We are people of faith, but we sometimes need help to get past the fear that tries to overwhelm us. Just keep moving! you tell yourself. Don’t look back…. It’ll go away…. Just don’t think about it! But nothing you tell yourself works, at least not for long.
What’s keeping you up at night? Making your heart race and blood pressure skyrocket?
What’s tempting you to isolate and shut down, or lose yourself in a crowd?
Whatever those triggering conversations or scenarios may be, however long or short your list of anxieties is—there’s hope. There’s help. There are steps you can take to keep you moving; and always, God’s Word has your answer! Keep reading to discover 10 Steps to Get You Past Your Greatest Fears.
Stop the Fear—Receive the Love
When a father standing in the middle of a crowded street was told his only daughter (age 12) had just died, Jesus immediately said to him, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed” (Luke 8:50).
Jesus’ point: Don’t give any mental place to fear. It will rob you of your daughter’s life. Rather, pay attention to—set your focus on—God’s love, and believe.
Maybe love doesn’t seem a likely antidote for your anxieties, but notice what the Apostle John has to say, a follower of Jesus who had lot of insight and experience when it came to God’s love for humanity: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18, NKJV).
Fear is an age-old weapon your enemy, Satan, uses to steal your faith, which is your connection to God. Remember Jesus’ words to a father in crisis: “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith….”
At our most critical, vulnerable times in life, the enemy tries to drive a wedge of fear between us and our heavenly Father, who is love, and loves us dearly (verse 16). Those are especially the times we don’t need to be caught short on confidence in God’s love for us. So consider the following 10 Steps to Get You Past Your Greatest Fears —confessions that can help set your sights above those triggering situations.
- My Father’s love for me never ends; His love is faithful (Lamentations 3:22).
- Mountains may move and hills disappear, but even then my Father’s faithful love for me will remain; His covenant of blessing will never be broken (Isaiah 54:10).
- My Father loves me with an everlasting love; He draws me to Himself with unfailing love (Jeremiah 31:3).
- My Father lives within me; and He is my mighty Savior. He takes delight in me with gladness. He calms all my fears with His love, and rejoices over me with joyful songs (Zephaniah 3:17).
- This is how much my Father loves me: He gave His one and only Son, so that I would not perish but have eternal life. He sent His Son to me not to judge or condemn me, but to save me through Him (John 3:16-17).
- I know how dearly my Father loves me, because He has given me His Holy Spirit to fill my heart with His love…and He showed His great love for me by sending Christ to die for me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:5, 8).
- Overwhelming victory is mine through Christ, who loves me. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate me from my Father’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither my fears for today nor my worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate me from His great love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate me from my Father’s love as revealed in Christ Jesus my Lord (Romans 8:37-39).
- My Father’s love is patient and kind; not envious; not proud or puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil of me; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears me up in all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. My Father’s love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
- Christ has made His home in my heart because I trust in Him. My roots grow down into my Father’s love and keep me strong. He gives me understanding of how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love for me is. I experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. I am made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from my Father by His love for me (Ephesians 3:17-19).
- My Father loves me so much, for He calls me His child, and that is what I am! (1 John 3:1).
The Apostle John encourages us that “as we live in God [love], our love grows more perfect [complete, full-grown]. So we will not be afraid…” (1 John 4:17).
There’s always more room for you to grow in God’s love—and with these 10 Steps to Get You Past Your Greatest Fears, you can!