Overcoming A Fearful Heart

As I was thinking about what to post on this Monday, I have been praying about some new posts for the new year, and I may post them on Heart and Home, but I decided to post the first one on here: Overcoming a Fearful Heart. The series of post will be on "It's a matter of the heart," and I may be asking some different people to write some of these posts, but I decided to do the first one because this is something that I have struggled with off and on in my spiritual life...a fearful heart.

2 Timothy 1 says:

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
2To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
4Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
5When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
6Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
10But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
13Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
14That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
15This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
16The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
17But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.
18The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.

and I John 4:18

18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Many of you have read my testimony on this blog, but maybe there is someone on here who hasn't! From what I can remember from being 4, I remember sitting on the back yard swing and asking mama how I could be saved because I didn't want to go to hell when I died, but as I grew older, I couldn't remember everything clearly, and I was so fearful and unsettled about my salvation that I struggled with doubts for about 2-3 years. In those 2-3 years, I would go forward in meetings and talk to daddy and mama, different pastor's wives, but I could never settle my fears and doubts. Finally one night, I was by myself at my grandma's and I was so afraid that I wasn't saved that I knew that I had to settle it that night. Like I John 4:18 says, fear hath torment, and I was so tormented by the fear that I would go to hell, or be left behind. To make a long story short, that night, I had prayed and prayed to ask the Lord to save me, but every time I would ask Him, I would still have that fear pop into my mind, but that night, I asked Him to save me, yes, but I told the Lord that I couldn't go through this fear and doubt and constantly begging for salvation, and He reminded me of this verse, 2 Timothy 1:12, that He was able to keep that which I have committed to Him. So, (I said that I was going to make a long story short...haha...) that night I did that, I believed His Word that He would keep that which I committed to Him, my salvation is in His hands!

Now, many of you are probably wondering, why did she type all that to talk about a fearful heart? Even though, I left my salvation in the Lord's hand that day, and I meant it with all my heart and I believed that He took care of it. I still have to overcome the sin of fear. Yes, fear is a sin. It is the sin of unbelief, doubt, calling God a liar. Because I struggled with this sin for so long, it became a habit in my life just like a drunkard who is saved, they still struggle with that inward desire to drink. Just like a drunk that is saved can conquer the sin of drinking in their lives through the Lord Jesus, I can conquer the sin of fear, and so can you, too!

Romans 8:37

37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

If you read the verses above, you will have noticed that I made some of the words bold so that they will stand out. How can we conquer our fearful heart?

• Focus on God's promises. You have a fear about something...look for a promise in His Word to focus on. Remember God never fails on His promise. One verse that has always helped me is Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever." I may change, my feelings may change, my emotions can be like a roller coaster sometimes, but I can always depend upon my God to be the same.


• Focus on what God has done for you. And praise Him for it! Remember the song "Count Your Blessings"? "When upon life billows you are tempted tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost...count your many blessing every doubt will fly....and you will be singing as the day goes by!"


• Be persuaded! Persuaded means convinced! Hold fast! Stand your ground! The only sound words that we have as Christians is God's Words, and be convinced of that. When satan comes knocking with the fiery darts of doubt and fear, be persuaded, convinced, holding firm to those Words. Never let in an inch of disbelief. Actually the Lord gave me a verse recently, one that I have never noticed before in my Bible reading, Luke 1:45, "And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." Be persuaded that the Lord is going to do as He said He would do!


• Be Reminded. It is not you who does the conquering. It is Christ through you. That is why it says in I John 4, that perfect love casteth out fear. There is not one person that can love perfectly. We are sinners, but as we are filled with His perfect love, He casteth out our fear. He is the one who gives us peace and a sound mind. Our center focus should be on the Lord Jesus Christ. As we are focusing on Him, our fears and basically our "self" takes the background and He gets the preeminence. He becomes the one who sits on the throne in our lives, not ourselves.

After all this rambling, I hope and pray that this has helped someone with their "fearful heart". Remember, "Fear not!" God's Been So Good!