Fear

Each Tuesday, we invite you to pray for our city or yourself in different ways. Each Tuesday, we invite you to fast for our city, to do without something you depend on so you can foster a dependency on Jesus. We hope to form a greater attachment to Jesus so that we can speak as he spoke when he said in John 5, “I only do what I see my Father doing.” How could Jesus say this? He spent intentional time in prayer and fasting.

Introduction:

Scripture is full of language about feelings. The writers of Scripture are very in touch with who they are and comfortable expressing their emotions to their audience or to God. Many of the Psalms are of David speaking to God about his feelings. He is so relationally secure that he is unafraid to tell God exactly how he feels. This is certainly true of Jesus.

Whether He is at the tomb of His close friend Lazarus, looking over Jerusalem weeping for the city, or on the cross crying out in fear that His Father has forsaken Him, Jesus understands and communicates His feelings. We will explore some of our emotions in a few of our prayer guides this year. The more proficient we become in recognizing what we are feeling and speaking the truth about that to our Father, the more proficient we will be in attaching to Him and others.

Movement 1: Recognizing Fear

Reflect:

We live in a culture that feeds and fuels our fears. In our faith communities, we have often been taught that we should not fear; it is only a sign of weakness and a lack of trust in what God can do. And yet, we often find ourselves afraid and, perhaps, even experiencing overwhelming
fear. Should our response be to “try harder?” Should our response be to “shame ourselves into some greater degree of trust,” when, if we’re honest, isn’t often helping us overcome that fear?

Respond:

Let’s pause and take a few moments to answer the question, “What do I believe about fear?” Don’t think about the things in your life that create fear. Think about what you believe about fear itself. Get out a notebook or a journal, or open a new document and write or type out what you think about fear. Were you told to “get over it?” Were you conditioned to “believe more?” Did you have a parent who modeled that you should be braver or tougher? Did your family of origin dismiss the feeling of fear? Journal the thoughts that come to mind as you answer these questions.

Reflect:

This next step will be more difficult. Sit in silence for a few moments and invite the Holy Spirit to highlight your current fears. What are they? Don’t judge yourself harshly or pretend they’re not present. There’s no need to manufacture anything here. Do not feel pressured to linger too long on these fears. Just recall your fears in your mind and write them down in your journal. Do your best to use one word to say what the fear is. Or, write a simple sentence like, “I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to pay the mortgage.” Or, “I’m afraid this relationship is ending.” Or, “I’m afraid about how our family will stay connected in this new season.”

Respond:

Look back at each of the fears you wrote down and consider how you’re dealing with that fear. Are you ignoring it? Are you hiding from it? Are you trying to control it? Write a few thoughts for each fear you have written down.

Movement 2: Reframing Fear

Reflect:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
– Psalm 111:10

Chip Dodd writes in “The Voice of the Heart”:

Fear brings us strength. It is the feeling that allows us to experience risk, trust, dependency, collaboration, and ultimately, wisdom because it helps us realize our need for help. This statement may sound contrary to everything you’ve ever heard about fear. For many of us, fear equals weakness or we see it as an influence that makes us act in doubt and distrust in a relationship, which makes us hide our fear...If we admit our fear, it can produce remarkable benefits. We discover that fear can be about assertion and prevention. If in the face of fear, we can recognize our need for help, we find great opportunity. (p. 91)

Jeff Shulte and Phil Herndon demonstrate in The Voice of the Heart Bible Study that rather than rejecting fear, we should recognize that it is telling us we have a need for either protection, help, or refuge. If we acknowledge our fear and communicate our need for protection, help or refuge to God and others, we receive the gift of faith and wisdom.

Respond:

Return to the fears you wrote down earlier. Go back and review them and write down what you think you need with each: Protection, Help, Refuge. Write the word that you think best applies to that fear. For example, if you wrote, “I’m afraid about how our family will stay connected in this new season.” You might write beside it, “Help.” Or, you might write, “I need help discerning how to be intentional with our time when we’re together.” Perhaps the fear you wrote would require you to say something like, “I need refuge in your arms, Jesus, because I don’t need protection or help, I just need your presence.”

Pray:

Turn these statements into your prayers for the remainder of your time. Linger in each one. If you ask for help, spend some time listening to the ways the Lord might want to bring you help. If you’re praying for refuge, cry it out. Ask the Spirit to make his presence known.

Note: The work of addressing our fear is never easy. Well done if you have opened your heart to invite Jesus into your prayer time today to begin to address your fears. If you found this exercise difficult, explore more of the story of David in the Psalms and how much he talks about his fear. Explore Jesus through the Gospels to see how he deals with fear. In the Garden, before his crucifixion, Jesus is praying so fervently he is sweating drops of blood. He longs for another way. He knows he needs help. He longs for the protection of his Father from his false accusers. He needs refuge in the arms of his Father. He cries out. He must have certainly received faith to believe in his Father’s promises. Jesus doesn’t hide from his fear. He asks for his Father to be with him in it. He models for us how to feel our feelings.

If your reaction was, “What about all the ‘fear nots’ in Scripture, consider this from Jeff Schulte and Phil Herndon: “The ‘fear nots’ in the Bible are actually declarations that remind us that feeling fear is natural; that we live in a fallen world and there is a lot to be afraid of. ‘Fear not’ is a reminder that fear is our language of crying out as his children...” (p. 67)

If you recognized during this prayer time today that you need to do more work around these experiences and you want to take a further step with a trusted counselor, please email us at info@kcunderground.org.

*If you need more help developing an emotionally healthy community of 3 to 5 people, check out Hesed Discipleship Network

*This prayer guide is adapted from “The Voice of the Heart Bible Study” by Jeff Shulte and Phil Herndon (2019, Tin Man Ministries). To explore the emotion of anger further, this is a great resource, along with The Voice of the Heart by Chip Dodd.