Becoming Fearless

Becoming Fearless

Don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27

SOME PEOPLE ARE NATURALLY FEARLESS. But the rest of us have little difficulty imagining a worrisome possibility, creating unwanted scenarios around it, and letting that dangerous outcome swell in our minds until it seems almost inevitable. Quite unintentionally, we know how to cultivate our fears and lie awake imagining them. And because our mental space is the shaper of our prayers, we end up with a dark and distorted list of requests for God to deal with.

If prayer is like planting seeds, then fear is one of the hardest soils to till. It’s appropriate and important to pray when we’re afraid, of course; many of the psalms begin that way. We can bring our hearts and minds to God in any condition. But it’s also important to let the Spirit of God move us from fearful to faith-filled prayers—to agree with rather than rebut his promises, to let our hearts loosen their death grip on our own security and trust God to secure us, to relinquish our worst-case scenarios to his best-laid plans. Fruitful prayers are born of faith, hope, and love—especially love—and fear is an enemy to each of these and the fruitfulness they bring. It distorts our vision, undermines our faith, casts a negative light on everything God has said, and kills our compassion with self-protecting responses. In other words, it turns us inward, away from the light of God and into the darkest corners of our old-nature lives.

It is often said that the most frequent command in the Bible is “do not fear” (in variously worded phrases). It was spoken before big battles, great miracles, intimidating assignments, and generally unsettling circumstances. Jesus repeated it to his disciples the night before his crucifixion, assuring them that in spite of the tumultuous events ahead, they were rooted in a Kingdom and a peace that were greater and deeper than the world could ever give. A Kingdom mind always moves in that direction—away from troubled thoughts and toward the possibilities, promises, and purposes of God. He would not have told us to be fearless if our fears were well-founded. In light of his wisdom, power, and love, they aren’t. Prayers steeped in that confidence become living, moving testimonies to his goodness.

Victory over fear is the first spiritual duty of man.