“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)
Fear would stop us from doing the will of God. It would keep us from moving forward in obedience to Him. Fear is a hard taskmaster. It pretends to be a friend who wants to protect us from the pain we will inevitably experience if we do what God calls us to do.
When Jesus told His disciples He was going to Jerusalem to suffer and die, Peter rebuked Him. Jesus then turned around and rebuked Satan who was speaking through Peter’s lips. Truly, the devil operates through a spirit of fear. He hates the idea that any person would obey God. He loves for us to save our lives in this world rather than lose them for the sake of our Lord.
The beautiful thing about obedience is what you discover on the other side: the devil is a liar. So often, what he predicted doesn’t even happen. And if we indeed meet up with suffering or death, it is better to die a brave man, than to live as a coward. There is great joy in having done the will of God, no matter the cost.