Conquering Fear Through the Cross / GUEST POST

A GUEST POST BY RACHEL OF DIARY OF A CHOCOHOLIC

For almost as long as I can remember I’ve carried around an overwhelming sense of fear. I’m not sure exactly what triggered it—I can remember only a few truly "scary" moments. I don’t know where it came from but I do know that it was very much there. I remember, as a kid, being afraid of supernatural bad guys. Instead of diminishing as I grew older, the fear grew with me, morphing into paranoia of rapists, murders, torturers and fake policeman out to get me.

Once the sunset, I always felt as if someone was behind me, following me or just around the corner waiting to grab me. As a child, my only comforts seemed to be in the arms of a parent or the voice of my younger sister, whom upon hearing me awaken with a start would say "It’s okay Rachel. It’s not real." Eventually, I learned that singing "Jesus Loves Me" would stave off the fear and allow me to return to sleep.

As I grew into an adult, I struggled to find a way to stop the fear before it took hold. The fear was damaging my marriage and wrecking havoc on my sleep.

I began to search the Bible and turned to the Lord in prayer. The Lord led me to several scriptures that stopped my fear in its tracks. The first Scripture was one that I’d heard many years ago but never bothered to memorize (in fact a few of the verses that I turned to at first were on a handout about over coming fear/anxiety that the mother of an ex-boyfriend gave me out of the blue during my freshman year of high school, that I’d managed to hand onto. Doesn’t that speak to you about the magnitude of God’s awesome plan?).

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption. Romans 8:15

These two verses were key in my struggle to overcome fear. These verses state outright that God has given me and sound mind. This combated the overreaction of my mind to sounds and shadows. I am not crazy. There is a rational explanation for that shadow (it’s the full length mirror or the shadow created from the light of my phone reflecting through a lampshade). The second verse showed me that when God made me his daughter he broke the bonds of fear and I have no reason to let them take hold over me. They don’t own me. He does.

The next verse I memorized, and call on frequently is Isaiah 12:1-2: "I will praise you, O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation."

I cherish this verse for many reasons and I recite it when I feel fear creeping in. When I need help remaining calm, I turn to Romans 15:13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It reminds me to turn to the Lord and that he will fill me with the peace that I need.

There is always a lesson within a lesson (sometimes several) and in this case using Scripture to fight fear taught me the importance of having Scripture committed to memory. It’s a powerful weapon. As a child I had been told that it was important to know Scripture but it never clicked until recently.

I want to quickly mention a few more things I’m learning while in the process of trusting Jesus to remove my fear:

1. Fear is not just a focus on the bad guys. It can be a fear of inadequacy, humiliation or social stigma. But there is no reason to be afraid. If the disciples could stand and authoritatively address a crowd (and religious leaders) in Jesus’ name then so can you and I. The Holy Spirit will show up and empower us. That is promised in Luke 12:11, When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.

2. Worry is also a type of fear. My favorite verse to combat worry is Luke 12:22&29: "....Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life…Do not set your hear on what you will eat or drink. Don not worry about it for the pagan world runs after such things and your Father knows you need them, but seek first His Kingdom and these things will be given to you as well." There is no need to be afraid that our needs will go unmet. God created us, he knows what we require and he will be there to provide it. It may not come in the form we expect but it WILL come.

3. If you can trust God with the things that scare you the most, you teach yourself that you can trust him with anything. I am learning that nothing can harm me. They may harm my body, but nothing can touch me…FOR I BELONG TO THE LORD!

P.S. I recently heard this song and highly recommend you give it a listen.

Rachel says, "Hey ya’ll! I’m very thankful for the opportunity to guest blog for you today. I'm a writer and legal assistant, the latter of which as cut down the amount of time and energy I can put towards my own blog, Diary of a Chocoholic, but I try to keep it up as much as possible. I’m a Southern girl at heart, although I’ve currently transplanted to PA (and miss the beach terribly!). I love to read, write, bake and travel and am learning to cook. I’m a newlywed of two years, and my husband and I are trying our best to live as disciples of Jesus."

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