Fear - How To Overcome It?

Fear is a painful emotion or passion caused by an expectation of evil or suspicion of impending danger. Fear manifests itself in many ways. Some of the more serious ways include panic attacks, which are defined as “sudden, brief episodes of intense fear”, and phobias, which are defined as “persistent, irrational fears of an object or situation that presents no real threat”. Fear is the belief that someone or something poses a threat. It is the anticipation of danger, evil, or pain that may be real or imaginary. It can be crippling and/or controlling, and this is why fear is one of the tactics Satan uses to grab hold of us.

There are two kinds of fear

a) Fear that drives us away (demonic)

b) Fear that draws us nearby (Devine)

Fear that drives us away

This type of fear is initiated by demons. It drives us away from God. It drives us away from peace, joy and comfort. It brings chaos in one’s life. If a person doesn’t resist this, it can damage his life completely. Stress, anxiety, and worry are the number one reason for disease and doctor’s visits in the world today. It is a killer at every level, it shortens our life. A survey was taken to find out what emotion was the most prominent in people’s thinking and by far anxiety is number one. Worry, anxiety, and fear are the same thing emotionally. Worry-free living is part of what the Lord offered to those who put their trust in Him (Matthew 6:25-34). Our Lord has warned us against this fear in Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”.

Fear that draws us near

This is a type of fear ignited in by the Lord. A kind of fear that draws us near to God. We read in Luke 15:16-20; the lost son was drawn to his father’s house. He was afraid of his circumstances and the fear about his future brought him to his senses. When we were living in sin, the Lord had brought a kind of fear in our heart about the judgement of God on sinners, and the eternity future. It was the fear of God’s judgement on sinners initially brought us to the Lord. When Apostle Peter preached the first gospel message, people were pricked in their heart asked this question, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37-38). Matthew 3 talks about the powerful preaching of John the Baptist about repentance. The fear of God’s judgment had brought them to repentance, and they were baptised (Matthew 3:6-12).

THE THINGS WE FEAR IN LIFE

1) Fear of failure

First of all, there is fear of failure. Remember Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25? The Master gave three of his servants talents to put to work until he came back. But the third servant who received one talent went and buried it in the ground. And when the master returned and asked him why, he replied “I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground” (Matthew 25:24-25). He was uncertain about the love and kindness of his master. He didn’t trust in his love. Many a times, this happens in our life as we hesitate to take further steps due to the fear that we will turn out to be a failure. We must know that we have a father in heaven, and a Lord who loved us more than his own life, is on our side and every opportunity we have, is given by our God (Psalms 37:23-24). He wants us to progress in life, trusting in Him completely. Psalmist says, “when I am afraid, I will trust in the” (Psalms 56:3)

2) Fear of Loss

Secondly, there is fear of loss. We fear losing our jobs, we fear losing our loved ones, we fear losing our savings. We worry often, our present situation may change, and we lose something that we have now, or some calamity will strike us. We worry about our health, wealth, children, properties, etc. We need to believe the words of our Lord Jesus, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Our future is in the hands of our Lord. We can trust in His promises without a doubt!

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”.

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever”.

Malachi 3:6 ““For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed”.