What Does the Bible Say about Anxiety and Fear?
Do you remember getting separated from your parents in a public place when you were a child?
I went to a pro baseball game with my dad when I was young. The huge mass of people and strangeness of the location was exciting and new. The roar of the crowd was fun to hear as we cheered for our favorite team. It was a great day. This changed dramatically when I got lost in that same crowd as we were leaving. I was away from my father and it made everything look completely different. I was alone, separated from my dad, and terrified. This emotion quickly transformed all that had been new and exhilarating just moments before. It turned the world into my enemy.
Fear is one of the main advesaries to a contented life in Christ. It is no accident this is the first emotion that follows the fall. Adam eats the forbidden fruit and man is separated from our true Father. When God comes into the Garden, we don’t see Adam trying to take dominion over the earth with his new knowlege. Adam hides in the bushes fear from the God who made him and loves Him. He went from walking with God in communion with Him in the cool of the day to filled with anxiety and fear hiding from God.
Sin and fear go hand in hand. Sin leads to separation from God. Life away from God is filled with fear. It should be. This world without God is a scary place.
Jesus came to destroy this causal relationship. He restores the fellowship between God and man. He healed the divide between God and man. He brings peace and drives out any reason to fear in those who love Him.
We have no reason to fear the world despite how bad things look. Not because we are powerful. Rather, it is because God is all powerful and He promises He will always be with us that we have no reason to fear.
If we are struggling, it may be because we have not yet determined who defines us. For more on this read:
Why am I Not Growing in Christ?
or
or watch:
Sermon Series – Is Your Identity in Christ?
With that in mind, here are 31
1) Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
2) 2 Timothy 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
3) Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
4) Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. …
5) Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
6) 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
7) Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
8) Psalm 56:3
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
9) 1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
10) Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
11) John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
12) Isaiah 35:4
Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
13) Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
14) Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
15) Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.
16) Matthew 6:34
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
17) Psalm 27:1
Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
18) Romans 8:31-39
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …
19) Psalm 94:19
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
20) Psalm 27:1-14
Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. …
21) Psalm 55:22-23
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.
22) Psalm 91:1-16
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, …
23) Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
24) Lamentations 3:57
You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’
25) Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
26) Hebrews 4:14-16
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
27) Psalm 121:1-2
A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
28) Isaiah 43:2-5
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.
29) Psalm 23:1-6
A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. …
30) 2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
31) Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Excellent post that is very timely for me! I am re-blogging.