Tag Archives: fears

Overcoming Fears

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In the wake of America’s new administration—a new President with new policies—many people are afraid. Some are afraid of being deported. Some are afraid of being jailed. Many are afraid of the new President’s extremism: on immigration, on his supposed anti-environment beliefs, and his anti-woke beliefs, on all his Bidden reversals, and on what he will do to our country, The outgoing President is so afraid, that he has preemptively pardoned his entire family and many of his loyal supporters, like Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, and Liz Cheney.

While I was asking myself how anyone can overcome fears, I came across a number of Scripture verses that will give us a clear answer.

Scriptures That Will Help Us Overcome Fear

In the following five verses we will find that the reason we fear is because we lack something; we lack a relationship with God—a relationship that will give us a lasting peace with God, a trust in Him, a saving faith, a loving Heavenly Father, and an enduring love from God. Let’s look at these verses.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We need not be afraid of anything in this world if we have the peace that God gives us.

Psalm 56:11

In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

If you put your trust in God you need not be afraid of anything.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

If you will give your heart to Him to save you, you need not be afraid of anything. He will be your strength.

Romans 8:14-15

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

If you will give your life to Him, if you will trust Him to save you (if you will ask Him to forgive your sins and cleanse you and give you a new life), you will be His adopted child and will no longer have that spirit of fear in you. He will be your Father in which you can cry out to Him whenever you fear anything or have any needs.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.

If you are saved and are one of His children, you will abide in His love and will have no fear.

A Stronger Faith

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It came to me the other day (about 5 days ago) what I should do about my fears and worries. For some reason fears and worries over many things tend to be stronger and harder to handle now than they use to be. I think perhaps the devil if trying to shut me down in order to take away my influence. And that is in some ways an encouragement, knowing that he thinks I have some influence in the world.

But anyway, here is what I have been doing lately: since these fears of mine tend to work on me during the night, I have started—just before I go to bed—to record a very specific prayer to God asking Him to give me whatever it takes (wisdom) to wipe out my fears and help me. I use James 1:5-7 as a promise, that if I ask believing He will give it to me. This is my stronger faith. It is a faith that will without a doubt work every time—because it is built on the promise of God.

Now I sleep better knowing that God is working all through my night hours to deliver me and to set me up for the next day—to be a victorious conqueror like Joshua—not being afraid or discouraged, knowing that the LORD my God is with me wherever I go and whatever I do (Josh. 1:9).

Other things

The Timberwolves won in the 7th game last night. Very fun!

My small painting jobs are going so well—especially since I have been praying in faith over them. It has always been very important for me to do good work—working for the Lord.

The writing of my book on heaven is going well too. I even have some ideas on a book cover—the first thing people see.

I’ve been struggling lately with what is now a teaching topic in our Sunday School class: all about discipleship. It seems to me that some people put too much emphasis on it and it is making many feel guilty if they are not “making disciples.” Any thoughts?

Fears of what will be

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A while ago I blogged on the distress I go through in my self-publishing. Now I’m calling it “My fears of what will be”—my fear of possibly finding out that my book cover will not look very good, or as good as it should be. And in every project, that is my fear. But I did my best on it, so why do I fear?

As I look at some old people that are facing the end of life, I think they have the same fears (as I sometimes do). It is the fear of finding out that our eternal rewards will be small.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 34:4: “I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” In this context, David was fearing for his life being in the camp of the Philistines; and so, he pretended to be crazy so that they would not think that he would be a problem. And it worked; they dismissed him and put him out (1 Sam. 21:10-15). Hence, God saved him. Apparently, David sought the Lord in what to do, and he thought God was telling him to pretend to be crazy (so God has a sense of humor!).

Now, as for whether we should have fears for our eternal rewards; if we do all that God leads us to do, all that we think He wants us to do, what else can we do? If we take each day at a time and obey Him, what else can we do? Remember what Paul said at the end of his life? “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tm. 4:7-8).  Hence, if you also have done your best in fighting the good fight, there is no more you can do. Ask Him to deliver you from all fears. I think it is marvelous that it says all fears. I think fear tends to multiply itself and grow in our heart if we let it. And it need not be. Read further on in Psalm 34. God is telling us to focus on the Lord and praise Him and see that He is good; and then to fear Him. Verse 9 says, “O fear the LORD, you His saints: for to those who fear Him there is no want.”

I think that if we have a healthy fear of God (to trust Him and pray about everything), He will keep us from all the bad fears, the fears we find in this evil world.

Update: Feelings about every Little Thing

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I’ll start off with my overall feelings—how I feel, generally, about everything, about every little thing. I mean it seems like so many things are beginning to pile up on me and making me anxious. I suppose that’s why I think it’s time for an update. I need a vent. I need to put things in perspective, to organize, and most of all to bring things to the Lord—the One who knows it all and who cares.

I can’t find an adequate description of how things are with me. There are fears and worries and tiredness and some regrets and some health issues and just a lack of clarity about things. And then I worry about what is happening to me. Okay, I have a list I want to work through—mainly for my sake, but you can listen in if you want.

The News

I heard the other day that, I think it was about 65% of people, don’t believe the news—TV news, newspapers, all of it. News people these days have an agenda. They aren’t true journalists. They have a plan. They write the way they want to influence people. For instance, the reason that they are writing in the papers and on TV news about the Jan. 6th subpoenas and about those who are refusing to come, it is all an effort to get people to think badly about what Donald Trump did—so that they will think twice about voting for him. Again, its all politics. Its all about stopping Trump. It’s so sick! I could say more, but I think that’s enough on news for now.

My Reading

I’m reading United States of Socialism, by Dinesh D’Souza. Generally, I think it’s a good book—very informative and true. But sometimes, like the news, it gets to be too negative. I guess I have to also be reading the Word. It’s like drinking coffee. For every gulp of coffee, we should also take one or two gulps of water, especially on hot days when I am working outside. My doctor told me that.

My Writing

I’m an author, so most of my writing will be on a book. And then I will transfer parts of it to my blog. I’m writing now on the Tribulation. That sounds pretty negative, but I’m actually being blessed by the writing—because I’m using the bible as my main source. I’ve gotten to the point now where most of what I write comes out good on the first try—no editing requited. But recently that’s not been true—because of a hard passage in Revelation. Anyway, I was fairly sure of this one thing I wrote. Then last night because of additional reading on it, I know now that I will have to change it. It must be changed. And when you are writing a biblical commentary on a passage, it is critical to get it right. And when you do finally get it right after the second or third try it will always be a blessing and worth the effort.

My Jobs

It’s always nice to take time off. But I’m getting the itch now to go back to work—at least a little. Oh, I’m a house painter if you didn’t know. I’m retired, but I’m thinking that as long as I feel good enough to work, and want to, I will. I like painting and I especially like doing it to help people. It’s something God has gifted me at and put me into. However, it seems that because of my aging, I have more worries about it—about every aspect of it: doing it right, not falling off a ladder, pleasing people, all of it. Well, I’ve come to the end now on this blog and I feel better. Thank the Lord.

Managing Fear, Walking by Faith

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When I heard my pastor say this morning that we need to manage our fears and walk by faith, my heart perked up. Will this be an answer to my prayers? For the last few days, I have felt aggravated by what’s going on at work, and I also know that I am struggling with fear; fear of the person that I work for. Well, last night I was not able to sleep and so I sat up in my bed with my bible in hand, trying to find a verse of Scripture to help me—but nothing. So, I prayed that God would soon show me a good Scripture passage and tell me what to do. Then this morning I really didn’t feel too good and almost didn’t go to church. Then I thought: well, maybe the Lord will give me something; maybe He will answer my prayers. And He surely did.

This morning’s sermon was from the book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14. You may remember what happened. Twelve spies went into Canaan to spy out the land. They found that the land was very good, but that the people were huge and their cities were well-guarded. Ten out of the twelve spies had great fears; they reported that they were not able to go up against them, that they were not strong enough. They said, “We became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their sight.”

Here are a few notes that I wrote down from the sermon:

  • When they went into Canaan and looked around, they didn’t manage their fears and so they didn’t walk by faith.
  • God said, enough of the whining, just trust Me.
  • We are to walk by faith, not by fear.
  • There is a high price for not managing our fear.
  • “Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision.” – Winton Churchill
  • The people of Israel wept all night at the peril they faced, but they didn’t turn to God in faith.
  • “If we do not fear God, we fear everything else.” – Oswald Chambers
  • When we fear and don’t trust God, we will miss His gifts.

So, what should I do with my situation at work? First of all, I will be praying and will trust God in what to do. I will not let fear rule my life. I will not let myself stew over any further potential problem. I will have a positive attitude as I manage my fears. And I will follow the example of Caleb who said (in Nu. 13:30), “We should by all means go up and take possession of it [the land], for we will surely overcome it.”