When Fear Comes Knocking
Feelings of Fear – Part 1

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-41     

Key Verse: Mark 4:40

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

If Christ followers stay close to God, relying totally on Jesus, will feelings of fear bother them?  Or another way to ask:  Can we ever get to a point where we never experience feelings of fear?  We should not ever expect to be exempt from feeling fear.  It is what we do with this feeling that makes all the difference in our lives.

In the gospels, Jesus commanded His followers 125 times to “fear not.”  The second most common command was repeated only eight times.  This command was to love God and others.  Surely this proves Jesus understood that “fear” was a common and tenacious enemy of all people.  Feelings of fear are often the result of whispers from the evil one.  He is a liar and loves to feed our minds with lies about our Father in heaven’s care for us.  Take note of the disciples’ question to Jesus: “Don’t you care if we drown?”  That thought, undoubtedly given to them from the devil himself, caused them to be overwhelmed by feelings of fear.

The disciples could not stop these thoughts of the evil one from entering their minds and causing them to experience fear.  However, they could have challenged the “thoughts;” called them a lie and, thus, defeated the feelings of fear!  (Continued)

Father, please help me discern the thoughts of the evil one and call them what they are: Lies!  In Jesus’s name, amen.