There I was, twenty-two years old, freshly graduated from college, and very far away from home, family, and friends. In the car with me were four young men, all talking at once in a language, which, of course, I neither spoke nor understood. Thoughts ran through my mind at breakneck speed: “What should I do?” “What were they going to do?” “How in the world did I get in this situation anyway?” “Where was the other believer I had come there with?”
Just a few months before this, I had taken a class on the Bible offered by The Way Ministry. In the very first session, the teacher grabbed my attention with “FEAR…is SAND…in the MACHINERY of LIFE!” In spite of being fatigued, I had sat up straight and listened attentively as I was taught how to deal with and eliminate fear. It seemed to me that fear had followed me all my life, and I knew I needed deliverance. Once I learned that there were specific promises in God’s Word that could help me get rid of fear, I began to claim the freedom that God makes available to those who believe.
So, there I was, in a car with a bunch of total strangers in a packed parking lot, and I was definitely tempted to be afraid! BUT instead of cowering in fear, I began to speak in tongues silently to my God, and then I remembered a verse from the Bible: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). Over and over I repeated that verse to myself. After a few minutes, I turned around to the men in the car with me. “Do you believe in God?” I had to practically shout over the noise of their talking! “I’m here to teach people about God.” Suddenly, all of the men stopped talking. Again I asked, “Do you believe in God?” Total silence. Then, as if in a rehearsed scenario, they opened the car doors, jumped out, and walked quickly away, disappearing into the crowd of cars and people, leaving me sitting there alone.
Well, I knew that God had intervened for me in a big way that evening. What I learned in the Foundational Class offered by The Way Ministry helped me overcome the fear of what any man could do to harm me. God’s Word applied brings victory always!