When Fear Grips My Heart…

I just cannot win. Every day I wrestle with panic and numerous fears. Recently, I decided to make a list of all those fears…hundreds. So, what do you do when you are drowning in fear after fear? You struggle to find the ability to believe that you can overcome.

First, I recall that fear is not of God.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

If the evil one creates those fears in our minds, then they can be resisted with truth, hope, and faith. The spirit of fear has an agenda: to paralyze us and keep us from trusting God.  How does he do this? Through lies, and threats. He makes us feel insecure and afraid of what could happen.

Identify the Threat to Truth, Hope, and Faith

So, it’s up to us to identify what disturbing thought he has whispered into our consciousness, then work to overturn our belief in that lie or threat with truth, hope, and faith. One recent lie he told me was, “You are helpless against me and my powers, and God can’t help you”.  When I told my Christian support group this fearfulness I was being controlled by, they began to help me fight by speaking the truth boldly, which disarmed the lying threat. The support of other strong believers is priceless. They can help us climb out of the pits that Satan throws us into.

Sometimes fearful thinking builds up intense tension and seems to torment me. It’s those times when I just cry out to God from the recesses of my being and let out all the terror, all the panic, all the worry; I don’t hold back. I have a favorite nature preserve I go to to pour out my soul to the Most High.

God Always Comes Through

Sometimes God may send me a faith-building sermon that heals my lack of trust in God. Other times He works out the thing I was afraid of, and circumstances turn positive. Or else, He may even make me face the thing I was afraid of just to see that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I admit my fears to a therapist, and she helps me see past them to overcome them by ministering to the root of the fear. The Spirit of God even wrestles me and corrects my fearful state of mind on occasion.

Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.