What Triggers Fear and Anxiety in Our Hearts? • Deshen Daily

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me (Matthew 14:30 KJV)

fear showing an image of a man with fear in his brain

Since sin entered the world in Eden, fear and anxiety have been faithful companions of human life on earth. Sadly, these two emotions hinder our fellowship with God and interfere with God’s power in our lives. If you want to know God’s presence and see Him intervene in your life, you will have to subdue fear and worry.

This devotional will get to the root of these two emotions to unveil some truths that can potentially terminate any bondage to worry and fear in our lives if fully assimilated.

We might be tempted to think or believe that external situations in life provoke fear or worry. For example, Peter was walking on water and saw the boisterous winds heading his way. Who will not be afraid in such a situation? Well, it turned out someone with the same problem was not scared. Jesus saw the same waves but was calm; Peter saw the waves and was afraid.

What triggered the fear in Peter? He saw the waves and believed that those waves could kill him. On the contrary, Jesus saw the same waves and had a different mindset. Herein lies the secret of fear and anxieties: when we believe something in our environment can hurt us, whether it is real or not, our emotions respond with fear and anxiety. What you believe is the fountain of the waters of either rest( Heb. 4:3) or fear.

A fascinating aspect of this truth is that many of us are unaware of what we truly believe—what we genuinely accept as true irrespective of what we assume we believe. I will leave you with this: look into your heart now and see any area of your life that makes you anxious or fearful. I want you to go beneath that fear or anxiety and notice for yourself there is most likely something you have believed that is driving that emotion. If you turn that belief over to the Word of God and accept what He says about that specific issue, you will immediately find rest and peace inside. Believing in the world produces fear and anxiety, and believing in the Word creates rest( Rom. 8:5).

Do you struggle with fear or anxiety in any area of your life?

Apply the Word

Don’t fight fear or anxiety; rather, uproot them from the source. We will always have problems in this broken world—the difference is what we think or believe( our spiritual state of mind).

Ask the Father to help you take this truth home to free you from every form of anxiety or fear.