Inner Thoughts With Abba

While reading through some of the Old Testament books, I noticed a pattern in which the defeat of a person or nation started with fear. It caught my interest, so I decided to meditate on it. I discovered that what we fear usually has the upper hand. This is because fear creates doubt and anxiety, both of which are conditions for defeat; if you are already defeated mentally, you will inevitably lose physically (as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is).

On the other hand, Faith is the secret to victory over any situation; the bible says if you have Faith as little as a mustard seed you can move mountains.

The tactics of the enemy is usually to put fear into the believer to weaken them and then attack. We see this with Goliath and Israel, he kept taunting them and they were frightened. If God did not raise the saviour David who was a man of Faith, Israel would have surely been defeated. Goliath tried the fear tactics with David but didn’t realize that it would not work on David as David was a man of Faith. David had built strong Faith in God in his secret place; he understood who God is; this shows that fear is a lack of our knowledge of God. “Indeed, the people suffer for lack of knowledge”. David defeated Goliath with the knowledge of God that he had understood (1 Samuel 17).

¹⁸ They shouted it loudly in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, so that they might take the city [without a long siege].

 1 Chronicles 32:18

Sennacherib the King of Assyria tried to defeat King Hezekiah in 1 Chronicles 32 using the tactics of fear. Hezekiah did not give into this fear instead he prayed to God believing that they will be saved. God sent his angels and Assyria was defeated without even lifting a finger to fight.

While Faith comes by hearing, Fear can also come by hearing. This was evident with Eve and the serpent, the serpent said things to her which caused her to doubt. Therefore, we must be mindful of what we “hear”.

Gideon, a powerful hero of God, conquered the vast Midian army with his army of 300 men because he had confidence in God. He was initially afraid, but that fear was dispelled by a word from God that came through a dream (Judges 7). This shows that sometimes fear might creep in, but we have the word of God as the tool to extinguish the fear. There are several instances of fear been used as tool for defeat and faith the tool for victory.

How to conquer Fear

We understand that fear causes defeat, now how do we deal with fear when faced with it? Or how do we prevent fear from coming near us? Some keys can be found in the story of Peter walking on water.

²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:29-31

Build your Faith

Faith is the opposite of Fear so to conquer fear, you need to build your Faith. We can see Faith as a constant factor with all biblical characters that experienced victory over their enemies like David, Daniel, Joshua, Hezekiah, Peter etc.

Jesus response to Peter was “yea of little faith, why did you doubt?”, this shows that Faith is what Peter needed to overcome the wind and continue walking on water. The bible refers to Faith as a shield, a shield is used to protect you from all fiery darts or arrows that the enemy throws at you. In the case of peter the arrow fired at him was the wind he saw but he didn’t have the Faith to quench it hence he began to sink. How do we build our Faith?

• Prayer

This is something that needs to be done consistently. The bible says men ought always to pray, so prayer should be part of your life. Prayer is acknowledging that we cannot do life without God and we need Him. When you don’t pray you are saying God I don’t need you and that is pride, God resists the proud.

Peter cried for help, he didn’t allow himself drown, he remembered that there is a God who saves. You can even pray to God to help your unbelief especially in situations where He has given you His word but your mind cannot comprehend the possibility (Mark 9:23-25).

In Jude 20, you build up your Faith by praying in the Spirit. What starts to happen as you pray in the spirit is that your eyes opens up and you begin to see, this sight brings Faith.

Look at the story of Elisha and his servant, the servant was afraid because of the enemy that was encamped all around them. The servant could not see the army that was with him. Elisha was calm because as a man of prayer he could see, he told his servant that the army with them is more than that of the enemy but I am sure that didn’t stop the fear of the Servant. When the eyes of the servant was opened to see the host of angels with them, his faith rose up. What caused the eyes of the servant to open was prayer (2 Kings 6:15-17).

• Meditate on the Word of God

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. The word of God can be found in scriptures but it can also come through dreams, visions, thoughts, imaginations and knowings. Scripture is filled with testimonies of things God can do and has done, this gives us the confidence that if He did it before, he can do it again. The word of God can be prophetic words that comes through dreams, this helps strengthens your Faith.

I had dreams about a promotion but it wasn’t forthcoming, I was beginning to doubt if it will even come but I held onto the dreams of promotion I received. I remember also declaring the scripture; “Promotion does not come from the east or the west but it comes from God”. This gave me the confidence that since God has given me His word about a promotion, I will get it and it is not for me to worry how He does it. Guess what? the promotion didn’t come the way I expected but it exceeded my expectations.

Combining prayer with word study gives an excellent result because as you pray your eyes are opened. As you study the word with this opened eyes, you begin to receive insights from scriptures that strengthens your faith and brings transformation.

• Have a Christian community

The bible teaches us that Iron sharpens Iron, so being a part of a christian community where you can be vulnerable and share your fears is very helpful. A community where you find people who can join their faith with yours in prayers, see the story of Elisha and his servant, it was Elisha who prayed for the eyes of the servant to be opened. Also, hearing the testimonies of others brings comfort and assurance, you realize you are not the only one going through that situation and as God shows up for them He will show up for you.

Fix your Gaze on Jesus

Peter walked on water while his gaze was on Jesus but the moment he took his gaze off Jesus to focus on the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. Avoid things that cause you to be afraid, Good self-awareness will help you identify things you watch, listen to or read that brings fear and anxiety. Remember during the peak of covid, the news we heard caused fear, some even died because of the actions they took out of fear. Sometimes it might be friends who always have a pessimistic point of view about situations, avoid telling them about the issue.

I noticed that whenever I start getting anxious, it is because I have removed my focus from God and I am relying on my own strength, what I do is start to realign my focus back to God. There are practical ways to do this;

• Worship

Spend time worshipping God, worship helps to realign your focus to God. As you worship you begin to remember how mighty God is and how He can save you from any situation. One thing fear brings is sadness but worship expels sadness and restores joy. This is because as you worship, you come into the presence of God and in His presence there is fullness of joy. To learn more on the topic of joy please check out this post.

• Thanksgiving

The bible says do not be anxious for nothing but in everything let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Thank God for things that has been done in the past and things you want to see God do. I remember when I finished my masters and I was trusting God for a job that would sponsor me, a month to my visa expiring I had not gotten a job. My friends were worried for me, they wondered how I stayed calm. The truth is that sometimes the fear creeped in but I kicked it out by thanking God for the job of all the places I applied to. I will say “Thank You Jesus for the job offers from company A, B, C, D”. This was the tool I used in kicking out fear and God indeed showed up for me.

• Meditation

Meditation is focusing on Jesus, taking your mind off everything else, shutting down your mind and just fixing your gaze on Jesus. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, I just lay on my bed, play a sound in the background, close my eyes and just imagine myself in the arms of God as His little baby. This brings comfort to me that He will take care of me. I imagine other things that I want to see in my life, I imagine the good things that cancels out what caused the overwhelming feeling. For instance, if what is causing fear is failing an exam, I imagine myself passing the exams and sharing the testimony that I passed.

First step to conquering fear is surrendering your life to Jesus. You may have read this and haven’t accepted Jesus into your heart or feel like you’ve lost your way in the busyness of life. I would like you to say this short prayer: “Lord Jesus, I acknowledge you as my Lord and personal saviour. I repent of my sinful ways. I say yes to your will. I ask that you come into my heart and make it Your dwelling place.  Lord Jesus, teach me your ways so that I may know you intimately”.

Please share your own ways in which you have managed to overcome fear, we can all learn from each other. Also, follow our blog, like our posts, leave comments, and share them.