Are you wrung out from trying to fight fear in your life? Kelly Balarie offers a fresh perspective on what it takes to fight fear.

Kelly says the first thing we have to realize is that there is no shame in fighting fear.

“There is a willingness that is needed to say, I’m going to fight fear. There is no shame in the fighting. Fear is going to hit us, that stimuli is going to come, there are going to be things that happen that momentarily make us feel afraid, and there’s no shame in that.”

She goes as far to say that fear isn’t really the problem, it’s what we do with our fear that causes problems. It’s important to distinguish what’s God’s part of fear fighting and what’s ours. God’s part is outlined in the book of Joshua.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

We don’t face fear alone.

“We can know that God will be with us, that is His part. Our part is to choose to dwell on that. To choose to say okay, rather than holding the hand of fear, I’m going to hold the hand of God as I walk forward into my day. I’m not going to choose to dwell on the circumstances around me. I’m going to choose to dwell on my high and mighty God.”

Kelly says that we often make the mistake of believing that fear fighting is one giant leap.

 “We think, all of the sudden once we were like this cowering girl in the corner, and now we just like literally leaped up to the moon of fearlessness.”

What if fearlessness was more about fearing less?

“It’s about fearing a little bit less in the situation where you’re prone to fear, to just grab God’s hand and to choose in that one instance to hold His hand and to choose a different path, to choose courage in your moment. What we find when we do that is step by step by step, we’re walking to a place, that’s much further and farther than we ever realized until we get to the day where we look back and say oh my goodness, I just came that far.


Kelly Balarie is a contributing blogger at Crosswalk.com, iBelieve.com and Girlfriends in God. Her work has been featured on Relevant, (in)courage.me, and Today’s Christian Woman. She lives with her husband and two toddlers near the sun-soaked shores of the East Coast.

Key Scripture: Psalm 16:11

Featured Songs: In Jesus’ Name – Darlene Zschech; Rescue Has Come – Lincoln Brewster; Same Power – Jeremy Camp

Fear fighting