Overcoming Fear

Jesus came not only to die for your sins, but also to set you free from sin’s power over your life. This doesn’t happen all at once, but is part of the process of sanctification that leads to spiritual maturity. In our current series, we are looking at how our feelings and emotions affect our spiritual health. A major part of spiritual maturity is learning to bring those feelings and emotions under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Today we are talking about fear and anxiety. How can we take our fearful thoughts captive so they become obedient to Christ? COVID 19, earthquakes, hurricanes, inflation, wars and food shortages: Every time you take in media there are a hundred reasons to be afraid. We know for sure that the emotion of fear is important to God because the most frequent command in the whole Bible is “Do not fear!” Over three hundred times God tells us in different ways and at different times not to be afraid. And yet, we still struggle with fear. 

I pray that by the time we are done this morning, we’ll all desire to take the steps necessary to bring our fears and anxieties under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then we’ll all be able to declare along with King David the powerful words found in Psalm 34:4 (NLT), “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”