Everybody deals with fear. Maybe you are waiting on a test result. Maybe you are afraid of losing your job, or of being rejected if people really knew you. Or maybe you wonder if God is angry with you.
Fear is a feeling you experience when you foresee a bad future. And those feelings can be fickle. One moment you feel bold. The next, you are shaking in your boots.
The good news is that God does not want you to be overcome by your fears. He wants you to overcome them. I preached a message on how to do that from a letter the apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy.
Being afraid does not mean your faith is fake.
Paul wrote to Timothy from prison, near the end of his life. He reminded Timothy of his "sincere faith" (2 Timothy 1:5, NIV). Then, two verses later, he wrote this:
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)
Timothy's faith was real, and he still had fears to face. So if you follow Jesus and still feel afraid, you are not a fake. You are human.
Notice what a spirit of fear steals. It steals your power. Fear can freeze you, like a door frozen shut on a cold morning. It steals your love, because fear makes you focus on yourself instead of others.
It also steals your self-discipline, which some Bibles call a sound mind. There is often a little truth in what you fear and a whole lot of what-ifs. Before long, you are thinking in worst-case scenarios, the exact opposite of faith.
Your fear will not make Jesus leave the boat.
One evening, Jesus and His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee when a furious storm hit, and the boat started filling with water. Jesus was asleep on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38, NIV).
Doubt during a storm is normal. When life falls apart, most of us don't start with, "God, I trust You." We start by asking where He is.
But notice what happened next. Jesus got up and calmed the wind and the waves (Mark 4:39). Their doubting did not keep Him from calming the storm, and it did not make Him leave them. If you wonder why God allows storms at all, read why God allows suffering if He is good and loving.
Then Jesus asked, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40, NIV). Fear and faith are connected. Feeling afraid is human, but you cannot live in faith and live in fear at the same time. Now, when you are filled with fear, your first step is not to be hard on yourself. Your first step is to refocus your faith on the love of God.
I am convinced that the most common source of fear is not a lack of faith, but misplaced faith. We put our faith in our health, the economy, or other people. Instead, put your faith in the One who is above you, not in what is around you. There is only One who never fails. It is not me, and it is not you. It is Jesus.
You were never meant to carry your fear by yourself.
Paul also told Timothy, "night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers" (2 Timothy 1:3, NIV). Do you have people like that? The Bible says, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2, NIV).
Think about it like this. Try moving a big couch by yourself, and you won't get far. Add one friend, and the weight is cut in half. Put a person on every corner, and it almost feels easy. The weight didn't change, but the support changed.
But nobody can pray for you if they don't know what you are afraid of. So don't show people the ideal you. Show them the real you. At Arroyo, we want to be that kind of spiritual family.
Fear also keeps you on the sidelines. Paul told Timothy to "fan into flame the gift of God" (2 Timothy 1:6, NIV). Fear is like a fire extinguisher on that gift. But when you use your God-given gifts to serve others, your eyes move off your fears and onto God and others.
God's Spirit reminds you that you are His child.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus, God is not just around you. He is within you through His Holy Spirit. And He does not want you living in fear about where you stand with Him.
The Spirit you received "does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again" (Romans 8:15, NIV). Instead, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:16, NIV). To testify is to speak up for what is true. On the days you wonder if God still loves you after you mess up, His Spirit reminds you that you are His son or His daughter.
Fear causes you to flee. So how do you begin to flee from fear rather than letting fear cause you to flee? Love.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18, NIV)
If you have placed your faith in Christ, His love has covered all your sins, past, present, and future, so you have no reason to fear His punishment. His love was never based on your behavior, but on His character, because "God is love" (1 John 4:16, NIV). God is not a Father who desires His children to live in fear!
If you have never trusted Jesus, you can trust Him today. God saves us "not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace" (2 Timothy 1:9, NIV). And through Jesus, even death has been destroyed (2 Timothy 1:10).
You might ask, "But doesn't the Bible tell us to fear God?" Yes, but that means seeing Him as great as He really is and giving Him respect and reverence, not being scared of Him.
Run to God and turn your fears into prayers.
Where do you run when you are afraid? We all have a refuge. It just isn't always God. Sometimes it is alcohol or social media. But God offers Himself as your refuge:
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea" (Psalm 46:1-2, NIV).
A refuge is a safe place you run to in times of trouble. That doesn't mean life will always be easy. It means you always have Someone safe to run to, even when you don't feel Him near.
David wrote Psalm 34 about a time when he was running for his life. He was so afraid that he pretended to be insane to escape (1 Samuel 21:10-15). Yet he could say, "I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4, NIV).
David didn't just talk to himself about his fears. He talked to God about them. Most of us do the opposite. We get bad news, and the conversation in our heads takes off: It's never going to get better. So turn your fears into prayers.
And start with praise, like David did (Psalm 34:1). Praise actually pushes fear away, because it shifts your focus to a God who is good, even when life isn't. If you wonder whether God really listens, read does prayer really work when God doesn't seem to answer.
Today, you can begin to see your fears flee rather than fleeing because of your fears. Ask God to increase your faith in His love for you. Your faith in His love might fail, but His love for you will never fail.
Daily Practice: Sit down and close your eyes. Think of whatever you are most afraid of, and clench both hands into fists. Then open your palms toward heaven as a way of telling God you are letting go of that fear and opening up to His love. Take a few moments to receive and rest in His perfect love.
Remember, the weight doesn't have to change for the support to change. Send us a prayer request, tell us what you are afraid of, and we will pray for you.