What Overcomes the Fear of Death?

What if death wasn’t something to fear but a doorway to peace and eternal joy? In this episode, Stormie shares how you can overcome the fear of death by embracing the truth of heaven and the promises of eternal life through Jesus. Drawing from her personal experiences and Scripture, she offers comfort, clarity, and hope for anyone wrestling with anxiety about what comes after this life. You’ll hear powerful encouragement about preparing your heart for eternity and how prayer can usher in God’s peace in our final moments. This episode is a beautiful reminder that heaven is real, and the transition from this life into the next can be filled with comfort, assurance, and joy.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Stormy Almardian podcast, where we explore the power of prayer to change lives, strengthen faith, and deepen relationships. In today's episode, Stormy shares how to overcome the fear of death by embracing the promises of eternity found in God's Word. You'll be encouraged by powerful stories, biblical truth, and a hope-filled reminder that heaven is our true home.

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Hi, I'm Stormy O'Mardian. Welcome to the Power of Praying. I'm talking today from my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear. This is episode four. What overcomes the Fear of Death? When I left college, I toured the United States and parts of the world to sing with several popular singing groups at that time. On one tour, we went to England, France, South Africa, Brazil, and Venezuela. During those years, I was constantly on the road, and it was exciting to see places I'd heard of and read about. But no matter how great each place was, I could have kissed the ground when I returned home to Los Angeles and was back in my own apartment, in my own bed, going to familiar places and spending time with my friends. Gradually being home was more important to me than touring any foreign land could ever be. I believe heaven will be like that. No matter how great our life has been here on earth, or how many things we loved about it, we will feel like we are finally home when we go to be with the Lord and see the people we have loved who have gone before us. In heaven we will have no fear, no anxiety, worry, panic, sickness, or pain. We will certainly have no fear of death or what the future may hold, all the problems we had on earth will be gone, and there will be nothing to fear in our heavenly home. Just as we all had a specific time and place of birth, so we will all have a specific time and place of death. We had no control over the situation coming into the world, and although our prayers have power, I don't know for certain how significantly they can influence our place, time, or manner of death. But I fully believe those last details of our life are well worth praying about. However, we do have control over where we will end up the moment our body dies. If we have received Jesus, our future home will be with Him in heaven. So unless we turn our backs on God, our Creator and Heavenly Father, and also Jesus, our Savior, Redeemer, Provider, and Deliverer, and Protector and Friend, and reject God's Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of love, peace, joy, comfort, truth, and power, heaven is where we are going. I'm certain heaven is a real place. And we are going there one day. And not just for a temporary visit, it's the destination where we will live forever. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. This is from John 6.44. Our Father God draws us to himself, and Jesus raises us up on our last day on earth. Because we have chosen to make our final home with Jesus in eternity, we can choose to prepare for our own transition from this life to the next. We do that by walking closely enough with God to hear him speak to our heart and feel him breathe life, strength, peace, and rest into our being, no matter what is happening. God allows suffering in our lives. We don't like that part. But he uses it to cause us to draw closer to him. And it works because the closer we walk with God, the more peace we have about things that happen, including our time of departure. The sooner we can settle this issue with God, letting him take away our fear and dread and give us peace about where we are ultimately going, the greater the peace that is ahead for us and for the loved ones we leave behind. The more clearly you can see heaven in your mind, the place Jesus talked about, and about which other men of God in the Bible wrote, the more peace you will have when the time comes to make that transition. Having an idea of what heaven is like based on God's word takes walking daily with God and learning more about what Jesus accomplished for you and why. He won't leave you stranded. Even if you miss the mark of God's standards and get off the track he has for you, he will still give you a way back. It is called confession and repentance. It's saying with a repentant heart, Lord, this is where I've been and what I've done. Please forgive me. And it's not because he doesn't know what you've been doing and needs to find out. He already knows. He wants to see that you recognize your errors and desire his forgiveness. He wants to hear you say, Lord, I don't want to live my life without you. I want to be fully restored back to you and walk closely with you forever. God gives us this choice every day. Do we want to walk closely with him or not? There have been a number of people I have known well who in the last few years have died suddenly and in my mind prematurely. It brought home clearly that we never know when our life may end. We can't wait until we think the end is near to get ready to meet the Lord in eternity. We must get ready now and every day from now on. When we live that way, we aren't living in fear of death. And this is very important to our well-being. It's an issue we need to get settled in our mind and soul. We need to know to whom we belong and who is always with us, both now and forever. In my book, The Power of Praying Through Fear, I've included a checklist to make sure you have done what you need to do in preparation for eternity. So you don't have to live another day in fear of it. Jesus did his part on the cross, and now you have to do yours. You have to receive him and all that he accomplished. The Bible says in Acts 4.12 that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus died in our place, so we don't have to ever be separated from God. He then rose from the dead, just as he said he would, and ascended into heaven to prepare the way for us to be with him forever. He sent his Holy Spirit to live in us, to comfort, guide, and help us become more like Him. We don't earn salvation. It's God's gift to us. By grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. That means I'm not saved because I am such a good person, or am thinking about being a good person, or one day I know I will be a good person. I'm saved when I recognize I can't be the kind of good person God wants me to be on my own. And I receive the full forgiveness and redemption God has for me through Jesus Christ, His Son. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. That's from 1 John 5.13. You need to know without a doubt that you have eternal life ahead with God. This is extremely important. This is something you have to do for yourself and also for others you care about. Don't hesitate because this determines where you will spend forever. When we enter heaven, we will be in the presence of God, and the Holy Spirit of God will get us there. We're not just dangling out in space. We are anchored to God by His Holy Spirit in us, and our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now this is very important. The Apostle John was given a great revelation from Jesus about what is ahead for believers. What Jesus revealed to John is written in the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. In it, we are assured that if we have received Jesus, our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, Revelation 21, 27. And this is important because you can only overcome the fear of death when you know for certain where you're going after you die. Make sure your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. This cannot be seen by you, but God sees your name there. This is too crucial to neglect. The most important thing to know about heaven is that you are going to be with the Lord forever, as well as with your loved ones who also have received Him. You don't have to know all the details. We will be with Him no matter what. Jesus has prepared a place for us. We don't have to be worried or fearful or anxious or full of panic because we're not sure what the color scheme will be and if we'll like the accommodations. We will be in the presence of God and we will experience His love, peace, joy, and rest. And we will worship Him continually forever because we will never stop being eternally grateful. Just know it's going to be wonderful beyond anything you have ever imagined. Remember, you're not buying a house that you have to pay for the rest of your life. You're being given a beautiful mansion for free that lasts forever. Let's not be picky. Everyone has a place they will go when they die. Some will be with God and some will be separated from God. It's not a matter of God sending people to hell. It's a matter of where God is, not present, is hell. That's what hell is, the absence of God's presence. That's where people end up who reject Him. See 2 Thessalonians 1 9. This is not a threat or a promise. This is a statement of fact. People whose iniquity has not been paid for by the Lord will suffer for it in eternal separation from God. Jesus has prepared a wonderful place for those who are his, and neither death nor hell can separate them from him. See Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. This is not something to take lightly. Our bondage to the fear of death can keep us from doing what we need to do when we need to do it. But Jesus released us from the fear of death. The Bible says that Jesus gave his life to release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. See Hebrews 2.15. Our fear of death can be a lifelong stumbling walk to us. But the truth is, the more real heaven becomes to you, the better prepared you will be to go there. We will never know all the details until we get there, and we don't need to. We just have to know Jesus, who has reconciled us to God and given us his spirit to be with us and in us. He knows everything, and he has taken care of the accommodations. We can trust him to do all he said he would. He said he has prepared a place for us with him, and that really is all we need to know. We need nothing more than to live in his presence and enjoy him forever. I remember the day I no longer feared death anymore. Even after I became a believer and knew what Jesus said about eternity, I still feared the process of dying. And although I had resolved what death meant as the daughter of God, I still was anxious about getting there. As a new believer, I seriously wondered, what if I die and God doesn't remember me? How will I get to heaven if he forgets me? I had felt forgotten and abandoned enough in my life that I had those horrible what-if thoughts. When I asked God about that, he reminded me this was impossible because his spirit dwells within me. His spirit will lead me home. I read in the Bible that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm 116, 15. I love that. My death and yours is precious to God. He cares about that transition as much as we do. He will not leave us hanging in limbo, wondering if he sees or knows. That is not going to happen. That verse gave me great peace as well. As I learned to pray about everything, I thought that because we can pray about everything in our lives, why can't we pray about death? After all, it's the most certain and inevitable part of our life. So I started praying about that for me and for my loved ones, and I still do. My own father gave me specific instructions about his death. He wanted to die at home, and at the time he was living with me and my family, and he didn't want to die in a hospital or any kind of assisted living or hospice facility. So I began praying exactly that for him. I knew I had no control over how he would die and if he would need hospitalization or to be in hospice, so I prayed that he wouldn't need any of those things. My dad eventually moved in with my sister and her family because they needed him to be there when their children got home from school. They lived just a few miles from us, so we saw him often. I continued praying for him according to what he asked. On the day he died, he got up, prepared his breakfast, while everyone else in the house was sleeping, as he often did. Only this time he went back to bed, which was very unusual for him, and he never woke up again. He died peacefully in his sleep, just the way he wanted to. He was ninety-three years old. He was not sick, just frail and tired. I had already had that talk with him about receiving Jesus, and he assured me that not only had he believed in and received Jesus, but he thought anyone who hadn't was stupid. I assured him that I did not suspect he was stupid. But I just wanted to make sure he was going to be in heaven when I got there. He appreciated that. His mind was sharp and clear, and on the day he died, I know he must have been wondering why he felt badly enough to go back to bed after breakfast. Several close friends and family members have in recent years battled serious disease valiantly. One woman had been a faithful friend for decades, and we prayed about everything. We were very close and knew each other well, and when she was diagnosed with cancer, my husband and I prayed for her daily, for her recovery. But at the end she went downhill rapidly and succumbed to the disease far faster than any of us was prepared for. I was not there on the day she died at home, but her immediate family was. I heard afterward from one of them, one of the family members, who I also knew very well, that she had quickly become weaker and fell into a coma with no response. When that happened, they called an ambulance to take her to hospice right away. She had not made a sound or opened her eyes or breathed normally for a number of hours. While the family was making that call in another room, one of her female family members went to check on her. When she entered my friend's room, my friend was sitting up in her bed. Her eyes were wide open and looking as if she was seeing something magnificent. Her mouth was open with a broad smile, and she was breathing normally. Her family member ran to get the others to come and see her miraculous recovery, but when they arrived back in her room, just a few minutes later, she had passed away. But she still had a peaceful smile on her face. Because I knew her and her family members so well. Just hearing that story transformed my attitude about death. In the last moments before she died, she obviously saw an awesome scene. Was it angels? Was it other family members who had gone before her to be with the Lord? Was it the Lord Himself? Or all of the above? I don't know. But I know it was glorious, and she was happy about it. My uncle died not long ago. He was in his 90s and he was blind and deaf. He was getting weaker and more frail every day. So one day he suddenly gained strength enough to sit up a little in bed and open his eyes. He smiled and said, Look at all those people! And one of them is an angel. He recognized some of the people. Not long after that, he closed his eyes and passed away. His wife, one of his children, and one of his grandsons were all with him at the time and told the exact same story. Keep in mind, he had been deaf and blind for years at that point, but he could see and hear these people. Something happened to me the moment I heard those stories. And it has not changed one bit in those years since then. I know those people saw something that no one else could see, and it was real. I expect to see the same thing or something similar when I go to be with the Lord. I expect to see Jesus or God's magnificent angels or loved ones. Paul, who saw Jesus himself, said of believers that if we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord, says that in 2 Corinthians 5.8. That sounds instantaneous to me. It doesn't sound as if we're trapped in some holding station while our future hangs in the balance. I continue to pray that when it is my time to go be with the Lord, that it is peaceful, a peaceful passing, full of God's presence and the presence of his Spirit so strong that those with me will sense that too, even if they cannot see it. I believe that death is nothing to be feared, only to be welcomed and celebrated when the time comes. It's spectacular, glorious, and shall I say heavenly? The details of the end times in Revelation are scary. What frightens people most is how they could possibly live through it and how they might die. No one wants to go through what is described in the Bible. Many of us believers in Christ see the end times coming closer with each passing day. We observe how nations are positioning themselves against one another. We see the possibility of financial collapse because of ungodly leaders who have made horrible and unwise decisions. We see how in the chaos and financial upset the Antichrist will rise up in power because people with worldly wisdom will put him there. People with godly wisdom will see what's coming. Jesus said to his faithful people, because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. That's from Revelation 3, 10 and 11. Jesus will keep those who love him and keep his commandments from experiencing the worst of what is to come. I believe him. Jesus also said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. Revelation 3, 20 and 21. The tribulation period is the upright. upsetting and trouble-filled times leading up to the return of Christ. Says in the Bible, of those who come out of that tribulation, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger any more nor thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat, for the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7 14 17 What a wonderful promise to us all. The best news is if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then it is guaranteed that He will raise you as well. Now see Romans 8 eleven God will raise you up to live with Him forever when you die. What a great and precious hope this is do not fear the end times. Trust Him who is able to raise you from the dead to live in heaven with Him forever. Please pray with me about this. Lord I pray you will prepare me to be with you someday in heaven. Take away any fear I have about that. I pray I will not die in some horrible, tragic, awful, suffering death. I pray I can die peacefully surrounded by loving family members and friends. Usher me into your presence in a way that allows others to see your glory and goodness. I know that to be absent from the body is to be present with you. I look forward to being in your presence forever. Thank you that because I have received you as my Lord and Savior, my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I pray it will be true of my family members as well. I pray that none of them will die without knowing you in the end as for me I want to hear you say Well done, my good and faithful servant. Only you can enable me to do that. During the moments before my death I pray I will see a glorious vision of you Jesus or the angels you have sent to usher me into your presence. Use me to show others who are with me that there is nothing to fear in death and that death is a new and glorious beginning with you and the believers and saints who have gone before me to be with you. When I go to meet you in my final home I want to be able to say I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith I know that in all these things I am more than a conqueror through you Jesus who loves me help me to keep my eyes on you and not the predictors of disaster who don't know you. They don't determine my future you do. In Jesus' name I pray Amen. You know fearing the future is torture. You don't have to live that way you don't have to dread the future or be afraid of bad news when it comes you can run to God and hide yourself in him now. He says do not be anxious do not worry do not be afraid he doesn't want you to always be thinking about the worst case scenario for your life he wants you to read his word pray to him and stand firm on his promises so you can anticipate that the best is always yet to come in this series we've uncovered how fear loses its grip when we cling to God's truth and turn to him in prayer whether you're facing fear about your future your safety or your loved ones there is always hope in his presence to go deeper in your journey of overcoming fear through faith in the power of praying through fear available to him wherever folks are sold.