“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you.”   ~Isaiah 41:13

Fear not is the most repeated phrase in the entire Bible. In fact, there’s more than 365 fear not verses that encourage us not to worry or be anxious . . . that’s one for every day of the year. I guess God thinks it’s pretty important that we stop with all the worrying.

We are actually enabling worry and fear to grow in us by focusing on our problems. It doesn't matter what your situation might be, the more you talk and complain about it, the worse it seems. The problem literally grows in our minds which only serves to diminish our faith.

So how do we stop with all this fear and worry? Understanding the power of faith over fear and worry, is the key to letting go of this never-ending problem. We must learn to take our challenges directly to God, and that doesn't mean after we fail to achieve a solution on our own. Relying on self rather than having faith in God will inevitably make us fail every time.

What are the top three things you focus on every day? Do you worry about your problems or do you focus on your goals? We might be a whole lot better off if we started looking at all the good stuff in our lives rather than focusing so much energy on worrying about the bad stuff.

No matter how bad things might seem there is always something good to thank God for. We simply need to develop an attitude of gratitude! All too often we focus all of our energy on our problems rather than counting any of our blessings. I know, for me personally, this is Satan’s greatest way of distracting me and making me doubt God’s plan for my life. He get’s me looking at what’s going wrong, that is, not going the way I think it should be going, and that’s when I find myself angry and disappointed.

I’m especially prone to this when I get blindsided and things happen abruptly! I always seem to have a plan laid out in my head, a plan of how and when things are going to happen. And when they don’t go as planned, I freak out... especially when I’m forced to wait. I get focused on me, my life, my plan, my timing! I get so focused on me that I forget about Jesus and His much greater plan for me.

The sky is falling!…

Fear is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons! Worry and fear get us off balance, it gets us looking at the worst case scenario in every situation. Worry is the negative “what-if” thought. When the worry hits us we must train ourselves to run, don't walk, to God. We must immediately call on Jesus, and instantly we will see that whatever the fear was, its just a thought, it is not real.

The shadows disappear when we look at the sun, so too will our worries vanish when we look at God. The devil is the great deceiver! He can cast a huge, worrisome shadow on any situation, even the smallest of things can seem bigger than life. It’s a mind trick to get us to look at him (the problem), and in so doing, turn away from faith in God (the solution)! But God can shine a light on the truth in any situation, showing us that worry is nothing more than an illusion.

And even when seemingly bad things do happen, it’s never as bad as the devil would have us think. Moreover, God promises to make something good out of even the worst of situations. We must hold tight to this promise whenever we are tempted to fear the worst. We must take God at His word, hold to His promises and have faith that He will do exactly what He said.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”   ~ Romans 8:28

We need to learn to “fear not” no matter what’s happening, no matter how crazy things seem. We need to trust and lean on God to take the wheel and direct us through every situation. Fear is the opposite of faith. We must learn to stop looking at the shadows, shaking in our boots . . . turn to Him, and just, trust.

“So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”   ~Matthew 6:34 NLT

Now that we’ve learned how to stop worrying, can we ever exhibit total, blind faith?

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