When I was a kid, there were a couple of years I was bullied. Older and bigger, he beat me often enough to make me dread the walk home from the bus stop. To my relief, he transferred to a different school, and I didn’t see him again until high school.
When I did run into him again, we both could see I was now bigger and taller than he. As I looked down into his eyes, all he could say was, “Wow. You grew up.”
That’s what the enemy of your soul fears most: that in spite of all his attacks, you’ll look him in the face with the certainty of who you are in Christ. His nightmare is that you’ll keep growing in your relationship with God, someone who’s learned to strengthen yourself in him, and is becoming more confident, peaceful, joyful, and powerful every day. He’s terrified you’ll stop running from fear, and realize you already have authority over every fear Jesus has overcome. And that’s all of them.
“God wants us to grow and mature by knowing the truth and speaking it in love, just like Christ, who is the source of all we are” (Eph. 4:15).
Equip Your Spirit 