“I asked the Lord for help, and He saved me from all my fears. “Psalms 34:4
Some of us have been bound up with fear from childhood. Ensnared by fear all of our lives. It is said that “Fear Not” is seen 57 times in the Old Testament and 14 times in the New Testament, further depicting the significance of embracing courage each day of the year, or 365 times in the Bible. (Believers Portal.com-lists all 365 scriptures).
Today people can be bombarded with information -some traumatic and some family friendly- from every country all over the world through the large variety of social media platforms. This definitely does not help anyone who may be already ensnared by fear. Information that years ago was never heard about by most people can be read about within a moment of the event, today. What has compounded things for people who may suffer from anxiety, there are multiple posts about fictitious events auto generated. Those who purposefully intend to fear monger to cause people to act impulsively out of fear.
As a counselor, I advise people suffering from anxiety to cut themselves to a limit of daily news or feeds filled with traumatic announcements that make matters much worse.
I wondered, with all those warnings that God gave us in the Bible to take courage, He created us- and knew what we all would have to endure.
Some of God’s chosen characters met up with extreme fear and were challenged. The story of Moses, he did not believe that he could do what God was asking him to do, he still chose to trust Him and obey and deliver God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. Mary was asked to believe in the supernatural before anyone knew such a thing could happen, a virgin birth; she was facing being stoned and challenged daily, she also chose to obey; Paul was a persecutor of Christians, yet a supernatural deliverance made him turn his life around, he also chose to obey a God whom he used to mock, I can only imagine the pressure that he experienced from believers and non-believers, yet he chose to obey; David, pursued by Saul who wanted him dead, as Saul saw David as a threat to his position as king, David did become king but sought the Lord for direction, forgiveness and strength throughout all his stress. This list of characters goes on-documented in the Bible-those who faced intense fear yet, chose to obey God and do His will.
Of course, the greatest example is Jesus. In Gethsemane, Jesus sweat blood due to the stress and anxiety of being separated from His Father and suffer the ultimate sacrifice so that the gap between God and man would be bridged, though He had thoughts “If this cup could pass from Me… nevertheless not My will, but Your will be done.” What all of these chosen characters had in common was they all surrendered to the will of God, they all prayed and took action as the Father told them what to do to fulfill God’s will. Though Jesus made the greatest sacrifice to come to earth fully as a man, to suffer and die for mankind, then He rose again so that we might be set free from sin and death, eternally free!
All you must do, is believe that He died for you, believe that He is your Lord who has done all of this for your salvation and deliverance! Oh- how He must love you, thank you Lord for salvation! Thank you- Lord for deliverance!
Help us to daily surrender fear, daily pray to you for forgiveness, and listen to your voice and obey what you are asking us to do.