How to Overcome Fear With Faith
Not long ago, our family faced a battle with fear that surpassed any fear we’d ever known. As we wrestled with fear regarding the life of our child, I wrestled with God as I asked him to help me overcome fear with faith.
On a cognitive level, I knew the answer: Faith pushes out fear and reminds us of where we find our hope.
On a heart level, I had much to learn about walking by faith.
How to Overcome Fear With Faith
In the months following our child’s frightening medical diagnosis, I turned to God in desperation.
I asked him to show me what it looked like to rise above fear and walk by faith.
During that time, God led to a familiar part of my Bible: the story of David.
Most likely, you know David’s story. David trusts in the Lord, and although he is a young shepherd boy, he slays the formidable giant, Goliath, with the giant’s own sword.
As I studied this story, I sensed God reminding me of several lessons:
There is a very real enemy prowling around this world like a roaring lion, and he’s out to attack us on every front. If this enemy can paralyze God’s people with fear, he wins a battle. If he can stir up panic, he has our attention, and he might just succeed in distracting us from bringing God’s kingdom to earth.
But what if we learned to take the enemy’s weapon of the panic and turn it against him? I imagine we might just look a bit like David, who destroyed the enemy with the sword that was meant to destroy him.
3 Ways to Overcome Fear With Faith
Let’s look at three practical ways to overcome fear with faith:
1. Overcome fear with faith by seeing fear as a prompt that sends us into Jesus’ arms.
We have a choice in fearful moments: We can choose to conjure up dozens of worst-case scenarios in our minds, or we can choose to let fear be the catalyst that sends us running to the arms of Jesus.
Our heavenly Father loves us with the love of a tender Father. He has not called us to overcome fear and walk by faith all on our own. He longs for us to acknowledge our weakness and run into his arms.
When was the last time you ran to Jesus’ arms in a fearful moment?
This winter, a friend reminded me that even demons believe Jesus is real. Even the demons believe that he died on the cross for our sins and that he reigns in heaven with the Father. She reminded me that change happens when we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we need Jesus!
We win the battle when we let fear lead us straight to the arms of Jesus.
Running to Jesus’ arms might look like going to a quiet place and imagining Jesus’ arms around you, holding you in love and comfort. It might also look like the following two ways to overcome fear with faith:
2. Find a fear-fighting Bible verse to speak when you feel afraid.
Every time you feel afraid, turn to God’s Word. Find a fear-fighting Bible verse and speak it out loud. You will push back against the fear with the weapon of faith.
Let’s look at some Biblical truths that are stronger than our fears:
Psalm 139:16 reminds us that all of our days are ordained by God before one of them comes to be. God holds the entirety of your life in his hands. You can trust God with all the days of your life, from beginning to end.
Psalm 91:1 reminds us that those who dwell in the shelter of the Almighty find rest in his shadow. God is with you. Nothing slips through the shelter of his wings without his seeing eye upon it. Rest in this.
Isaiah 59:1 reminds us that God’s arm is not too short to save us from any calamity. Rest and trust that even if you should face a crisis of any sort, God’s arm is not too short to deliver you immediately.
As you stand on God’s Word and use fear as a prompt that reminds you to speak God’s Word, you will find victory in the battle against fear.
3. Worship God instead of worshiping your fear.
Worship is more than singing a song. Worshipping is the act of giving admiration to the one we worship, fixing our eyes wholly on the one we worship with a spirit of awe and wonder. We can fix our eyes on God in a spirit of awe and wonder in the midst of whatever we happen to be doing at any given moment.
Have you noticed how impossible it is to worship God and bow to fear at the same time?
When we succumb to panic, we give fear our attention. Fear is not from God.
I often remind myself that I don’t need to fear anything that can kill my body. My home is in heaven, and because I have this security, I can stand in front of enormous obstacles without fear.
I don’t need to fear suffering, death, or even what would happen to my children if God called me home to heaven. I stand on the promise of eternal joy in heaven, and I stand on God’s promise to care for my loved ones in my absence. He is big enough. And he is unfathomably bigger than any virus, even this one.
As for our fears regarding our child, we won the battle. God healed our child. However, the moment when the doctor reported his healing was not the primary moment of victory. The victory was won months earlier, when fear lost its grip on us!
This is how faith overcomes fear!
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Calling all moms and daughters!
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