Let Him be your fear and your dread

The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear, 

And let Him be your dread.
He will be as a sanctuary...

Isaiah 8:13-14a, NKJV

The verse above follows a command to the people of God not to be afraid of the things that others fear and not to be troubled by the threats of others. Instead, we are to have our eyes fixed on God. If we would make Him the only One we honor as holy, fully recognizing and respecting the authority and power that He wields, we will have no reason to fear our enemies. He will Himself be a sanctuary for us.

Of course, taking our eyes off an enemy, or a very difficult situation, does not come naturally to us. It takes an act of our will and requires continual effort to keep tight reins on our thoughts. God gives the grace that we need. But it means we will need to spend extra time reading, believing, and reciting in faith the promises of God to deliver those who wait for Him. The fruit of this, however, is an active peace that no one will be able to make sense of. This confident expectation in God's promise to 'show up' terrifies the enemy because he knows - from thousands of years' experience - that yes, for those who fully trust and wait on Him, God will indeed be faithful to deliver.

... Standing firm in one spirit...and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

Philippians 1:27b-28, ESV