How to overcome your fears
If you’re like most people, chances are you have battled one or many fears throughout your life. I once decided to enlist the help of my Facebook friends to see what their most common fears were. Here was their list in no particular order: Fear of Loss, Fear of Failure, Fear of Rejection, Fear of the Unknown (Future), and Fear of Death. That last one can of course hold us captive unless we know the liberating freedom that Christ brings (see Hebrews 2:14-15). I appreciated the honesty of my friends for admitting they battled one or more of these fears. I have too. Some people think of fear as the opposite of faith. I disagree. Fear is faith; it’s just faith in the wrong object. Fear is misplaced faith. So … what this means is this: What you fear reveals where you trust God the least. So,how do we conquer our fears and stop misplacing our faith? There are several Psalms written by David during fearful times in his life. From them, we gain the following key insights.
- Acknowledge Your Fear & Choose To Trust God
David said, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid.” (Psalm 56:3–4)? David admitted he was struggling with fear, and yet, as he did so, he also made a conscious deliberate choice to trust God. When he did, an interesting thing began to happen. His fears subsided.
- Worship God In The Midst Of Your Fears
That’s what David did. He said: “I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:1–3).David uses four different words for worship in these verses: extol, praise, glorify, and exalt. God wants us to praise him even in the midst of the most fearful situation. When we are filled with fear, that’s the proper time to worship. When we praise and worship God during our times of fear, what happens? Do our fears disappear? Perhaps not right away. But what does happen is that our perspective changes. Our fears are put into the perspective of a good, loving, and all-powerful God.
- Seek the Lord Until He Takes Away Your Fears
David reflected on his own fears and said: “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). John Wesley is known to have said, “I have never known more than 15 minutes of anxiety or fear. Whenever I feel fearful emotions overtaking me I just close my eyes and thank God that he is still on the throne reigning over everything and I take comfort in his control over all the affairs of my life.” Just like David and John Wesley, God wants to deliver you from your fears.
- Remember God’s Comforting Presence
One of the reasons why David was able to overcome his fears was because he remembered God’s comforting presence. David said in Psalm 46:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear.”(Psalm 46:1–2). In another low point of his life David said that it was God’s presence that enabled him to overcome his fears: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4).
We can say that too. Remember God’s comforting presence. He is much nearer than you think. He can help you conquer your fears.
