7 minute read

By Bethany Rees

Halloween is upon us and it is a holiday where most people want to experience fear with scary movies, decorations, haunted houses, and costumes. However, facing the fear and monsters of our minds is not something we want to live everyday. Just talk to a child that is afraid of the dark every night and needs a nightlight to sleep. 

I’m sure most of us have a story about something we feared as a kid. We could easily picture the scary thing in our minds.  Terror would immediately overwhelm our thoughts and emotions, and paralyze us with fear. 

For me, I was scared to death of something coming out of the woods by my house to hurt me. The thoughts of wolves, bandits, and the Incredible Hulk coming out of the woods scared me the most. I could see all three of these things so clearly in my mind that I just knew I wouldn’t live to be a teenager. I was petrified every night and listened to the radio religiously to help drown out the sounds outside my window and somewhat drown my thoughts of something watching me from the woods.  

Can you relate? What were you afraid of as a child? 

The dark? The bogeyman? Snakes? Spiders? Your own shadow? 

Unfortunately, our sense of fear doesn’t magically go away when we become older. It just transforms into “more mature” anxieties beyond wolves, bandits, the dark, and the bogeyman. And if we’re not careful our fears can take on the form of anxiety which can also begin to paralyze us. 

As a teenager, my fears turned into anxieties about not being socially accepted.  I feared not fitting in, or even worse, standing out (what an oxymoron). I feared not being pretty or thin enough or not getting asked to a dance. 

As an adult, those fears transformed yet again to the areas of career, marriage, and parenting. 

Fears for my career centered around my insecurities on whether or not I was doing a good job. “Did my principal just look at me funny? What if he’s really upset with me and just hasn’t had a chance to tell me?”

I was such a people pleaser that finding out I had disappointed someone would wreck me. I had always worked hard to exceed everyone's expectations and go that extra mile. 

Then my fears went to marriage; “What if my husband wants to trade me in for a thinner/younger model?”

Unfortunately, going all those “extra miles” at work don’t count as actual exercise, so yeah I gained a little bit of weight. To make matters worse, my insecurities would occasionally cause me to act ugly towards my husband all because my mind went wild with fear. Poor guy, he was totally caught off guard by my ticked off attitude. 

And then there is parenting. This is where I spent an enormous amount of energy focusing on my fears. “What if I screw my children up for life and they become…(insert every bad thought)...?” 

Nothing showcases my fear more than the story about bringing our first born home from the hospital. My husband was adamant that our son would sleep in his own bed from day 1 and the thought terrified me. 

“What if I don’t hear my precious baby cry at night and he dies from neglect?,” I worried.

I literally stood in his doorway for hours crying, and just looking at him to make sure he was ok. Now our “baby” is 16 and driving, and if I’m not intentional in focusing my thoughts, my fears can easily get out of control thinking of all kinds of worst-case scenarios with that situation.

 I have spent so much time and mental energy on thinking about my fears in those areas. It usually starts with a question in my mind and slides quickly down that slippery slope into a worst-case scenario that I fixate on. Those scenarios overtake my thoughts, wake me up from my sleep, and wear on my body. 

In a 2002 article in the journal “Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience,” Thierry Steimer, Ph.D. explains that some see fear and anxiety as one in the same while others agree that they are similar but that anxiety is a more “generalized response to an unknown threat or internal conflict, whereas fear is focused on known external danger.”

Whether we label it fear or anxiety, the negative thoughts and feelings we give attention to greatly affect our mental and physical health. 

So is there hope for people like me that tend to allow their minds to “go there” and spiral down a dark treacherous path where fear/anxiety becomes our master? 

Of course! 

As it says in 2 Timothy 1:7,  “for God gave us a spirit NOT of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

What a glorious truth to be reminded of. When our mind senses fear and anxiety creeping up, we need to remember what we know is true. In other words, when there is a shadow of fear lurking in the dark parts of our mind we need to turn the light on and expose what is real. 

Nothing turns a figurative light on in our minds quicker than prayer and scripture. Memorizing scriptures from God’s word (or at minimum the concepts of specific scripture) will always help us turn God’s truth and light on to expose fears for what they are...merely shadows of illusions within our minds.

I have never been good at memorizing exact scripture and it’s reference (where it is located in the bible), but I have hacked my way into getting better at it. My hack was to use various parts of scripture as my passwords to the accounts I use the most. This forces my brain to think about and focus on that scripture multiple times a day. And when I have to change my passwords, I choose new scriptures that I need in that season of my life. 

Need help getting started with bible verses that will shed light on your fears? Below are some scriptures to help us regain control of our thoughts and shed God’s light on our dark fears. 

Stopping a “fear thought” in its track: 

• I have a spirit of power, love, and self-control.
  • 2 Timothy 1:7  “for God gave us a spirit NOT of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 

• I will not fear.
  • Mark 5:36b “Do not fear, only believe.”
  • Romans 8:15-16 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” 

• What can man or this situation really do to me? 
  • Hebrews 13: 6 “So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Remembering that I have a choice in what I think about and that I can regain control of my mind:  

• I choose to think about what is true.
  • Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

• I don't have to stay in this thought. I am a new creation with a renewed mind.
  • Ephesians 4:23-24 “and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (read 4:17-24 for the full concept)

 Speaking truth: 

• God made me to be bold.
  • Proverbs 28:1 “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”

• Secrets and darkness will always be exposed by the light.
  • Matthew 10:26-27  “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

• I don’t have to carry this burden, Jesus can carry it for me.
  • Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

• I am valuable to God.
  • Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?[a] And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

• I walk in light, not darkness.
  • John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So no matter what you find yourself fearful of, look to scripture to help you shed God’s light and truth to shrink that monster lurking in the dark parts of your mind. 

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Do Not Fear.

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Theme Song: 

No Fear - Kari Jobe

References Used:

• Thierry Steimer, PhD. “The biology of fear- and anxiety-related behaviors.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. September 2002. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181681/   
• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.