Faith Over Fear

Here is our starter question for the day:

What fear(s) have you surrendered to God?

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Paralyzed. Immobile. Frozen. This is the power fear can leverage in our lives. Have you ever felt so powerless against fear? That no matter what you did, you were helpless?

I have felt this personally a few times, but I have never felt more powerless when my daughter was overcome with fear. Fear that felt like it could not be named or defined. Just overwhelming fear.

I thought dealing with my own personal fear was a great task, but it paled in comparison to watching my little girl be tormented by fear.

She has almost always been a great sleeper, even as a baby. But we had a string of multiple nights where she would wake up screaming multiple times a night, begging to get out of her room, and desperately calling for help.

The only way she would be comforted was if we went into her room, held her hand, and told her she was okay and we are watching over her. Multiple times a night and multiple nights in a row of consistent presence, promises, and prayers and we conquered the fear.

During this time, I reflected on 3 things on choosing faith over fear.

1. God’s presence overcomes fear.

My daughter was able to feel peace because my presence gave her the trust that I was in it with her and she would be safe. She didn’t need to fear because the fear had to get through her dad before it could reach her.

What if we embraced this mentality when it comes to our Father? Since God is always with us, fear has to get through Him before it can have power over us. The only power it can have is what we give it.

So invite God into the moments where fear tries to grip you. Remember that His presence overcomes fear. But also remember that He always keeps his promises.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

2. Faith trusts His promises.

One of the things fear does to gain power is to distract us. To try to get us to forget the promises of God. The promise of His presence. The promise of His protection. The promise of His love.

My daughter had faith that I was with her and that I would protect her so she was able to disarm fear. The faith she has in her dad’s promises gave her peace and the ability to ward of the temptation of fear.

Fear wants us to lost faith in the promises of God and so the greatest weapon against fear is faith. Where you place your faith determines the power to resist and conquer fear.

3. Fear shrinks when we focus on God.

The truth of it all, what you feed is what grows. So are you feeding your fear or your faith? Fear has a way of shrinking God down in our minds and puffing us up in our own belief.

During the times holding my daughter’s hands, we would pray and I would tell her “God is with you and daddy is watching you.”

When we take our eyes off of God, our fear can run rampant. Remember, if fear can distract us, it can control us.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:2

Jesus didn’t fear the cross because he knew God’s presence casts out fear, he had faith in God’s promises, and as long as he stayed focused on God, fear would shrink. The same goes for us today.

One of the greatest ways to practice all 3 of these is to memorize scripture that speaks directly to them. I encourage you to commit to memorize either Isaiah 41:10 or Hebrews 12:2.

Use these as tools to remind yourself of God’s presence, to trust in His promises, and to shrink fear with your faith.