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Rev. Dr. Jose Vettiyankal

How to overcome your fears?

Overcome fear by staying focused on Jesus and talk to him. And also talk to His Father directly. Trust in Jesus and pray, that will help you to overcome your fears. What is the origin of fear? Origin of fear is from any event which has no remedy or answer. But God helps one to overcome it.



The Bible says, “Fear not, for I am with you. I have called you by name” ( Is. 43:3-5). There are 366 days in a year. And also there are 366 verses in the Bible where we read “Fear not, I am with you”- one for each day.


In a retreat, I said, “If any have fear, please raise your hand”. All most all raised their hand. One man in the front didn’t. I thought he was full of courage and had no fear. I asked him, “What is the secret to your fearlessness? The answer frightened me. “Father I have fear, to raise my hand and acknowledge that I have fear”. We have fear of one or other concerns of our life such as driving, coming onto the stage, people, animals, insects, reptiles, ghosts etc. How to overcome it? Following are some of the tips for it.


1. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." Hebrews 12:2

Benny the Bunny lived in the zoo. He had lots of friends at the zoo, but he had a big problem: he was afraid of his shadow! And he couldn’t get rid of it. It just followed him wherever he went. One day Benny went to his friend, the turtle and said, “I’m afraid of my shadow. What can I do?”

The turtle answered, “Whenever I’m afraid of something, I just pull my head into my shell until it goes away.”

Benny said, “But I don’t have a shell!”

So Benny went to see his friend, the zebra and said, “I’m afraid of my shadow. What can I do?”

The zebra said, “When I’m afraid of something I just run as fast as I can until I’m far away from it.”

Benny said, “But no matter how fast I run my shadow is still with me.”

So Benny went to see his friend, the lion and said, “I’m afraid of my shadow. What can I do?”

The lion said, “I’m not afraid of anything. But if I were, I’d just roar until it goes away.”

Benny said, “But I’m a rabbit. And rabbits can’t roar.”

So Benny went to see his friend, the giraffe and said, “I’m afraid of my shadow. What can I do?”

The giraffe thought for a minute, then said, “When I’m nibbling on the leaves at the top of the trees, I don’t even notice my shadow because I’m looking up instead of down. So I think if you keep your face toward the sunshine, you’ll never see your shadow.

Benny thought that was pretty good advice. So ever since that day he has focused on the sunshine, and even though his shadow was still there, he was not afraid of it again.

You know, it is the same with us Christians. Sometimes we have problems that never seem to go away. But as long as we keep on look towards Jesus, our problems won’t seem as scary.


Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

Let’s pray about that. Father God, we know that there will be things in life that scare us, so we pray that you’ll always help us to keep our eyes on Jesus so that our problems won’t seem as scary.


2. Let us talk to God to overcome our Fears

God’s phone number is 333. So Jer. 33:3 says “Call to me I will give you the answer” "The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them." Psalm 34:17

A cell phone and a companion with a cell phone are needed for the act.

Once a pastor was addressing a children’s meeting in the Church, then cell phone rang!

What’s that noise? Oh, no! Somebody’s cell phone is ringing in church! Uh-oh! It’s mine! I’d better get that. (Takes phone out of pocket and answer.) Hello? (Act surprised and look up toward the ceiling. Look back at children, point upward and mouth, “It’s Him!”) Yes, Lord. Yes, this is Steve. The kids? They’re here. OK, I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them that, too. OK. Is that all? Alright, thanks for calling. Goodbye – I mean Amen. (Closes phone and turns to children.) Guess who that was! Well…do you really think that was God on the phone? No, of course not. I was just kidding. But let’s talk about talking to God.


First of all, do you need a cell phone to talk to God? No, we don’t need a phone. Do you need to talk out loud or can you just pray in your mind?


How about where you can talk to God? Sure we talk to God here in church, but where else can you talk to God? (Solicit suggestions such as at home, at school, walking down the street, etc.) Well, you can talk to God anywhere, anytime about anything. And the Bible says that God will be listening. Psalm 34:17 says, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them.” So if you have something on your mind, God wants to hear from you. It doesn’t matter when and it doesn’t matter where. And you don’t even need a cell phone!


When you pray you will get an answer from God for all your problems. The questions and problems which have no answer will generate fear. But God has an answer for every question and every problem. What is that answer which gives us consolation? The answer is “Everything will be turned for the favour of all those who love God and are called for his purpose” Rom 8:28. We will establish a sincere loving relationship with God through prayer. Prayer (talking to God) is a conscious constant conversation with God which will result in an intimate loving relationship with the Almighty.


That’s something we should pray about: Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can talk to you anywhere, anytime about anything. We pray you’ll help us to remember to do it more often and we thank you so much for listening to us. We pray this in Jesus’ name.


3. Inner Healing Prayer

It is a spiritual technique through which we ask Jesus to go to the past stages of growth and to erase the painful memories registered in the brain as part of the unconscious mind. Once a lady named Rita Thomas came to Logos having fear of sitting in closed rooms and spaces. She was suffering from claustrophobia. She could not even travel by car or sit in the Church during Holy Mass. During the inner healing prayer and adoration she invited Jesus into the past stages of growth and development. Miraculously she was freed from that great fear registered in her brain. Recently she came to logos and shared the testimony of how she was freed of this fear of many years. If you have several kinds of fear please come and attend an inner healing adoration and prayers. Then instantly or progressively you will be relieved.


You can also pray at home according to this model of prayer of inner healing.

“Jesus, you are the same yesterday, today and forever. Come into my yesterdays; into my wounded feelings and negative events to transform them for my favour and good. Jesus, I pray over all these negatives that happened in my life and over feelings such as rejection, unforgiveness, sorrows, fear, loneliness and failure etc. I pray over them all. Jesus! Come into my bitter experiences and change them into sweet memories. I pray and forgive all those who have offended me unjustly and pray that you bless them more than you bless me”.


Then add to it “For the sake of Jesus' sorrowful Passion, Abba Father, have mercy on us and on the whole world and on my symptoms of inner wounds” (10 Times).


Conclusion

Fear is a general factor which affects the whole system of the human body. It starts from the thinking and is developed in the mind. It affects the whole system of the human body. If you have a serious problem of fear you are in need of an inner healing retreat or try the above mentioned three tips. If you do not overcome your fear, fear will overcome you very soon. And the whole human system will be collapsed. In short fear prevents you to achieve something good in your life.

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