The fear of failure can hold people captive so that they can’t move forward, they are overwhelmed with anxiety, and often spend their lives avoiding. Often, such fear so consumes a person that, as they realize they can’t live up to expectations, they refuse to move forward.

This fear can be the result of negative past experiences. Others are surrounded by an environment that is too critical or non-supportive, or the individual may walk with too high expectations that they can never live up to, while others walk in fear of simply failing.

In the Word, we see several examples of people held captive by this fear, including Moses, Gideon, King Saul, Peter, and Timothy. However, the Lord doesn’t want our lives held captive to this fear but to discover the liberty the Spirit brings.

“Peter, and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1: 1, 2

Peter reveals some powerful keys here that can help us break free. First, it all starts with the revelation of who He is to us. We need a bigger revelation of who He is and then who we are in Him. Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, and as the Messiah, He is the One sent as the Source of our salvation. In His Name we see the purpose of the Father, and in His Name we meet the One who is above all names, of those in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

Secondly, Peter declares that he has been sent by the Lord Jesus the Messiah as a special envoy with a clear purpose. Then he adds that we are elected or deliberately picked and chosen for the Father’s purpose for this time and place.

There is something powerful about realizing that He has deliberately called and chosen us for His purpose. He sees us as perfect for the task, and He knows us better than we know ourselves.

When God called Moses, what Moses failed to understand was that before he was born, God had called him, protected him, and prepared him for the purpose. He was God’s perfect man for the task, but Moses was terrified of failing. Moses could not see himself through the eyes of the Lord.

“Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

Exodus 3: 10

As believers, we tend to struggle with two key things. First, we believe that God will do it one day, but not today. It is easy to see that someday in the future God will do it, just not today. Secondly, we believe that God will use someone but not us. Now, maybe someday in the future, He will use us, just not us right now.

The Hebrew here implies “walk before Me, and I will send you…” How many of us have sung “If You can use anyone, you can use me…”? Moses knew that one day the Lord would deliver His people, and even though the time had come for that to happen, he thought it couldn’t be now, and it definitely was not him that God would use. So, how did Moses respond to this glorious honor from the Master?

“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Exodus 3: 11

“Who am I?” In other words, “I can’t do that!” We always have a “But” and our “Buts” can be the biggest problem in our lives. Moses’ response could be translated as “How can I walk before Pharaoh and bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Now, the Lord seeks to get Moses to understand that if he walked before Him, then he could walk before anyone.

“So He said, ‘I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you. And this shall be a sign  to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Exodus 3: 12

The Lord assures Moses that He will be with him. Later, Moses would learn the power of the Presence and explained that if the Presence didn’t go with them, he was not going. He understood that the Presence changed everything. The Lord is promising Moses that they will come right back to this very mountain, and when they do, Moses is to remember.

When we are sent by Him, then He backs us to ensure we are fully successful. The task the Lord calls us to is always beyond our ability and resources, but not His. Further, He is able to move on the hearts of people to give you favor.

“Then they will heed your voice…”

Exodus 3: 18a

The word for “heed” is “shama,” which means to hear. As Moses recognized the Lord’s voice as full and final authority, listening and obeying it, then the Lord would cause Moses’ voice to carry authority and be heard. But Moses has more excuses…

“Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant: but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Exodus 4: 10

 Moses doesn’t just say that he is slow of speech, but has to add that even though the Lord has said all these wonderful things, it hasn’t changed anything. Moses still felt the same as he did, so he assumed nothing had changed. Moses is explaining that he was not gifted in speaking, and he knows he is going to face the man who was perhaps the most powerful on earth at the time. Now remember, Moses knew Pharaoh, and he knew himself, and he recognized that he was no match for Pharaoh.

I understand what Moses was saying, as I have fought against dyslexia and a learning disability. I dreaded reading publicly as I can’t do phonics, and often I simply can’t pronounce a word. Add to that, I can mispronounce or say the word backwards, which can be very challenging when you are speaking. In the past, I would speak very fast in the hope people wouldn’t notice. In fact, I often memorized vast amounts of material so that instead of reading from the book, I was reading from memory. Somehow, it was easier to read from memory than just reading it live.

But the Lord already knew all this and was unmoved.

“So the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

Exodus 4: 11, 12

The Lord then reveals that He is the Creator and that He would be with Moses’ mouth. At that point, you think Moses would say, “problem solved.” But when you have a fear of failure, you keep pushing back with excuses.

“But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever You may send.”

Exodus 4: 13

How many things do we avoid out of fear of failure, and we are more fearful of failing than offending the Lord?

“So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak  well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.”

Exodus 4: 14

The Lord doesn’t change, and despite all of Moses’s excuses, the Lord was still sending him. The Lord points out that when Aaron sees Moses, he will be glad as a sign and proof that what the Lord said, He can and will do.

Now turn to Judges chapter 6 and the account of Gideon. The Lord calls Gideon to deliver His people, and like Moses, Gideon has excuses.

“Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. “Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

Judges 6: 14, 15

Again, the Lord declares He is the One sending, but like Moses, they are more moved by the flesh. We tend to expect that when the Lord calls or sends us, we will feel something and that we will instantly be changed. Now, the truth is, we are instantly changed in the spirit, but not in the flesh. Just because we don’t feel anything doesn’t mean that what Jesus said is not true.

Gideon sees himself as the least of the least. But the Lord once again explains that He will be with him.

Now turn to Second Timothy and look at the account of Timothy. Timothy was the pastor at Ephesus and had seen great success, but Nero burned down Rome and declared Paul the number one enemy of the empire. Timothy was now watching his leaders abandon him and his people leave.

“…when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power and of love and of a sound mind.”

2 Timothy 1: 5- 7

Paul seeks to exhort Timothy to break off the spirit of fear and to press forward. Later, in the letter Paul wrote:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching…”

2 Timothy 4: 1, 2

Now, how is Timothy to be ready and overcome this spirit of fear?

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3: 14- 17

We can either see ourselves through our own eyes or through the Word. Do we turn to the Word not just to learn doctrine and build a solid foundation in our lives, but also for reproof and correction?

Once again, it all goes back to the Word of the Lord being first and final authority in your life, and as such, we hear it and believe it. To hear the Word, we must not just focus on when it exhorts us and encourages us, but also allow it to correct and rebuke us.

“You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…You must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

2 Timothy 2: 1, 3, 4

When He calls us, He empowers and backs us with the authority, power, and resources to ensure complete success. We need to get our eyes on His grace and off of ourselves. We must not get our eyes on us and the affairs of this life. The Lord, when He called us, knew all of our flaws, weaknesses, and inabilities. But He is more than able to do all He said He would do. We need to get our eyes on Him and His resources and off of ourselves. We have been enlisted, so it is time to stop asking our flesh what it thinks and tell it just as the Lord does.

When we understand who He is, what He has done for us, who we are in Him, then we know that we are all He says we are, we have all He says we have, and we can do all He says we can do.