When Fear Shakes Your Faith

Posted on Oct 31, 2017 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Stormie Omartian

The time I remember being most afraid in my life was when I was in my twenties.

I was living alone in a first floor apartment in a two-story apartment building in Los Angeles. I clearly recall the terror I felt when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to the violent shaking and roar of the most terrifying earthquake I had ever been in.

At the time I was not a believer, so I screamed out to a god I did not know, wondering how he would hear me when I couldn’t even hear myself over the deafening roar. I heard my dishes crashing to the floor and my furniture and lamps hitting the walls, and I wondered how long it would be before the apartment above me would collapse on top of mine.

I’d lived a life of fear before that, but this was the worst fright I’d ever experienced. The anxiety I already had increased from that moment on. And it wasn’t until I came to know the Lord several years later and experienced the full extent of His life-transforming peace that I got rid of the spirit of fear. I learned there were things I needed to do before anything terrifying happened, and to keep doing them until they became a way of life.

Because we have His Holy Spirit in us, He enables and empowers us to do what we need to do to live His way. His love for us is unconditional. He proved that on the cross and with His resurrection. But if we walk outside of God’s will, we put up a barrier between us and God, and we can’t sense His presence in our lives.

There is a problem when people think they can do—or not do—whatever they want and God’s grace will cover them. It doesn’t work that way. God wants us to do things His way, and He requires some action on our part.

Here are several things you can do when you feel afraid:

—Bring every thought into captivity – Pray: “I submit my mind to Your Lordship, and I refuse to allow any thoughts to weaken me with fear.”

—Commit everything to the Lord – Pray: “Establish my thoughts in clarity and calmness, and help me to never leave You out of any decision I make.”

—Focus your mind on good things – Pray: “Lord, help me to focus my mind on You. Teach me to fill my mind with what is true, honest, just, pure, and lovely.”

—Show love to others – Pray: “Lord, help me show deliberate acts of love today. Help me to do for others what I would want them to do for me.”

The more we obey God’s commands and live His way, the more we will experience all He has for us. We must have the mind of Christ on any decision we make and listen for the Holy Spirit speaking to our heart.