Fear hits us from all angles. We desire to make a difference and fear living a life that doesn’t count. We need control and fear surrendering to God. We fear insignificance and uncertainty. The fear of failure drives us to make rash decisions or causes us to fear deciding at all. And then there is the final enemy—we fear dying. We battle fear, but things change when we realize the battle is too big for us. We are surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned. The battle against fear will be won, at the end of the day, by coming to grips with this truth: The battle belongs to the Lord. That’s what King David learned early in his life. 

1 Samuel 17:45-47
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head . . . For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

Let me wrap up this series on fear with an email I received from Jill, who finally gave her battles to the Lord.

When my brother, Dave, was diagnosed with cancer, this became my life verse. Nothing is scarier and better at making you feel helpless than cancer. There were days when he fought that I would come home from the hospital and open my Bible to these verses and read them over and over again.

Then, as he became sicker, as the test results continued to come back bad, as he fought and continued to lose his earthly battle, I had peace that he wasn’t fighting alone. Finally, when the Lord took my brother home to be with Him in heaven, I thought the battle was over…. but I was so wrong. MY battle was just beginning…

After my brother’s death, I battled anger, fear, guilt, heartsickness, depression, remorse… the list continues. And it was during that time that I found out FIRSTHAND that the battle TRULY IS THE LORD’s; all I had to do was give it to Him.

My faith in my heavenly Father has changed significantly since my brother’s death. I still face “Goliath’s,”… some of them related to my brother’s death… but I trust WHOLEHEARTEDLY that I am NOT ALONE and that it is not MY battle… but HIS.

The truth of these verses has made all the difference in my life and spiritual walk with the Lord. TO HIM BE ALL THE GLORY!!

Father,
We confess that we are not able to battle the enemy of fear. But you are. The battle is yours. We surrender our fears to you today…and again tomorrow. Thank you for fighting our battles for us all the way to our eternal home, where we will finally and forever know a place with no fear. In Jesus’ name. Amen.