Everybody has fears, worries or anxieties.
Fear is an emotional feeling of danger to a known or definite threat which will have a negative outcome. It can cause behavioural changes, such as avoiding something. Some fear is healthy like being careful near the edge of a cliff. If you face your fear and do something positive to overcome it then that fear has been positive. Fear can also be negative e.g. you don’t do something because you are afraid of the result.
Worry is focusing your thoughts on all the possible negative results when you could be using the same thoughts and energy towards problem solving. Worry stops life from progressing. Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles. It just takes away today’s peace.
Anxiety is a feeling of unease, that can be mild or severe. Everyone has some normal feelings of fear e.g. about sitting an exam etc. However some people find it hard to control their worries which become more constant and can often affect their daily lives to even avoid situations. Fear relates to a known or understood threat, but anxiety often follows from an unknown, unexpected or poorly defined threat.
Some Answers To Fear Etc If you are feeling fearful, worried or anxious assess your thoughts and put them into words. Until you can express your fears you can’t deal with them. Also identify the source of your worries. There will be times when you will realize that you are worrying needlessly at some silly thought and you will stop yourself from worrying about it. Or perhaps you are listening too much to negative things and so you should cut down about hearing those things.
Do we know who was the first person in the world to have fear and why?
Genesis 3:10 “And he (Adam v9) said (to God v9), I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, … and I hid myself.” What had just happened? The devil, through the serpent, had just successfully tempted Adam and Eve to sin and they were now conscious of themselves in a way that they were not before. They knew that they had disobeyed God and were not right with Him. So when “they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). God and the paradise garden remained the same. However Adam and Eve’s sin made them feel ashamed so they hid from God. The fear that drives men from God is a result of man’s sin but they cannot hide from God. John 3:19b-20 “… men loved darkness rather than light (i.e. the Lord Jesus), because their deeds were evil. v20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” People do not like to be told that their sins are wrong because they like doing them. However with sins everyone has some fears, worries or anxieties.
What Is The Answer to Fear/Worry/Anxiety?
In the Old Testament in Psalm 56:3 “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”
In Psalm 56 the writer, who is David, said that his enemies were oppressing to win over him, and were twisting His words. David admits that as a result he is afraid. However he says when he feels that fear stealing over him, he decides, even though he weak, he will put his trust in God.
In the New Testament Philippians 4:6 is written to Christians, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Don’t be anxious for anything is what God says. An amazing statement. Why? Because God says tell me everything. Bring all your small problems and all your big problems to Him.
Philippians 4:7 “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” So God says that His peace, which is the opposite to fear, worry and anxiety, will keep you.
Covid 19
Now there is one thing that is worrying people a lot today and that is Covid 19, which is a coronavirus, and can kill people. Are you worried about getting it? Looking at recent UK Covid 19 statistics (April 2020) it was noted that with the general population, out of every 75 people who get this virus 74 will survive. However this is, to a great degree, successful because people have been following social isolation policies.
People Worry About Death
When talking about Jesus Christ (v14) Hebrews 2:15 “And release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” In every heart there is the dread of death so that people are not free but Christ through His death can bring in people freedom from the fear of death.
What Produces That Fear Of Death?
When writing to Christians, who are going to heaven, 1Corinthians 15:55-57 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades (hell), where is your victory?“ The writer is singing of the victory over death. A sting has an unpleasant effect but that had now gone. He was rejoicing that death and hell holds no terror for them because of the greater power of God.
v56 “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.“
The sting of death is the consciousness of unforgiven sins before God that makes men afraid to die. How do we know that we have sinned? God’s law tells us that we have failed His standards. Romans 3:20 “… by the law is the knowledge of sin.” God’s law, in Exodus 20:1-17 shows where we have failed God’s standards and so deserve God’s judgment for sin.
There Is Victory Over Sin And Death
v57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.“
The victory over sin, death, and the grave was planned by God and comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. God gives the victory over death and the grave to each person who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as their Saviour. Why trust in the Jesus Christ? 1Corinthians 15:34 gives the answer, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; v4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” God had complete confidence in the sacrifice of Christ when He gave Himself for our sins at Calvary (outside Jerusalem) and bore in Himself all the righteous judgment that our sins deserved. Therefore God raised Him from the dead. Have you trusted that the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again for your sins? If you do then you can receive eternal life and everlasting victory over death and the grave.
You can also know the peace of God in a world of fear, worry and anxiety.