fear does is create a false sense of control.

It convinces us that we can “overcome” fear by engaging with it on our own terms.

For example, watching scary movies. Seeking out fear-inducing entertainment. Telling ourselves that because we enjoy it, or aren’t visibly shaken by it, we must be immune to fear.

But exposure is not mastery.

Entertaining fear does not make us stronger—it makes us familiar with it. And familiarity lowers discernment.

When fear becomes a regular guest in our lives, something dangerous happens: when real trauma hits, we are unprepared. Not because we are weak, but because we have trained ourselves to normalize fear instead of confront it.

We don’t always know what to do when life genuinely shakes us, because we’ve spent years allowing fear to linger casually at the edges of our lives.

Fear Grows Where It Is Not Confronted

This is where responsibility comes in—not shame, but honesty.

We do not become overwhelmed overnight. We do not suddenly “lose our footing” spiritually without warning. Most of the time, fear has been slowly cultivated. Entertained. Given airtime. Allowed language.

Scripture is clear about the power of our words:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
—Proverbs 18:21

Fear feeds on agreement. When we speak it, rehearse it, or repeatedly imagine worst-case scenarios, we are not being cautious—we are giving fear authority it does not deserve.

Speaking To Fear

One of the most important shifts I share in this episode is this: we are not meant to internalize fear—we are meant to speak to it.

Jesus modeled this repeatedly. He confronted spiritual opposition directly. He did not negotiate with it. He did not analyze it. He commanded it.

When fear attempted to re-enter my life the second time, I did not sit with it. I did not explore it. I named it, rejected it, and closed the door.

James writes plainly:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
—James 4:7

Resistance is not passive. It is active. It requires awareness and response.

Why This Episode Matters

This episode was fun to record—not because fear is light, but because freedom is. There is something deeply grounding about recognizing fear for what it is and refusing to live under it.

If you’ve felt quieter than you used to be.
If you’ve delayed things you once felt called to do.
If you’ve mistaken avoidance for peace.

This conversation is for you.

Fear does not get the final word. And it does not belong in places God has already claimed.

Sometimes the episodes we didn’t plan are the ones we needed to release the most