Fear and anxiety comes from the soulish part of man. This is the part that consists of the mind, will and emotions. When we see or hear bad news, our natural tendency is to feel sad, anger, fear, anxiety or a mixture of them. Our minds will process the information and come to a logical conclusion which will inevitably affect our emotions. The spirit part of man consists of our ability to commune with God, hear what He has to say and quicken our conscience to obey Him. If we fail to 'feed' our spirit man through regular reading/hearing of God's Word and prayer-cum-worship, we would operate more on the soulish level using our minds to reason and rationalise things, and finally act on what we have carefully thought through. However, what we see or hear may not be the actual reality because there's a spiritual dimension beyond the physical.
The story of the prophet Elisha illustrates what I am trying to say very well. Reading 2 Kings 6:1-23, we are first introduced to a missing axe head that fell into a river. The cry of one of the prophets, "Alas, my master! For it was borrowed." revealed fear and anxiety because it was borrowed. Many prophets in those days were poor and had to rely on the generosity of others. Elisha's response was to enquire where it fell for he knew what to do recover it. He was in communion with God and displayed no anxiety at all. What he did was even more amazing (as it has no logical explanation), he threw a stick and made the axe head float. This is equivalent to the miracle of Jesus walking on water, defying the law of gravity.
The other incident which followed concerns the attendant of Elisha, which was probably Gehazi. The king of Aram had sent his soldiers to capture Elisha in Dothan. They surrounded the city with horses and chariots. Elisha's servant cried out in fear, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" Again, Elisha's response was one of calm, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." This reminds us that the Holy Spirit in us is greater than he (the devil) that is in the world (1 Jn 4:4). Elisha was able to see beyond the natural to the immense spiritual army of God surrounding them. He prayed for Gehazi's eyes to be opened to see this vast army protecting them.
When we are in close communion with God, our prayers become effective and powerful. Look at what Elisha prayed and how the Lord acted on his requests. Firstly, the eyes of his servant was opened and secondly, the eyes of his enemies were closed (blinded). And later on he prayed for their eyes to be opened when they were in Samaria. God humbled the Syrian army through Elisha without any of them being killed.
We live in a world where we have to contend between the spirit and the flesh (Rom 7:14-25). Praise God He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ by empowering us with His Spirit to overcome the deeds of the flesh in this world. The more we feed the flesh, the more we would rely on the carnal part of us but the more we feed on the spirit, the more we would rely on God's Spirit to lead and direct our lives. Let us follow the example of Elisha by learning to commune with God and listening to His voice. When we learn to subject our soulish man to the spirit man, then and then only can all fears and anxiety be banished.
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