“For God has not given us the spirit of fear but that of love, power and a sound mind” – 2 Timothy 1:7
Fear can be defined as an intense unpleasant feeling as a result of a perceived threat or danger.
The feeling of fear is a very common thing in the world. It could be as a result of what is happening or what you think might happen in the future.
It could be that you are afraid about the future, about your job, that exam, your marriage etc but our God has commanded you to not fear because you do not have the spirit of fear but the spirit of power, the spirit of love and the spirit of sound mind.
So, even though fear is a normal human feeling, it is not the will of God that you allow it paralyse you physically, emotionally and spiritually.
You should not allow fear to make you lose sleep, behave irrationally, become mentally unstable, stop praying, stop communicating daily with God etc.
So, I have outlines some steps a christian can take to overcome the spirit of fear
1. Feed Your Mind With The Word Of God
Joshua 1:8 says that (paraphrased) you should meditate on the word of God, day and night, so that you will make your way prosperous and you shall have good success”
It all starts and ends with the mind
The fear you feel is as a result of meditating (thinking over and over again) on something disturbing that you saw, heard or felt.
If you have a headache and you start meditating (thinking over and over again) on it, thinking that it might be brain cancer, it can instill fear in you and it will continue as long as you continue meditating on that thought.
Now, what is the right thing for a christian to do?
If you start feeling headaches and it drops in your mind that it might be brain cancer, the first thing a christian has to do and do very quickly is for the christian to attack that thought with the word of God.
Since this example has to do with sickness, look for bible verses affirming good health and healing and feed your mind with it
This is what I mean, the individual with fear is preoccupied all day long with fearful thoughts. This is the same thing you have to do with the word of God, get preoccupied all-day with the word of God to tackle the problem you are in.
After you do this, you can then do the remaining steps in this article
2. Pray About The Situation
In Philippians 4: 6-7 says (paraphrased) that you should not worry about any thing, but with prayers, supplication, and thanksgiving, we should make our request known to God and the God of all peace will guide your hearts and mind.
God doesn’t like it when we worry / are fearful about a situation. God is our father and he cares about you, so he is ready to help you in any scary situation you find yourself in but you have to invite him into your situation through effective prayer which entails prayer, supplication and thanksgiving.
Prayer produces the power to overcome fear and to remove (solve) the cause of the fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7, it says that you do not have the spirit of fear but the spirit of power and it’s this power that tackles fear and produces results.
So, after you have feed your mind with the word of God, the next thing to do is to use that word to pray about the situation.
3. Know That God Loves You.
We saw in the book of Mark 9:23-25 , that when this man asked for Jesus to heal his son, Jesus asked him if he believes that his son will be healed, the man’s reply indicated that he believed that God has the power to heal but he doesn’t know if God will actually heal his son and this broke the heart of Jesus Christ.
That thought process is as a result of not believing that God loves you in particular, that he sees you, that he is with you, and that he will never leave you nor forsake you.
If you know, without any doubt that God loves you and is always with you, you will easily believe that God will certainly and most definitely solve your situation.
It is this spirit of God’s love that delivers you from the spirit of fear because according to 2 Timothy 1:7, God has not given us the spirit of fear but that of power, love and …”
So after you finish feeding your mind with the word of God, pray effectively and then believe that because God loves you, he has heard your prayer and it has been answered.
4. Take Steps
After feeding your mind with the word of God, praying and believing that God has answered your prayers, the next thing to do is to take steps
Go ahead and register for that exam, prepare and go for that job interview, book an appointment with the doctor if you feel sick etc
The bible says in James 2:26, faith without works is dead, so it’s important that you go ahead and do the things you need to do inorder to tackle the situation.
If you do not know what to do, you can ask God in the place of prayers and the God of peace will guard your hearts and minds (Phillippians 4:7) in the decisions you need to make.
You can also go to people you think can advise you better about the situation, like your parents, siblings, friends, the principal of your school, the admissions committe, the medical doctor, depending on the nature of your problem.
Also read, ” THE GRACE OF GOD “
CONCLUSION
When faced with a scary situation, instead of giving into your fears and allowing it to reduce the quality of your life, the bible advices us to replace that spirit of fear with the spirit of power, love and sound mind. You can do this by following the steps outlined below
1. Feed Your Mind With The Word Of God
2. Pray About The Situation
3. Know That God Loves You.
4. Take Steps
Comment below if you want us to join you in praying about any situation in your life.
Shalom!