August 27: A Stubborn Coward

Jeremiah 38:4-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [talking] thus he weakens the hands of the soldiers who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of these people, but [to do them] harm.

5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hands; for the king is in no position to do anything against you.

6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon or cistern pit [in the charge] of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down [into the pit] with ropes. And in the dungeon or cistern pit there was no water, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

Zedekiah was a cowardly king. He obviously let the princes make all his decisions for him. "The king is in no position to do anything"? Ridiculous. He dissed the warnings of the Lord time and time again and singlehandedly brought his kingdom to ruins. He was a stubborn coward.

Jeremiah 38:14-27

Amplified Bible (AMP)

14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, I am going to ask you something; hide nothing from me.

15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.

16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, As the Lord lives, Who made our lives, I will not put you to death or give you into the hands of these men who seek your life.

17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you will live—you and your house.

18 But if you will not go forth and surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hands of the Chaldeans and they will burn it with fire; and you will not escape out of their hands.

19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the enemy deliver me into their [these former subjects’] hands and they mock me andabuse me.

20 But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you [to them]. Obey, I beg of you, the voice of the Lord, Who speaks to you through me. Then it will be well with you, and you will live.

21 But if you refuse to go forth and surrender to them, this is the word [the vision] that the Lord has shown me:

22 Behold, [in it] all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes and will say [to you, King Zedekiah], Your friends have prevailed against your better judgment and have deceived you. Now when your feet are sunk in the mire [of trouble], they have turned their backs.

23 All your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you [yourself] will not escape out of their hands, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city [Jerusalem] to be burned with fire.

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of this conversation and you will not die.

25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; hide it not from us and we will not put you to death,

26 Then you shall say to them, I was presenting to the king my humble plea that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.

27 Then came all the princes to Jeremiah and asked him [just what King Zedekiah had anticipated they would ask], and he told them all that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for what the conversation [with the king] had been was not discovered.

Zedekiah was a puppet ruled by his princes. He chose to take no action. He chose to ignore God's many warnings. He just sat and waited for disaster! God would have gladly delivered the people from the famine and also from the Babylonians!

I know people like King Zedekiah. Who do not hearken to God's voice. Even though He gives them multiple opportunities to take action. They choose to do nothing. 

Doing nothing is a cowardly decision. And it affects entire familes.

And when a decision was made, it was made by those under the king. I know people like this as well. I guess their reasoning is this: if it fails, they can blame others. Wow. 

I googled coward scriptures and found this amazing stuff from demonbusters.com. I don't endorse this site because I haven't researched it, but this is eye opening stuff directly from God's word!!!

"II Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." We do not want to be driven by this fawning, craven, cringing fear. We want to have these demons driven out of us in Jesus' Name.

Exodus 15:11 talks about the right kind of fear that we should have. It is a reverent fear of our Lord. "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?"

Demons can transfer to us from other people. Therefore, we must be careful who we stand around and what we listen to. Deuteronomy 20:8 talks about this, "And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, What man is fearful and fainthearted? Let him return to his house, lest [because of him] his brethren's [minds and] hearts faint as does his own."

Again in Deuteronomy 28:58 we see the reverent fear we should have of our Lord. "If you will not be watchful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may [reverently] fear this glorious and fearful name [and presence] - THE LORD YOUR GOD -" Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy gives us the curses and blessings of God. In this verse the Lord says that we must obey the commandments. If we do not, the curses come upon us and opens the door for the demons to enter us. Disobedience to God's Word allows the Coward demons to enter us.

To be able to do the work of the Lord we must drive out the demons of the Coward. In Judges 7:3 we see the Lord telling the fearful and cowards to turn back. "So now proclaim in the ears of the men, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him turn back and depart from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the men returned, but 10,000 remained."

In the Strong's Concordance the meanings of the words fearful and cowardice mean: frighten, made fearful, dread, faint hearted and trembling. These are the demons that are in the family of the Coward that drive us to be so afraid.

The Lord wants us to have a strong heart and not be afraid. He told us this in Isaiah 35:4 "Say to those who are of a fearful and hasty heart, Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance; with the recompense of God He will come and save you. Need we say more. The Lord is on our side and will avenge us. Praise the Lord! The Strong's Concordance for fearful in this verse is cause to make fearful.

Now let's see what Jesus said in the New Testament about fear and cowardice.

Matthew 8:26 "And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness)."

Mark 4:40 "He said to them, Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith (no firmly relying trust)?

Ouch, that hurts. We have no faith? That's what Jesus said. To have faith we must drive the demons of timidity and fear and cowardice out of us.

We are now in the end-times. Like it or not, we see destruction, plagues, pestilence everywhere. My friend, if it is not close to the time for Jesus to return seeing all the destruction around us then we are in for a very frightful experience. Aids, floods, cancer, murder, abortion, earthquakes, etc. If this isn't the end-time, what great destructions will we see?

In Luke 21:11 Jesus tells of the end-times. "There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven."

In Hebrews, the writer tells us that if we keep on sinning we have a fearful end. Verse 27: "[There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]." We must drive the demons out that cause us to sin. The fear that comes with this scripture is terror, exceedingly fear. Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful (formidable and terrible) thing to incur the divine penalties and be cast into the hands of the living God! We, as a people and nation, must repent for the sins we have committed and allowed. Leviticus says that we must confess our sins and iniquities and the sins and iniquities of our fathers. If not, this gives the demons legal ground to stay in us.

Last but not least, Revelation 21:8 says, "But as for the cowards (fearful) and ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed) - [all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death."

Well, that says it all. I don't want any demon in me that will cause me to take part in the second death. I want to be free of the demon of the Coward. If that is your prayer also then below is a prayer and a list of demons to be driven out.

According to Leviticus 26:40 I confess and repent on my behalf and on behalf of my ancestors for ten generations for the sins and iniquities of being a coward and not trusting in and obeying the commandments of the Lord. In Jesus' Name, I break the curse of fear and the curse of the Coward. I break the bondage of the spirit of slavery to fear and replace it with the spirit of adoption according to Romans 8:15 and 16. In Jesus' Name I root out all doorkeepers of fear.

Based on the Scriptures above, fear is a sin since it keeps you from going to Heaven. If you haven't yet cast out the spirit of fear, then you need to ask the Lord to forgive you of being fearful every time you get afraid."

I understand now. The stubborn coward is paralized by the spirit of fear. If you or someone you know refuses to take action of any kind, BOOM!, now you know why! The evil spirit of fear is in control here. Just fast and pray in Jesus name and God's word promises deliverence. It's that simple! 

"Dear Jesus, by the authority of the Holy Ghost in me, I curse the evil spirit of fear from off the person reading this right now. Devil, you are a cowardly liar and you will no longer control the thoughts of this child of God. Release this dear child, in the name of Jesus, and don't ever come back! Dear Jesus please cover this one in Your protecting blood. I ask that You place angels around Your child as a protecting shield from the enemy of her soul. Thank You Jesus for willingly taking the stripes for our healing and deliverance. We are free in Your precious name and by Your blood. I worship You for You are worthy! I feel the power of Your Holy Spirit as I type! Praise God for deliverence! AMEN!!!"