Jesus tells us not to fear over 300 times in the Bible. When something is repeated that often, we need to listen. God does not want us to be fearful. Instead, he wants us to give our lives over to Him, trusting in His presence and His power. You must trust that God is doing what he is doing in our best interests. However, that is easier said than done. We battle our own will and our own selfishness. We want to take control and make sure we receive our desired outcomes. When we do so, we leave God out of the picture. This paves the way for anxiety and fear to grip us. Although some of our fear comes from our environments, and actual chemical imbalances exist that cause anxiety within our body, some of our fears are our own choosing. Here are five strategies to overcome fear with faith:
1. Leave it at the Cross
1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you." God wants us to cast our cares on Him and leave it at the cross. As I look back on my life and the issues in my life I wanted to control, I realize I couldn't control them no matter how hard I tried. However, when I left them with Jesus, situations worked out according to God's will. Although they were not always the way I would choose them, I must believe that God is doing what's in my best interest. The power of the cross is that not only Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice so we could have intimacy with God, but it is also where we can leave every issue we have in our lives. Every sin, every mistake, every situation we can leave with the cross, knowing that God is in control of everything. When we live in that belief, we can live our lives with less fear and more faith.
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2. Practice Surrender
Surrender is perhaps one of the hardest lessons I've ever had to learn. Surrender used to mean that I threw my hands up to the sky, gave it over to God, and did absolutely nothing. However, I have learned that surrender is more than that. Sometimes, the most proactive thing I can do is pray. Surrender means I give up control. Surrender means I admit I am not God and that God will take care of the situation.
Exodus 14:14 is a great example of surrender. When the Israelites saw the army surrounding them, they feared for their lives. They complained to Moses, wondering why he brought them there just to die. Yet, Moses reminds them of God's sovereignty: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." When we surrender, we allow God to work on our behalf in miraculous ways.
3. Take it One Step at a Time
As Christians, when we deal with difficult subjects, we don't always handle them with the tact and compassion people would like. When people are going through a difficult time and dealing with fear, it is easy for Christian brothers and sisters to simply say, "Just have more faith," or "Read your Bible more." Yet, that is not helpful to the person who's truly struggling. Overcoming fear with faith takes one step at a time. What is one step you can take to change your life from one of fear to one of faith today? Perhaps that means spending more time in prayer giving your situation to God, or maybe it means having an accountability partner in a trusted brother or sister in Christ. Whatever it means, take the first step today.
4. Take a Risk
Sometimes, the best answer to increase your faith is to take a risk. For example, if you're experiencing financial hardship, giving your money to a worthy charity might be a way to combat that fear. During a health crisis, you may try a holistic doctor. The Bible recounts many stories of people who took great risks for God. When they took those risks and increased their faith, God honored them and showed up in miraculous ways. Increasing our faith means trusting God not only in small things but also in large things. It's when God asks us to step out of our comfort zone that God shows up in great ways. If we are stuck in our comfort zone, it is difficult to increase our faith. When we step out of our comfort zone, our fear increases. We can combat that fear by stepping out in faith and trusting that God will be there even when we fail or make a mistake.
5. Cling to the Word
It is easy to think God is only asking us to step out in faith when we scroll through our social media feeds and find everyone's life is better than ours. Yet, the Bible recounts stories of people whom God asked to do difficult and seemingly impossible things for him. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. God spoke to Jonah's heart and the belly of a whale. God met Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane as he sweat drops of blood. In all these instances, these people were asked to be God's mouthpieces and to take great risks, communicating his message to even the most volatile crowd. These people faced persecution and death because of their faith. Reading stories like these helps us feel like we're not alone. In fact, sometimes when we stop comparing ourselves to our social media feeds and start comparing ourselves to the people of the Bible, we find we have it easy after all.
Consider the stories of your favorite people from the Bible. What did they have to face that God was calling them to do? Even when Jesus said, "Follow me," to the disciples, they had to complete the act of dropping their nets and follow Jesus no matter what the cost. They left luxurious, comfortable lives for the sake of the gospel. Although these requests may increase our fear, it is in these moments that our faith is refined like diamonds when we step out and fulfill these requests. In our humanity, we sometimes hear God wrong. We make mistakes, and we fail. However, God honors us still because we were willing to take that step of faith. Remember, it is not the quiet, comfortable people whom God chose to write about in Scripture. It's the men and women who took great risks, even at the expense of their own lives, to save God's people by communicating the gospel and alerting the next generation about a Savior. God honored those people by retelling their stories for generations. God will honor our faithfulness regardless of the request if only we choose to step out in faith and obey it.
Increasing our faith will always increase our fear. Fear is a human response that seems mentally and physically impossible. We mature in our spiritual walks and increase our faith because of our willingness to ignore our fear and step out in obedience to God. Our lives are forever changed not only by this, but the lives of those around us are changed forever as well.
Related Resource: Spiritual Practices to Decrease Your Anxiety and Increased Your Peace
While one can experience anxiety from numerous causes, not all of them spiritual, there are spiritual practices we can engage in to experience increased peace. Listen to this episode of Faith Over Fear and hear practical practices you can begin to implement today for increased peace when you are tempted to fear.
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Originally published Monday, 01 April 2024.
