Fear has the tendency to chase us, hold us down, and make us believe that the worst is yet to come. But God has the power to overcome our deepest fears and replace them with everlasting truth and tangible hope.
Rebekah Lyons is no stranger to fear. With God’s help, she has learned how to release recurring stress and anxiety that seemed to control her life. Rebekah says the first step to releasing fear is to give fear a name.
“It usually comes back to the same central fears that the enemy has in some way attached to us. He knows it’s our vulnerability; whether its provision, the unknown, the future, whatever the thing is that sets off anxiety. Once we can determine what that is we can say, ‘Jesus, I lay this at your feet. I release this.’ Our anxiety is usually attached to the things that we’re trying to control the most.”
Rebekah explains how fear and anxiety is at the root cause of other issues in our lives, including our desire to control certain situations and outcomes.
“Control is driven by fear. The fear is that if we release control that it will all fall apart and everything will be worse than it’s ever been, when the reality is the opposite. When we release control, joy enters in and comes into the middle of the fear. We will suddenly realize the fear doesn’t actually own us.”
“Part of it is just naming the fear, naming the place of pain that we’re kind of holding on to and we don’t want to lay down. But that thing is the thing that enslaves us. When we know what it is, we can just release it to Him.”
Whether it’s the fear of starting a new job, a fear of heights, or the fear of forgiving someone who has caused great pain in our life, Rebekah reminds us that God desires for us to be set free from the burden of fear. But we have to be vigilant and we have to stand firm in the truth.
“Our fear or anxiety will come after us in the places that God is appointed and destined for us. The enemy is trying to thwart the fulfillment of His destiny that was placed in the womb. The Bible says,
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16)
“God knows what He knits in us and what His plans and purposes are. The enemy says, ‘Oh you were made to carry peace so I’m going to throw anxiety you instead.’ We need to get on the other side of that and say, ‘God what do you have on the around the bend that I can look forward to and be a future and a hope?’”
By naming our fears and releasing them to God, they will no longer have the power to control our lives. Instead, we will be able to truly lay them down at the foot of the cross and walk away in the freedom that He so freely gives to us.
Rebekah Lyons is the author of You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are and Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning. An old soul with a contemporary, honest voice, Rebekah reveals her own battles to overcome anxiety, depression and consumer impulses.
Releasing our fears to God
