What Can Fear Do to Me?

What if fear didn’t have the final say in your life? In this vulnerable and eye-opening episode, Stormie Omartian shares her personal journey from childhood trauma to emotional paralysis—and the supernatural breakthrough that changed everything. Learn how a spirit of fear can impact your health, relationships, and faith, and discover how prayer and God’s Word offer keys to lasting peace. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who’s tired of letting fear rule their heart.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Stormy Omardian Podcast, where we explore the power of prayer to change lives, strengthen faith, and deepen relationships. Today, Stormy shares her deeply personal journey with fear and how it had ruled her life until she discovered God's truth that set her free. In this episode, she lays the foundation for overcoming fear by replacing lies with scripture and reclaiming the power, love, and sound mind God promises.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hi, I'm Stormy O'Mardian. Welcome to The Power of Praying. I'm talking today about my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear. This episode one is called What Can Fear Do to Me? This book is about finding the truth with a capital T concerning our fears and then learning to speak the truth until our heart and our mind accept and believe it wholeheartedly. It's about praying to know the truth that sets you free and then taking the steps necessary to receive all the freedom God has for you. In order to live the life God has for us, we must not allow our fears to control us. If I could sum up the first 30 years of my life in one word, it would be fear. All caps. It's because I experienced so many terrifying things when I was a child that it carried over into adulthood. I never had anyone to talk to about what was happening to me, or who could reassure me that things would get better, or who could help me feel safe. So fear became a way of life for me. We all experience some kind of fear in our lives. Each one of us is afraid of something. We know fear to be a familiar feeling that comes as a result of believing certain persons, situations, or conditions might threaten our well-being or the well-being of those we love and care about most. Other words that describe fear are dread, anxiety, apprehension, alarm, agitation, panic, worry, deep concerns, or terror. It would be hard to find anyone who never experiences any of these emotions. I have actually heard people say, I don't have fear, I just have some anxiety, dread, worry, and occasional panic attacks. I feel like saying, hello, fear is the root of all that, but I don't want to scare anyone. There is much to be afraid of in this world because no place is completely safe. We only need to turn on the news to see all the reasons we may have to be frightened. And the evil behind it is increasingly horrifying. That's why fear in the heart of many people appears to be at an all-time high. This is an emotional epidemic. Besides all the external reasons to have fear, we can suffer just as much from the fears that come from within us. And those fears can interfere with our life more than we may even realize. They could be caused by bad memories of frightening things that happened in the past, and we fear it could happen again at any moment. Or we may have had these fears for so long that we don't even know why anymore. You may even think, as I did, this is just the way I am, anxious and apprehensive. Whatever the reason, fear affects us mentally, emotionally, and physically. It weakens us and can make us sick in our mind, body, and soul. It shackles us. It interferes with our relationships and work. It can build within us until we become emotionally paralyzed by it. When we believe there is no way out of a terrifying or threatening situation for an extended period of time, it can affect every part of us with fear that leaves us incapacitated. Panic and anxiety, for example, can freeze your mind so that you cannot think straight. It can emotionally incapacitate you until you are unable to act in a calm and rational manner. Fear affects your health so that your blood pressure rises and your heart beats so hard you constantly hear it and feel it pulsing in your ears. It can make you feel like you're dying. I know this because I experienced paralyzing fear, anxiety, and panic attacks so intrusive I didn't know if I could pull it together to do even the simplest things I needed to do. When we experience such perpetual fear that it becomes a controlling force in our life, it makes us feel like life is out of control. When fear takes over our mind and soul like that, it keeps us from moving into all we can be and do. Taken to the extreme, a person can still experience symptoms of great fear, even when what caused that fear in the first place is long gone. Anyone who has had extreme and traumatic long-term fear can become dangerously affected by it if not treated properly. I used to be controlled by fear and anxiety, like I just described, to the point of emotional and physical paralysis. But I'm not that way anymore. I learned a long time ago that this kind of destructive and incapacitating fear does not come from God. It is part of the plan that the enemy of our soul has for us. And we must come to know the truth that sets us free. The absolute truth is God will never give us a spirit of fear. He has given us his power, his love, and nothing less than a sound mind. That is more than enough to be free from a spirit of fear. My early childhood, from as far back as I can remember, set me up for a life controlled by a spirit of fear. There was one frightening situation after another because my mother was severely mentally ill. She was also very angry, sinister, and mean. She was changeable in an instant, depending on who was around. It seemed that her favorite thing to do to me when I was a small child was slap me hard in the face when I least expected it, and locked me in a small dark closet underneath the stairs in the old two-story ranch house where we lived. She called me filthy names, most of which I will never in my life repeat to anyone. They are sickening, degrading, embarrassing, and offensive to any person who would read or hear them. She did all these things for reasons only she knew, because I never understood what I had done to deserve her wrath. The lack of love and compassion from her and her violence and hatred toward me made me terrified, anxious, and afraid all the time. But many of us have our own stories of times in our lives when we have been very afraid, or at least we fear those times. None of us gets away without experiencing struggle, suffering, or loss in our lives. But God has given us a way to overcome that kind of fear. 2 Timothy 1.7 is a scripture you need to memorize because you are going to need it. I mentioned it earlier. It says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. A spirit of fear doesn't come from God. God has given us his power and his love, and we need to lay hold of the sound mind he has for us. I'm not talking about when you feel afraid about something, which could be a prompting from the Holy Spirit to warn you, to avoid a certain place or person, or check the lock on your door. I'm talking about a real spirit of fear that controls you. You know it when you have it, because you feel it. It crawls up your back like a cold, wet blanket and stays there because you cannot shake it off. Part of getting rid of our fears means we must stop ourselves from what-if thoughts. They can drive us crazy and do not promote the sound mind God has for us. You know the kind I mean. What if I don't make it? What if I'm permanently injured? What if I don't recover from this disease? What if something bad happens to one of my children? What if I never find someone to marry? What if my marriage ends in divorce? What if I can't get over this problem? What if I can't do what I need to do? What if I'm left all alone? What if I don't have enough to eat? What if I fail? What if syndrome can be incapacitating and make life seem out of control? We have to recognize that we don't have to control everything ourselves. We can't do that anyway. What we can do is ask God to be in control of our life. We can learn what God's word says about fear and stand on his truth and promises that set us free of its life-diminishing stranglehold. This book will help you do all of that. Even before the pandemic happened, I had never seen fear so widespread and prevalent in people before in my lifetime. And this was true even among those who never seemed to be fearful persons before this. People I didn't even know that well responded to my friendly question, How are you? with words like, Oh, I'm so afraid. When I asked them what they were afraid of exactly, they gave me a variety of answers. For some, it is personal problems. For others, it is the spread of evil and violence. Still others are afraid of financial disaster. Many were fearful of horrible diseases and being incapacitated by them. Whatever the fear, people all over the world who I talked to said the same things. I saw a contagious quality about a spirit of fear that can infect many people. The ultimate consequence of fear is illustrated in the Bible where it talks about men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. That's from Luke 21, 26. Just expecting bad things to happen can put us in danger of heart failure. It's no secret that fear can kill us. That's why we need to take our fears seriously and know what steps to take in order to be rid of them. Fear makes us weak. It says in Zephaniah 3.16, fear that grips us and is sustained indefinitely can weaken our heart muscle as well. It is not necessarily what we fear, for there are many reasons to be afraid, but what we allow to overtake us. For example, when you have a fear so extreme that you obsess over it, gripping you to the point that you are paralyzed from fright, this limits your life and makes you weak. It messes with your mind and makes you unstable. But God can give us freedom from all that. So whenever you hear what-if words echoing in your head regarding the things you fear most, face your fears right away by praying about them specifically. Don't leave it to chance. Perhaps it came to your mind for a reason. Don't let it become an entrenched fear, but don't ignore it either. Recognize that when you walk with the Lord, you are dependent upon Him in every way. Pray, Lord, help me to walk on solid ground. Protect me and the people I love. Take away all my panic and fear. Give me a calm mind and a peaceful spirit. Praying about everything that makes you afraid is a big step toward getting free from it. What can set you completely free is the truth that comes from God. Because he says that a spirit of fear does not come from him, but he has instead given us power, love, and a sound mind. Now, this leads me to believe that a mind overcome with fear is not sound. In fact, the more fear controls us, the crazier we get. God wants each one of us to receive the sound mind He has for us. In order to do that, we have to fully believe what He says and stand firm on a foundation of His promises. We have to say over and over, whenever we feel that kind of overwhelming fear, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now do this as often and as loud as you can until you believe it 100% without a doubt. You may not have life-controlling fears like I had, but you may see or hear something that makes you afraid enough to affect your sleep, your strength, health, work, relationships, or decision making. When that happens, ask God to show you any fear in you from which He can set you free. God wants you to come to Him in prayer and in His Word so He can give you His peace that passes all understanding. Who doesn't need that? Don't let fear control your life. Do what God says to be rid of it. Deliberately turn to the one who loves you more than you love yourself and invite his love, his peace, and his joy to fill you. It can change everything. Some of the common fears people have are the fear of debilitating suffering and death, the fear of terrible evil around us and feeling powerless, the fear of being insignificant, unimportant, and invisible, the fear of man and the fear of rejection. But the Bible is filled with encouragement. For example, the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. It says that in Proverbs 29, 25. Fearing what people think of us has a lot to do with what we think about ourselves. The Bible says we are not to have any fear of man because it will control our life and keep us weak. A man-pleasing spirit is not productive. A God-fearing person is liberated from that. We all want to feel accepted. None of us wants to appear repulsive or offensive to anyone. But it is impossible to please everyone. Pleasing God has to be our greatest desire. We do that by loving Him and having faith in Him and His Word. Related to the fear of man is the fear of rejection. We can feel rejected early in childhood by a parent or later in life by bullies, cruel peers, abusive people or co-workers who reject us. The possibilities for rejection are endless. We only have to be seriously and painfully rejected once for the fear of rejection to take root in us. I have actually heard people say they would rather die than get up in front of people to speak, and they seem to really mean it. Even though I doubt it would actually follow through on that, I certainly understand it. Public speaking may not be one of your greatest fears, but it is to many people. The fear of delivering a message to others has a lot to do with the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of humiliation, the fear of being exposed, the fear of losing control, the fear of being criticized, the fear of all eyes on you, or the fear of your mind failing or going blank. Speaking has always been a challenge for me because of being locked in a closet for much of my early childhood. I was often punished by my mother for crying or talking, so I learned to keep quiet. After I received the Lord and grew to understand the power of God's word, I was comforted by the verse in Psalm 34:4, which says, I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. In my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear, I give many powerful scriptures to speak over yourself and prayers you can pray regarding specific fears. You need to know that not every fear is bad. God allows us to experience some fear as part of his protection for us. This kind of fear can save your life, so it's possible for fear to be a good thing. But you must be able to discern when that is true. Any fear that hurts you, cripples you, tortures you, or leads you away from a close relationship with God is a destructive fear. The kind God does not want us to have. Any fear that turns us toward God, draws us closer to Him, keeps us safe, or causes us to do the right thing is good. Feeling fear can actually be a prompting of the Holy Spirit, and we must not ignore that. Instead, we must bring it to God and ask for discernment. He will tell you whether there is wisdom in heeding it or if there is no basis for your fear. If there is good reason for your fear, ask him for immediate guidance. It could be some danger that he wants you to know about, or he may be calling you to pray about something that is frightening other people. Dangers can be anywhere. We are wise to be aware of that and continually pray for direction. You can be minding your own business at your workplace, at a public event, in school, in your own home or car, or in a common public place, and the violent plans of evil can suddenly invade that space. That's why we must ask God for wisdom about every decision we make, even every place we go, and whatever we do. If we don't have peace about any of those things, we cannot act like we do. We must not stop praying and asking until we receive clear direction. That's why having healthy fear is necessary. Evil can be anywhere, and we must not set ourselves up to be the prey of evil people. When we anticipate possible danger or the presence of evil, good fear will cause us to wisely put ourselves in a better position. Good fear can save your life from many dangers. Healthy fear is a call to seek God for guidance and protection. We must not ignore any uneasy feelings or fear we have about someone or some situation, because they can be warning signs to us. They will keep us turned toward God, for He is our ultimate place of safety. Take seriously every anxious and fearful feeling you have and bring it to God. Would you pray with me about this? Lord, where I have allowed fears from the past to affect my life in a negative way, I pray you would reveal that to me so I can be free of them. Enable me to stand strong in you and never give in to fear. Teach me how to speak your word whenever fear threatens to weaken me, so I can rise above it and be free of it. Lord, help me to clearly discern the promptings of your spirit to my heart and my mind, so that I never foolishly ignore them. Teach me to pray whenever I have fear or sense danger or an intuition about a person or situation that is not good. Keep me away from dangerous places and give me a sense of the plans of evil people. Give me discernment to know when I'm not where I'm supposed to be. Help me to trust in you with all my heart and not depend on my own understanding. Teach me to acknowledge you in everything I do and depend on you to direct me wherever I go. Help me to choose every day to walk with the leading of your Holy Spirit so I am not controlled by fear. In Jesus' name I pray. Ask God every day for discernment that only He can give you. If you feel afraid, ask God to show you the truth about what is causing your fear. Ask Him to clearly reveal any fear he is allowing for your safety. And protection.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Thanks for joining us. Next week, Stormy will dive deeper into how God's word directly confronts fear and brings peace to anxious hearts. You'll learn how scripture, prayer, and trust in God's protection can replace fear with confidence and rest, no matter what you're facing. If you haven't already, pick up your copy of The Power of Praying Through Fear. Available now wherever books are sold.