In L. Frank Baum’s classic story, The Wizard of Oz, we discover that the Great and Powerful Oz is merely an old, wrinkled man behind a curtain. All of the smoke and mirrors and booming voice are only a show. Once the curtain has been pulled back, Dorothy and her companions discover the Wizard isn’t so great and powerful after all.

Fear works in much the same way. It blusters and blows and puts on a big show, but in reality has no power at all other than what we give it. As Zach Williams writes in his song—“Fear, he is a liar”.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” Through the Holy Spirit we have a spirit of power and not fear; a spirit of love and not timidity; we have a spirit of self-discipline so that we need not be controlled by fear.