I crawled into bed and slipped under a blanket of fear. My husband was out of town for work, and I was afraid to go to sleep. Fear had become a constant companion during his nights away.
Knowing I needed to trust God, I went through the motions of what good Christians do: I prayed, read Scripture and taped Bible verses on sticky notes to my lamp and bedside. But then I also put a phone under my pillow and a neighborhood directory beside my bed.
The next night, I took it a step further by putting toys on the stairs — to trip possible burglars. I brought my children into my room to sleep there as well, and moved the dresser in front of our bedroom door.
Although I thought I was controlling my circumstances, fear had taken control of me. Frustrated that I still couldn’t sleep, I opened the Bible and read a familiar passage:
“‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze’” (Isaiah 43:1b-2).
As I read each word slowly, God showed me something I’d never seen: My fears were like flames and my efforts to protect myself were like gasoline. Every attempt to ease my fears was like dousing fuel on the fire, and now it was consuming me.
Gently, the Holy Spirit reminded me that God had not given me a spirit of fear but a spirit “of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7b, NKJV).
Suddenly I knew the only way to overcome my fear was to walk in faith through what I feared the most. I had to put away the props in which I’d placed my faith and go to bed trusting God, realizing that even if my fears came true, He would be with me.
I crawled out of bed and put everything away. The dresser went back in place. My kids went back to their rooms and I went to sleep without my phone under my pillow. And that night, I slept better than I had in weeks!
Fear loses its power when we actively trust God more than what we fear. {Tweet}
Let’s ask the Lord to show us today what we’re afraid. What could be paralyzing your faith, and keeping you from living confidently in His peace and freedom? And let’s be brave enough to give God a chance to come though for us by taking one small step of faith in that area where we’re most afraid.
ENTER TO WIN
What small step of faith could you take to walk away from or through one of your fears today?
Share your thoughts below and ENTER TO WIN the audio version of A Confident Heart! ChristianAudio invited me to do the reading, so you’ll actually hear me telling the stories and sharing the teachings when you listen to it. And I’m so excited to give one to two of you that enter to win!
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I’ve struggled with fear my whole life. I was made to feel worthless growing up & as I became a Christian I feared failing God. I knew He was calling me to take huge steps of faith in sharing my testimony, but I worried that I would let Him down & fail Him. I have to constantly battle that & remember that it is HIM that will work through me & in my weaknesses. If I do this in my flesh I will fail. If I let Him do this through me, then nothing formed against me will stand!
Oh to hear your voice deliver the words in your beautiful book – what a blessing!
I am so fearful for my health. Ive been struggling with sickness for two months and im so afraid of not getting well and of being alone when I feel so bad. I know God’s got this but the fear overwhelms with sometimes I just sit and call His name . I really need prayer.
This devotional has hit me where I struggle not to live. Several comments have resonated: ones who are sick/aging and those with generalized anxious fear. I will pray for you! Add to the list a fear of coming bad times. I have copied some of the devotional and comments to a Word document that I will print out and reread when fear rears its ugly head. I will fight it with Truth! Thank you for this God-inspired well-timed devotional, and thank you for the precious comments of everyone who has shared her heart.
Renee, this devotional speaks to us all. We all have fears don’t we!? And yet God’s Word tells us “Do not Fear”. Thank you for your honesty.
I am going through a divorce (not my choice) but the Lord is holding me and teaching me and strengthing me through His Word. It is not the end of the story…the Lord is still writing my story.
I am holding to Psalm 27:14. I love that verse. I repeat it a lot in the middle of the night!
I just saw your’e post and I’m also seperated from my husband ( we aren’t divorced yet but He says he wants a divorce)we have been seperated for 3 years but neither one of us has filed. I am struggling with this because I have prayed and prayed and we have a 4 year old son that lives with my husband and I see him on weekends but I know that this is not God’s will for me and my little boy! I go to church every Sunday with my son by ourselves and my son prays like a 4 year old would and it breaks my heart:( I know that God will not force my husband to stay married and work things out if that’s not what he wants , so I’m praying that he will change his heart. I don’t know anyone who is going through the same as me so I just had to share a little bit with you. Do you have kids? How do you feel? Are you angry at God? or I should say at first were you angry at God? I have to be honest with you..I have days where I am frusterated and it comes out at God as anger but I know he understands.
This is what I needed to read for the day. I’ve been procrastinating out of fear instead of trusting God that He will help me to use my talents to help others and do what I love to do which is create art.
I’m 79yrs. old. My husband of 57yrs passed away in 12/12. I have this fear of driving alone and to new places . He always did the driving. My daughter lives 45min from my home and l have not driven to her home in the 5yrs she lives here. I am like a prisoner in my home. I only drive to places that are in my area.
I will not drive on freeways. I stress very easily I do have a GPS don’t trust it. Fear of moving from lane to lane when I do drive if needed to. Thinking of moving closer to my daughter but the fear of driving and learning to new places has kept me up at night. I also keep praying to God, but it doesn’t help feel confident.
These are also lessons I’m trying learn but not there yet.
I have battled anxiety my entire life, but more extremely over the last couple of years. I have so many crutches in place “to help me cope”. One of the crutches is never eating out with my husband, because I’m scared of a panic attack and making a complete fool of myself and my husband in a restaurant packed with people. It sounds so silly, but this fear is keeping me locked at home instead of enjoying my life and my marriage with my man. Just reading your post today has been amazing because I’m realizing that all those crutches I have so meticulously put in place are actually feeding my fear. And do not feed that fear anymore, I need to take those crutches away – which in itself can be quite a fearful thing to do.
This is a great devotion for today! It’s good to hear other believers struggle with ” Fear” also. I absolutely struggle with turning my will over to God but 2 seconds later I’m taking it right back because I’m afraid what I’m trusting God for won’t happen or won’t happen because he doesn’t want it to right now.
I have let “Fear” dictate to me what I was going to do for example: I have always been so afraid to fail, I never went to college because I didn’t want to take a chance and fail, I have left 2 marriages because I was so afraid of failing as a wife, my son lives with his dad because I’m afraid I will fail as a parent
because of my experience when I was a child, and on and on( You see where I’m going) I Thank-God that I’ve been set free from Fear and through the love of Christ I have been made whole! Satan is such a liar, and I hold onto 2 Timothy 1:7-” For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and of a sound mind” Halleleujah!
having read through “Confident Heart” 3 times:) I would love to share an audio version with friends. I bought a copy for my daughter who just turned 20 and going away to college in couple of weeks. thank for this excellent book that is so practical!
God is so good and mindful of us! This came at exactly the time I need it. I am experiencing many changes in my life at this time and fear tries to consume me at times. The fear of the “unknown” and the “what ifs”. I keep reading scriptures and reminding myself- greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
I need to change my focus off my pain that brings fear to my wonderful Redeemer and Savior. He is able. I don’t need to be able.
You know, I live my life in total fear of not being accepted or of being alone. I don’t “stir the waters” or stand up for myself because I am afraid that I will upset someone or someone won’t approve of me. It is no way to live my life. I need to come to the point where if I am standing up for myself, in love and not in hate or bitterness, I know I will be okay because I have Christ on my side. I need to be strong enough to know that I am okay because Jesus loves me and that is all I need. I don’t need to fear other people’s reactions to me or being alone because I will never be completely alone as long as I stand by my Lord and Savior! These are lessons I am trying to learn, but have not completely learned yet.
Hi:), I was just sitting here after leaving a comment, going over what some people left for comments and I came across your’e comment and I had to reply because everything you said was me for practically my whole life! When I was a child I grew up in a dysfunctional, alcoholic, abusive, could never do anything right no matter what I did, kinda family. As I grew up I was an “approval addict” meaning I needed the approval of everyone I dealt with whether it was at work, boyfriends, friends, church leaders, etc in order to feel worthy, and valued. Everyone’s opinion of me became how I based my worth and self esteem. If you didn’t like me well than it must be because I’m fat and ugly and whatever Satan put into my head. I went out of my way to get the approval of everyone. I didn’t like confrontation because what if I said something to upset you? Then you wouldn’t like me, right? Finally Jesus said: STOPPPP!
Once I became a christian and started really studying what the word says about me, and what God says about me, slowly I was set free from this. It wasn’t easy, in fact I still sometimes struggle but I know who I am in Christ. ” I am his masterpiece” ” I am created in his image” I am the head and not the tail” etc. So I just wanted to encourage you to focus on what Jesus thinks about you and slowly people’s opinions about you will suddenly not matter to you at all! One more thing..lol
Once we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, We are NEVER alone ever again:) It’s funny because before I gave my life to Christ I didn’t know it, but I was alone. I always had people around me or with me so I thought I had friends, but the truth is they just wanted something from me..that’s all! Me and my husband are seperated and I had that fear of being alone to, but I started to meet other women and get numbers and before I knew it, I had so many ” Sisters in Christ” supporting me that being alone is something I now enjoy..lol Have a wonderful day and I’ll be praying for you!:)
this is EXACTLY what I needed to hear today!!! I am a new mom, but had a loss before our rainbow baby was born. I struggle with worry that something may happen to my baby. I’m constantly in fear of it and it has been shaking me to the core. I pray, I read, I meditate.. but these words were exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you for this God Wink Renee!!
I think “actively” is the key word here. We don’t just think it we let our actions reflect our faith. Hard but necessary. Thank you, Renee.
Apparently God knew exactly what I needed to hear today! Went through a devastating relapse of my husband’s alcoholism for three months earlier this year, and almost lost him. I work a very stressful job and this week the job stress came crashing down on my so hard that it has brought back up all of my fears, with the relapse fears leading the pack. As I drove home last night I prayed and repeated “I trust you Jesus” over and over. Thank you for the blog and all who responded, it surely helps to know that my weakness is shared by many others and that with scripture and more prayer I can keep working towards putting my faith ahead of my fear. My favorite scripture when I am fearful is Philippians 4:6-7. Peace and love to you all.
I would love the audiobook to encourage me in being more confident and less fearful. I’m a worrier and very uncomfortable in new situations and during change. I could really use this encouragement to seek God and know I’m not alone and do not need to worry and be afraid.
I will choose to trust what Isaiah 43:1-2 says. This is such perfect timing for me. I have been letting my fear paralyze me.
I choose to focus my attention more on the love of God than on the things I fear. 1 John 4:18a “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
My six year old granddaughter has Selective Mutism. She speaks to only a select few people. We’re told this is an anxiety disorder. She says she’s afraid to talk to people. She is attending a special camp this week where counselors work with children individually and her parents receive training to help her overcome this. Pray with us that God will help her overcome this fear and someday be able to share Jesus with others vocally.
As a senior adult, I find myself very fearful over my future aging process – my physical health, my mental health, financial needs, etc. I guess I had thought by now, I would have it all together and rest in the God who has always watched over me. It is hard, though, when you are bombarded on all sides about the “woes”‘ of aging and second-guessing many of the decisions you have made in your earlier life; realizing there are no “do overs” at this point. Thank you for the devotion today and reminding me that God has this stage of my life covered as well and to “fear not” and rest in Him.