Intimidation

Despair and anger both arise out of a sense of powerlessness; a sense of having very little in terms of positive choices and a sense of having little or no control over your life. Despair and anger are often accompanied with a sense of feeling threatened.

Intimidation is akin to despair and anger. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the word intimidate means: frighten or overawe (someone), especially in order to make them do what one wants. The word intimidate comes from the latin word intimidare 'make timid' (based on timidus 'timid').

According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the word timid means: lacking in courage or confidence. The word timid is derived from the latin word timidus, from timere ‘to fear’.

From this we can sum-up by saying that intimidation is: to provoke a person into a state of fear. And as the dictionary states, intimidation is often employed with the motive of trying to control a person in order to make them do what you want.

To be timid is to lack confidence. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the word confidence means:

The belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something.
A positive feeling arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities; self-assurance.
The word confident is described as follows:
Feeling confidence in oneself.
Feeling certainty about something.

As Christians, our confidence, what we rely upon, is what the Word says regarding who we are in Christ, what He has already done for us and our trust in God as a loving Father. So for a Christian to be made timid, to be provoked into a state of fear, to lack confidence and certainty about something - it has a lot to do with believing circumstances more than God - to doubt His Word and to distrust God.

This unbelief is provoked by despair or fear and maintained through wrong beliefs. These wrong beliefs are maintained by verbally assenting to our own weakness and inability to access God’s grace in order to endure in the situation and to gain the victory. These excuses become strongholds in the mind.

Sometimes we believe that God’s Word is true but that, for some reason, it will not work for us. This is why a strong foundation of faith in righteousness is vital in order to believe God for anything.

Otherwise, the devil will be able to sow seeds of thought in a believer’s mind in order to bring about a sense of guilt, and thereby, rob him of his faith. Righteousness is all about accepting yourself, even loving yourself, in the firm assurance that God accepts you just as you are and that He does not condemn you, even when you do something wrong.

Without that assurance, you will never feel as if you are good enough for God and that He’s always mad at you for something you did or did not do. Without righteousness, you will never feel as if you deserve the blessings that God has for you. Faith in righteousness sets you free from the thought that there is something that you can, and must, do for God.