By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  07/22/20

Fear comes in many forms, including panic, dread, and worry. Ultimately, fear is a lack of trust in God. Anxiety is a preoccupation with unimportant things and a false reasoning that if those things are resolved, life will be great. You may find yourself falling into this trap when you say things such as, “If only I had ‘x’ number of dollars, I would finally have peace.”

Spiritually, fear can drive you away from God. And anxiety may cause you to do one of two things: You may either spin your wheels, trying to achieve what you feel is lacking, or begin doubting God’s love for you.

Ironically, sometimes our fear actually brings about the thing we fear the most. We fear rejection, so we avoid taking the risk of reaching out to others. We then become isolated, which causes us to appear arrogant, so that others begin to avoid us. Thus our fear brings about the rejection that we feared in the beginning.

When we let our fears and anxieties dominate our emotions and behaviors, peace will seem out of reach. This will remain true as long as we seek peace in our own strength. Psalm 29:11 says, “The LORD gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Where do you seek peace? In striving for perfect, conflict-free relationships? In knowing you have more money than you could possibly need? In feeling accepted by those around you? Peace can only come from God’s righteousness working within us, for He alone is constant and unchanging. He will never fail to do what He has promised. So, no person can have peace apart from a daily filling of the Spirit of God, who gives us eyes to see and believe these Truths.

Prayer: God, forgive me for being afraid of life circumstances as a result of not trusting You. I pray that Your Spirit will fill me with peace today and that I would not allow fear and anxiety to dominate my life. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27).