Fear is an emotion that everybody has. It is an instinct we intrinsically have even before becoming more civilized.
It was an unpleasant emotion because we needed it to survive. Fear usually manifests when we perceive or recognize something threatening or dangerous. Whenever something triggers our fear, our response is to fight or flee. This fight-or-flight response that is within us was crucial in our survival. Fear, after all, is vital until we reach a more sophisticated way of life. Without it, we would have been extinct and gone forever.
With a better understanding of emotions, humanity, in general, has figured out how to conquer fear. Our coping mechanisms in response to fear have grown. If then, our options were only either to run and hide or to fight, now it can depend on our personalities. Sure, the primary responses of “to fight” or “to Flee” are still there, but we can redirect the fear more creatively to more creative outlets. We can either draw or write a journal to confront our fears. Or we can pray.
Using Prayer to Conquer Fear
In God’s Perfect Love and the Other Side of Fear, the author, Veronica Lisare, has not had a perfect life. She had not experienced a good life at all. A history of childhood abuse brought her crippling fear and low self-esteem. For lesser people, that would have been the end, just another number, drifting aimlessly, hoping that nobody would come and get her. However, faith would have none of that. In time, she would find someone who taught her to pray.
These constant prayers became her weapon of choice whenever fear would again begin to grip her. Sooner, she would figure out the ultimate love of God. She recovered, and her self-esteem slowly got back up. The fear that used to grip her has now turned into joy, hope, freedom, and fulfillment. She shares these stories everywhere to help inspire those who have had the same experience as her until she became a minister of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of course, cases like Lisare’s are very rare. Not everyone can be blessed with to have that opportunity where you can carry your life somewhere. However, using prayer as a response against fear has become immortalized. Especially for those who are super religious, nothing beats a short prayer to combat uncertainty.
Prayer, God’s own special way of communicating with him, is a very flexible and malleable weapon in combatting fear. Some people use it to ward off evil. While others also use it as a lifeline to combat hopelessness and despair.
Prayer Against Fear
There are types of prayers that one can recite depending on the situation. Below will be examples of these prayers. However, it is essential to know before everything itself that, like in all situations, nothing will beat a homemade and sincere prayer. Almost always, these types of prayer and their sincerity will be the ones to bring courage to those who need their powers.
A Prayer to Reduce Fear:
This prayer directly appeals to God to alleviate the dangers surrounding the one praying. It asks Jesus for comfort and his company in this time of fear. It goes:
Dear Lord,
You know that we live in a crazy and chaotic World. You Also know my struggles in my daily life. When life gets to be too much, please help me come to you. Calm my thoughts and emotions and open my heart to your peace, comfort, and wisdom. Help me not live in fear. Please reduce the feelings of fear and anxiety that plague me. Help me rest in You and trust You as I navigate through this broken world; in Your name, I pray, Jesus, Amen.
A Prayer through Fear
This is one of the few examples of prayers to carry one through fear. In this prayer, the one who prays asks God to calm himself down and to stop worrying. It goes:
Heavenly Father, help me through all of my days. Teach me not to worry. Remind me to not be anxious. As it says in Philippians, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.’ I am making my requests known to you right now. I need help. I need you. I thank you, Amen.
The Damsel’s Files 