How to Go From Fearful to Fearless
If “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). How then do we move from fearful to fearless?
Fearful
God gave us emotions like fear to help keep us out of danger. However, when we let fear entangle our thought life, we become enslaved to it. Then, fear begins to grip us, debilitate us, control us, paralyze us, consume us, and we find ourselves captive to it. We are so afraid of what might happen in the future, it keeps us from living in the present. When we let fear take over, it paralyzes us. When we let God take over, it empowers us.
The Bible has a lot to say about fear. In fact, the word is used roughly 350 times (varies with different translations) throughout Scripture. Often illustrating how people responded to their fears. In these Scriptural examples, we see the fruit of obedience contrasted with the devastation of fear-based decision making. Undoubtedly, fear has been and continues to be a stumbling block for humanity.
If we live this way, we run the risk of living fear-filled lives. Hoping in the things of this world and buying into its lies. Instead, we must fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2 NIV) allowing God to transform our fear into trust. We can accomplish this by training ourselves to turn to God for help and trust in Him for rescue (Psalm 56:3 NIV). Psalm 118:5 says, “In my distress I prayed to the LORD and the LORD answered me” (NLT). This call and response paradigm appears over 40 times in the Psalms alone. It demonstrates for us how we are to respond when we find ourselves in distress. This model shifts our focus, our trust, and our hope back onto God as we wait. It helps us move from fearful to fearless.
Fearless
I understand that changing ingrained patterns is difficult and takes more time than we’d like to give. However, what if we adopted a new radical way of thinking? What if we decided that instead of living imprisoned by fear, we decided to live fearlessly? Living fearlessly means that we will not let fear or anything else entangle us. But instead stand firm on God’s promises in faith and in trust. What if we:
- choose to believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He is going to do?
- determine to not be intimidated or discouraged by difficulty, danger, or disappointment?
- choose to trust that what God has for us is immeasurably more than we could ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)?
To move from fearful to fearless, I challenge you to place all your fears in a box, not to hide them, but as an offering to God. Entrust your fears to Him and leave them in the capable hands of Jesus, at the foot of the cross. Know you can visit your box of fears anytime you want to in prayer, but let Him hold onto them, so they don’t hold onto you.
“So, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV).