More free, Less worried

We have a group of people who pray every Thursday evening for the church and what is going on around Westbrook. Recently we were praying, and I prayed for a woman who was bound up with fear. I was asking God to give her relief and help her overcome her fear. The prayer time went on in a number of different directions and we finally ended. After we were done one of the women praying with us said, “You know that woman you were praying for is not the only one in our church who is fearful. I think God showed me that it is a problem with many others.” I just took that in and wondered about myself. Am I fearful? Do I have areas in my life that fear just dominates? What am I fearful of? I thought of it for a while and then moved on to other things.

About a week later I was reading in Mark 4. It was the story of Jesus falling asleep in the boat and a storm coming up that made the disciples afraid. The disciples wake Jesus up and say to him, “don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus got up commanded the storm to stop and it immediately cleared up. Then he turned to his disciples and said, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” That phrase jumped out at me and it was as if Jesus was saying that directly to me. And I thought what am I so afraid of? And I just started making a list of things I was afraid of, and it became a significant list.

So, I took each fear on my list and prayed about each one. I repented (turn away and turn toward God) of my fear, I renounced (verbally reject) those fears as lies, and I asked God to take away those fears. I told God I wanted to live by faith and not by fear. I wanted to trust in him and not be so controlled by fear. I felt different after that. More free, less worried. God answered those prayers.

What do you fear? What areas of your life could Jesus say, “Why are you so afraid?” Would you take some time alone and make a list of those areas in your life you are afraid of? Would you turn away from those fears, renounce those fears as lies and ask God to take those fears away? Maybe even share them with a trusted friend. As you do that you will be more free, less worried and your faith in God will grow.