Senior Pastor of Free Chapel Church with 10,000+ members
Weekly program Kingdom Connection broadcasts worldwide on networks like TBN,
Daystar, and local broadcast stations in the United States
Founder of Kingdom Connection Media Ministry, includes international television and publishing ministries
Attended Barton College, NC,
majored in music
Married, 5 children
guest bio
Jentezen Franklin: Fear Fighters
CBN.com
– FIGHT FEAR WITH FAITH
Jentezen Franklin says whenever fear comes our way – and it will come – we have a choice to focus on faith or fear. Faith can fight fear. We don’t have to panic and get ourselves worked up in frightening situations. If we stay focused on God’s promises and allow faith to fight fear, God will keep us in perfect peace.
God promises a life without fear in His Word: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
Fear is not something that is rational and it is not based on fact. Researchers have found that 40 percent of what we worry about never happens; 30 percent are in the past and can’t be helped; 12 percent involve the affairs of others and are none of our business; 10 percent relates to sickness, real or imagined; and eight percent of what we worry about are likely to happen. If one worries, it is interest paid on trouble before it is due.
Sometimes God takes you through the fiery furnace experience instead of delivering you from the fiery furnace. In scary conditions, we can calm our fears and fill our hearts with courage to face life’s challenges by focusing on God’s Word.
We all have to make decisions to take the Word of God and His promises, believing His great love for you, and go to war with those fear fighters. God will give you the courage if you choose to overcome your fear and fight for your victory, for your family’s victory and for whatever “unequal” fight the enemy has designed against you. Don’t give in to "much ado about nothing". Declare that you are a warrior, and say in the face of the lion, “It is written… (apply God’s Word to your situation)."
3 DAYS FROM NO WHERE
Pastor Jentezen would like to share a word of hope for these uncertain times. In times like these, God has made us a promise. We must fight the fears of giving up and not focus on the present situations. We need to know that the places God has been showing us are sure. Just like when God called Abraham out of his homeland to bring him to the new place God promised him in the book of Genesis. Abraham did not know where he was going but he believed in God and His promises.
The five senses can be good “evangelists of unbelief.” We must use the sixth sense of faith. It is important to feed our mind on the promises and the Word of God. Fighting fear is a mind battle. Every time Pastor Jentezen faces a new challenge or place God brings him, he has to fight fear. Through this he had to learn to stand in the courage of the Lord and on His promises. Pastor Jentezen knows everything is going to be all right.
FIGHT FEAR WITH COURAGE
After Moses’ death, Joshua had an encounter with God. In Joshua 1, God told Joshua four times to be strong and of a good courage. In chapter 1 of Joshua, God tells Joshua to have courage for four reasons:
- Courage for the people’s sake – You are not just fighting fear because of what you get out of it. God has attached others to your dream and destiny. Don’t underestimate the power your life will have on future generations
- Courage for your own sake – The success or failure of an entire nation rested on Joshua’s shoulders. God has invested a lot in you too. It is God’s desire to prosper you in all you do.
- Courage for the Lord’s sake – God’s reputation is on the line when He makes you a promise. If you fail to inherit His promises through fear, your failure ultimately affects God’s heart.
- Courage for the enemies’ sake – For your enemies’ sake, God wants to prove His victory in your life. As King David wrote in Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” God vindicates His servants when they refuse to fear their enemies.
JENTEZEN’S JOURNEY
Jentezen was born and raised in North Carolina. He grew up with two brothers and two sisters in a Christian home; his father was a pastor that traveled throughout North Carolina. For the most part Jentezen lived for God, but he did have a rebellious season. With peer pressure and the pressure from being a preacher’s son, he did try drugs. While his friends saw interesting things when they did drugs, he would see Moses and Elijah.
Jentezen says his parents prayed for him so much that he couldn’t get away with anything. If he ever did something bad, his deeds would be exposed, he would get caught – God wouldn’t let him stray. When Jentezen was 16, he fully committed his life to Jesus and yearned to do something great for God.
Jentezen majored in music in college with a full scholarship to Barton. He played the saxophone. During his second year of college his older brother Ritchie, who was a preacher, called Jentezen to play saxophone on the road with him. He spent three weeks on the road with him, and Jentezen has been in ministry ever since. He has been preaching for over 25 years, 17 of them at Free Chapel. After he got married to his wife Cherise, they moved to Atlanta, GA. They started Free Chapel in Gainesville, GA, and a year ago, they started a Free Chapel in Orange County, CA.
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