Who has not felt afraid, even very afraid? On some level, this disquieting emotion affects us all. It may be only butterflies in the stomach at the thought of giving a speech, restless sleep over an upcoming important event, or the sick feeling when faced with a fierce dog blocking the pathway, but the emotion is common to fallen humanity. However, a growing number are finding it more than unpleasant or occasional; too many either now suffer chronic anxiety, are incapacitated with tension headaches, or find their heart gripped by the icy fingers of a ‘panic attack’. Millions more seek relief in comfort food, medications, cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs from nagging worry.
If fear is your constant companion, something you can’t shake off, this book has viable answers. It was written out of my own battle with fear and the doable solutions I employed. It may not give all the answers you seek, whether it be for low-grade worry, unnerving anxiety, or even a crippling phobia, but it will assist in a sizable way. It will also help with dysfunctional behavior induced by fear, and as a bonus, resolve certain health issues with their roots often in fear— e.g., high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, asthma, eczema, and skin and gut problems.
As we head into this twenty-first century, fear is undoubtedly impacting more and more people; a development hard to understand with the ‘high tech’ security systems we now have or the other safety measures and investments hedging against a financial downturn. What, then, is making us more afraid? Some blame it on the prospect of terrorism or the viral ‘pandemic’, while others will point the finger at the general degradation within society—the corruption and breakdown of its fundamental unit, the family. Activists will ‘finger’ the environment, seeing toxic pollution and the ‘warming of the climate’ as triggers, but whatever the cause, more people are feeling anxious and fearful—and it is not just unbelievers.
Indeed, as a believer, you may feel ashamed of how fear controls, restricting your freedom to serve the Lord. Don’t be! I certainly don’t condemn you, nor will I tell you to have more faith, or rebuke you saying worry is a sin. Neither will I use the Bible to beat you over the head as I have walked in your shoes and have only empathy for anyone battling this enemy of personal peace. My only goal is to encourage and inspire with the hope of an answer; namely, the practical strategies I used to beat fear more than fifty years ago. As long as you are willing to pay the price for victory, what worked for me can work for you. I am confident what I share will help you find a new degree of freedom from the curse of fear.
Now, the basic answer to fear (as it is for sin, sickness, loneliness, etc.) is in the salvation Jesus Christ purchased on the Cross of Calvary. By laying claim to that work of atonement, we reap its saving benefits. Every adverse outcome humanity suffered from the original fall into sin ultimately finds its solution in the Cross, and fear is one outcome of our sinful condition. Realizing what Christ paid and purchased for you on the Cross is the first answer to freedom from fear. God, then, has done His part; is up to you to appropriate by faith the liberty in Christ you have from the ‘law of sin and death’ (Rom 8.2).
Any strategy, therefore, to beat fear (be assured, it is an enemy) must have the redemption from sin purchased at Calvary as its basis. We overcome every enemy, first, by claiming in faith what ‘the blood of the Lamb’ (Rev 12.11) paid for. However, we have further instructions for waging this war in the ‘manual for living’ (the Bible), strategies to employ for victory over this formidable foe of fear. And God will teach your ‘hands to wage war’ with them but will not do what He has asked you to do. So, it boils down to this; are you ready to do all that is required to win the war? Yes, success ultimately depends upon fighting in the strength and with the leading of God’s Spirit, yet the resolve to wage this war must also be there—it is key to winning.
The psalmist said, ‘I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears’. (Ps 34.4). While this verse gives every hope this war is winnable, the psalmist didn’t say his deliverance was necessarily instantaneous. To win this war takes time, and it will be the same for you. Victory is rarely by ‘a knockout in the first round’, so don’t fret over the length of it, whether short or long. Your freedom is assured as you win each minor battle, one encounter at a time until the final one decides the war.
If you are sick and tired of fear’s torment, then despair no longer. Study the strategies I share and continue to practice them until success is yours. Now, this effort to become free will meet with resistance (counter-attacks), so the main thing is not to give up whatever happens. In truth, expect a fierce fight, even a ‘dirty one’, but if you meditate on the strategies to gain understanding and seek divine grace in applying them, they will do for you what they did for me.
Now, before I share further, I need to expose this enemy you are up against. Many Christians are unaware of what is behind their fear—what it is all about. And it is not what most think! What I convey next, then, is vital to your success, and it is this—‘fear’ (I have personified it) is not only a natural physiological response to a threat but also the outcome of dark forces at work. It means ‘fear’ is not your friend (except in a very limited way) but a sworn enemy with malicious intent toward you and the church; a sober reality you must be convinced is true. When we see how it prevents so many believers from witnessing to their faith, taking up the vocation of a missionary, or some other avenue of ministry in service for the Lord, by no stretch of the imagination can ‘fear’ be seen as a blessing. It is a curse God wants you liberated from, both for His honor and so you can enjoy a greater quality of life. After reading what I have written, my prayer is you too will ‘stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made (you) free’. (Gal 5.1).
In an act of faith, why not begin to proclaim your freedom even now. That is, speak to the spiritual powers fueling your ‘fear’ and announce a ‘declaration of independence’. Start your military campaign by telling these dark forces you are determined to wage war against their tyranny and will fight on past disappointments and reversals until free from every tormenting thought and debilitating emotion. Don’t let ‘fear’ scare you with thoughts of repercussions for such a declaration. God is on your side and He will fight for you. Be brave and hesitate no longer. The alternative, surely, it is to continue suffering fear’s torment and become even more physically and emotionally dysfunctional. I pray you will not delay but decide to fight for freedom. I do not promise you glory without ‘guts’, but any sacrifice and effort you make will be worth it. May the Lord bless you in the battle.