A Prayer For Deliverance From Fear

 

 

Oh Lord, our rock and our fortress, our deliverer and our salvation.  To the trembling, You show Yourself to be unmoved; to the alarmist, You show Yourself to be unwavering; to the overwhelmed, You show Yourself to be undaunted.  This week we pray for those who are living with fear.   Those who are living in fear of losing their home; those who fear losing their jobs; those who fear losing their health;  those who fear getting old;  those who fear out living a loved one; those who fear out living their resources; those who fear dying.  

 

Fear can creep into the hearts of the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the most educated and the least educated, the powerful and the powerless.  Father God, fear grips the hearts of many.  What can one do to be freed of fear?  

 

Certainly the call to have faith echoes through out the Scriptures.  We are taught to trust You, to lean on You, to cast our burdens on You.  But where can one get such faith?  Where does one go, what does one do when the circumstances seem to shred faith into tiny pieces?   Our Lord  taught His disciples that if they had the faith of a  mustard seed, they could cast out demons, they could move mountains.  Certainly many who live in fear have a faith greater than a mustard seed. They cry out in faith to You but fear lingers in their hearts.  If the answer is not in our faith then where is it?  Could it be that Jesus was teaching His disciples that the answer is in their God?  Their God was too small!  Freedom from fear is found not in the size of ones faith, but in the size of ones God!  

 

Heavenly Father, we need to grasp the truth about who You are.  You are the Almighty God; all things are under Your control.  You are the all knowing God; none of our circumstances are a surprise to You.  You are the God of love; no matter how much difficulty we are in You never stop loving us.  You are the ever present one; never are You in some far off place disinterested in what is our lot to bear. Your followers in the past knew this and so thought of You as the “God of Abraham” or the “God of Joseph” or  the “God of Jacob.”   In these words they were grasping certain truths about who You are.  

 

Help us, O heavenly father, to dwell not on our fears, but on who You are.  We can conqueror our fears only by focusing on You.  Then no matter what is the cause of our fears, they will dissipate as the morning fog.   

 

This we ask in the name of Him who over came all of his fears by fixing his eyes on You and You alone.  Amen