How Can the Bible Take Away My Fear?

Feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or afraid? In this episode, Stormie shares how the truth of Scripture provides peace in the face of fear. Drawing from powerful biblical stories, including David’s cries for help and Elisha’s divine protection, she shows how prayer grounded in God’s Word leads to real transformation. You'll discover how to cast your burdens on the Lord, how to replace panic with peace, and why the Bible holds the power to silence fear for good.

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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's episode reveals how God's word can bring peace in the midst of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Learn how Scripture became a shield for biblical figures like David and Elisha, and how it can do the same for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Hi, I'm Stormy O'Mardian. Welcome to The Power of Praying. Today I'm talking about my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear. This is episode two. Anytime fear invades your heart and mind, it is important to know what God says about it in order to get the right perspective and find the peace he has for us. King David often had to flee to safety from those who were against him, including his own son, Absalom, rising up in defiance against his own father. Absalom led many others in his nation to do so as well. But David prayed, Lord, how they have increased who trouble me. Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, There is no help for him in God. But you, O Lord, are a shield for me. See Psalm 3, 1 through 3. David knew where his help came from, and he prayed in faith because he trusted God. People were saying that even God couldn't save David, but he fervently prayed, saying, I cried to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousand people who have set themselves against me all around. See Psalm 3, 4 through 6. That is great faith in God. When David prayed, he believed God heard him. So he was able to sleep at night because he knew God was his shield of protection. We need to know that as well. That takes knowing God and his word, walking with him in prayer, and expressing gratefulness for all his blessings, which includes his protection. We all have times when we want to escape everything that makes us afraid or anxious. David, the man after God's own heart, did too. When he was betrayed by a friend, he said he wanted to wander off and remain in the wilderness. Psalm 55, 5 through 7. Haven't we all felt like that at certain times? God gave David peace and comfort in place of fear and anxiety. And all because David walked closely with God and had faith in the one true God and in the power of his word. We too have to pray the same way with strong faith and believe God will give peace to our anxious souls. If we become so afraid that we are overwhelmed by the horror of what we fear, we must pray unceasingly, morning, noon, and night, until we receive the peace of God in our situation. God will do that for us. David said, Cast your burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55, 22. What a great and encouraging word this is to us. When we are faithful to seek the Lord and live his way, he is faithful to protect us. The Apostle Paul said, Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. Read this in Philippians 4, 6 and 7. This is another great verse to memorize and keep in your heart. God is saying this to you right now. Don't be anxious or afraid of anything. Instead, pray and be thankful, and he will give you amazing peace. When the king of Syria was going to war against Israel, Elisha, the prophet, was advising the king of Israel on what God had revealed to him about Syria. When the king of Syria found out Elisha was revealing his plans to the Israeli king, he sent an army against Elisha at night and surrounded the city where Elisha and his servant were living. When Elisha's servant got up in the morning and saw the Syrian army, he fearfully asked Elisha, What shall we do? Elisha said this to his servant, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. You can read about this in 2 Kings 16. And Elisha prayed for his servant, saying, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6.17. This was the army of the Lord there to protect him. So when the Syrians came against Elisha, he prayed to the Lord, saying, Strike this people, I pray, with blindness. 2 Kings 6.18. God did exactly what Elisha prayed he would do. Elisha then misled the Syrian army, saying he would lead them to himself. But instead he led them to Samaria in Israel. When Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes and they saw. And there they were inside Samaria. This was not a good thing for them. God led the Syrians right into the land and hand of their enemy. When the king of Israel saw that the Syrians were in his territory, he asked Elisha what to do with them. And Elisha said, Don't kill them. Instead, show them mercy. Give them dinner, send them home. The king of Israel did exactly that, and the Syrians never came to Israel again. What an amazing outcome to a terribly frightening situation. It fully illustrates the mercy of God and his plans for our safety. Don't you love how Elisha could see in the Spirit exactly the way God had protected him and his servant completely? Wouldn't it be amazing to see in the Spirit so well that we can rest in the fact that God is with us and protecting us? When you are afraid, ask God to help you see things from his perspective. A perfect example of this is the story of Zerubbabel. He was the governor of Judah and responsible for completing the restoration of the temple that had been torn down. But God instructed him not to trust the world's wealth or strength or human ability. The word from God to Zerubbabel at that time has now become one of the most familiar and powerful quotes in the Bible. The Lord instructed Zerubbabel as to how to build the temple, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. Zechariah 4.6. Zerubbabel was to trust God to do it by the power of his spirit and not to trust in the power of men. God assured Zerubbabel that any mountain of opposition to what God had called him to do would be flattened by his grace. God said, Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plane, and he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. In other words, it would be the grace of God that accomplished it. Grace is the undeserved favor of God, meaning we did nothing to deserve it. This relates to our salvation. We are saved by grace and not by what we do. It is also by God's grace that the Holy Spirit works powerfully in us. How many times have you experienced the grace of God working through you or for you when there was no other explanation for what happened? No matter how much discouragement you have in your life or how much resistance you have had to face while moving into the life God is calling you to live, the enemy will always come to taunt you with fearful thoughts like, I can't do this. I'm afraid I will fail. And the enemy will accuse you of being a failure, a screw-up, a mess. But you can rely on the grace of God to enable you to do what you know you cannot do on your own. You are saved by grace. You are rescued from yourself by grace. And you can shout grace to whatever situation you're facing. When you shout grace in the face of your problems, that mountain of opposition will be flattened. God chose King David's son Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem instead of his father. David instructed Solomon, saying, Be strong and of good courage, and do it. Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord my God, my God, will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. First Chronicles 28:20. Often what God calls us to do can be daunting, and we can become afraid to even attempt it. But we can be certain that if we depend on God to not only be with us, he will also enable us to do what we need to do. Greatness will not be achieved by your power or might. It will be his. Without being born again in the Spirit, we do not have a true relationship with God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14, 6. He also said, You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8 32. And it is not just any truth, it's knowing his truth, God's truth. That's because he is the truth. When we receive Jesus, our eyes and ears and heart are open to many things that we could not see, hear, or understand before. It's a whole new world and a whole new life. You can now live in the realm of God's kingdom because your eyes have been open to it. You can never understand the truth in the Bible unless your spiritual eyes have been opened to it. God gives you the way to establish a personal relationship with Him by receiving His Son Jesus as your Savior. When you have done that, He frees you from all the consequences of your past sins, and that puts you in right relationship with God. You can then talk to God in prayer, and He will hear and answer. Every true Christian has the Spirit of Christ in him or her. If we say we don't have the Holy Spirit living in us, then we are not Christians. I'm not talking about special outpourings of the Holy Spirit. I'm simply talking about receiving Jesus and him immediately giving us his spirit to dwell in us. That's how he never leaves us or forsakes us. After Jesus was resurrected, he ascended into heaven, where he is at the right hand of God. He is coming back and will fulfill all his promises to do so. The Holy Spirit remains with us and never leaves us. The truth is, we all need the Lord. That's because we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, as it says in Romans 3.23. He redeemed us, which means we are released, delivered, and set free from evil and the consequences of our own sins. If you have never received Jesus and want to now, simply say this prayer to the Lord. If you have already received the Lord, it doesn't hurt to repeat this prayer again. So repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. As you say you are. Although it's hard to comprehend love so great, I believe you laid down your life for me so that I can have life forever with you and a better life now. I believe you died on the cross and were resurrected from the dead to prove that everything you said is the truth. I confess my sins to you, and I repent of not living your way. Help me to live your way every day. Thank you for forgiving me and loving me and turning my life into a new beginning. Thank you for your victory over death and hell. So I don't have to live in fear. Help me to become all you created me to be. Lord, I thank you for your power to free me from the grip of fear and anxiety. Thank you that when you call me to do something that frightens me, you will be with me and enable me to do it. Protect me from the things I fear and from all dangers lurking about that I'm not even aware of yet. Teach me to never forget that you are always with me. Enable me to see the things that frighten me from your perspective. In your name I pray. When you have a strong father who never leaves you or abandons you and who is always there for you, you feel safe and loved, and that takes away your fear. And you do have one. He is your heavenly father God. And it is his perfect love that takes away all your fears. If you still have incapacitating or disturbing fear, it's because you have not been perfected in God's love. That takes faith, knowing that the only perfect love is the love of God. Human love is failing and unconditional. God's love is unfailing and unconditional. Believing that with all your heart requires spending time with Him. Countless words have been written about fear in the Bible. I have put many of those words in my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear, in a way that will help you remember them. The truth is, God doesn't want us to live in terror, that he will strike us with lightning because he's mad at us. He wants us to love him so much and know him so well that we will not ever fear living his way. But rather we will fear the opposite, not doing his will. God says about anyone who trusts in him and puts their hope in him, that he shall be like a tree planted by the water, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. That promise is found in Jeremiah 17:8. It means when the heat is on in your life, you won't wither, because you have a source of refreshing that others who don't know him do not have. You can find the truth about fear by reading what God wrote about it in his word. And if you have more questions, try getting to know the author better.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Thanks for joining us. Next time, we'll explore practical ways to confront fear head on, including how to take fearful thoughts captive and replace them with God's truth. You'll hear encouraging prayers and powerful scriptures to help you overcome anxiety in the moment.