certainty is not a valid cause for fear. The psalmist says concerning fear, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Ps. 56:3). Indeed, as some one has said, “When we stop trusting, we start fearing.” The Scripture states that as Christians “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). As a sheep fully trusting the wisdom and benevolence of the shepherd we may say, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” (Ps. 23:4a). And what more need we as Believers than simply to know that He truly is with us. But what of the specific relationship of prayer to this problem of fear. Here we turn to the experiences of "David, who knew genuine fear, but who also knew, at times, anxiety or fear of the unreal. In the 34th Psalm, David tes tifies “I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” And again, “I will trust and not be afraid what man shall do unto me” (Ps. 56:11). It was in his ex perience of prayer and communion with God that David learned to tap the res ervoir of God’s courage and realize that when he was trusting there was no room for fear. Psychologists are more and more rec ognizing the importance of an active, vibrant faith to emotional well-being. Dr. James F. Bender has stated, “Pray er brings peace to troubled spirits, order to chaotic situation, calm out of tem pest, and beyond all, it gives victory over our fears.” Dr. Gordon Allport has stated, “Through prayer and faith in God, we can be freed from the devas tation of fear.” (The Individual and His Religion, McMillan Co., N. Y.) Whatever the nature of your fears, whether real or unreal, if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ I urge you to simply start trusting and believing Him. The place to start is in a prayer of confession, right now, for attempting to live your life independently of God and for tiying to do for yourself, and by yourself, the thing that He desires the Holy Spirit to do in and through you.
to meet a situation that threatens our well-being. However, in cases of anx iety, when the same physical reaction is taking place it may result in actual physical disorders such as digestive problems, and in more severe cases peptic ulcers. Fear is capable of caus ing an alteration of the distribution of the blood to the body, increased res piratory activity, and severe hyper-ten sion. We’ve seen what fear is, and what it can do. Let us look for a moment at the source of our fears. One eminent psychiatrist has made this very interesting statement: “Chil dren are bom into a world of fear and anxiety, but thdy are not bom afraid. From the moment they enter our society, forces set in motion by the complicated emotional machinery of ■their parents begin to exert fear pres sures upon them. Every moment, wak ing or asleep, every activity is con trolled, watched, hovered over by par ents. Protection and security dominate the relationship between parent and child.” (Lester L. Coleman, M.D.) We may agree or disagree with this state ment, but the fact remains that fears are learned. We are not bom with fears: they are planted; they blossom; and they grow through different stages of our development to maturity. Fear is one of the common denominators of all emotional life. Happily, the same writer has pointed out that “while fear and uncertainty thrive on each other, both are des troyed by our faith in facing and solv ing the problems of reality.” As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we face the same pressures, the same fears, the same uncertainties which give rise to fears. God’s Word makes it very plain that while we may not know the future, or even control the future, we need not fear the future. For faith in Jesus Christ brings us into an in timate relationship with the God Who holds the future, and to whom all things are known. Strengthened, then, with the assurance of His Word that He loves us, that He is concerned about our emotional and physical welfare, un
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