How To Be Filled With Awe Instead of Overwhelmed With Fear

February 5, 2018 Joshua Finley

Image credit: heysigmund

We all have fears. It’s not if you will wrestle with fear, it’s how you will overcome your fears.

I’ve heard it said that “Courage is fear that has said its prayers!” I love that. We all want to be courageous while still wrestling down our fears.

Recently, while I was reading through the Gospel of Mark, a verse jumped out to me. Don’t you love when that happens?

This verse not only caught my eye, but it grabbed my spirit!

Mark 10:32 NLT

32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him.

How was it that the disciples were filled with awe but the crowds were overwhelmed with fear?

The disciples were more focused on Who Jesus was than on where they were headed.

They were headed into a very dangerous situation. They knew Jerusalem could mean the end of Jesus' life and ministry.

When God is leading you into a new season, you are better off focusing on the Known than fretting over the unknown. That is way easier said than done, I totally get it.

But chew on this thought…

How much more courage would you have, as you stand on the threshold of a new opportunity or looming challenge if you spent more time rehearsing Who you are following over where you are going?

I’ll have to wrestle fear coming at me in different forms as long as I live in this body. Yet, there is a very real way to not give place to those fears.

Every time I am afraid it is an opportunity to receive an upgrade in love.

Then, God’s love can displace my fears. One is truly a greater reality than the other.

Getting caught up in the Company (Jesus) you travel with, is so much more enjoyable than fretting about the cost of where He is leading you.

When you and I choose to, not just casually glance but actually become FIXATED on the One we are following, our hearts can’t help but be filled with awe instead of being overwhelmed with fear.

Our family has recently walked through:

· A major job transition

· Two moves inside of 5 months

· Two new school systems

· The passing of my father

· The breakdown of several appliances, a computer and a car in one week

Every single one of us faces similar fears all the time.

· For you, it may be the fear that you are not parenting your children in a way that will set them up well for their future.

· You may be fearful that you will never get down to that desired weight or health goal that has been alluding you for so long.

· It may be that you are afraid that you will never get the opportunity or open door you’ve been praying for.

· Or you may be walking through a divorce or major break up and fearful that you will never find the right person to love and do life with.

Whatever fear you are currently struggling with, rest assured there is a way to overcome it!

When all of those trials were coming at our family so quickly, it was easy to become overwhelmed by fear of the future.

Honestly, the thing that helped me was to get up and read Psalm 23 each morning.

You don’t need to wait for a funeral to let those powerful words wash over your soul.

I’m so thankful that we have more promises than we do problems.

I had to choose my focus. Whatever gets my focus, gets me. It’s the same for you.

What fears need to be wrestled to the ground in your heart today?

Bonus tip: You might want to try an exercise I learned from a brilliant thinker named Graham Cooke.

List out all of your problems on one side of a page. Don’t leave out a single thing that is causing you anxiety.

On the other side of the page, list the promises from God’s Word that counteract those problems.

You will find out that you have more promises working for you than problems working against you!

Joshua Finley