There are different verses and chapters of the Bible that talks about how God himself is telling his people not to be afraid. God wants us to throw away our fears and focus on him. Most of the things we are afraid of are physical things. Fear does nothing good, it builds negative thoughts in us. We are afraid of people or afraid of facing challenges, but God wants us to be courageous in Christ our Rock. Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid…”
According to 1 John 4:18, to be able to overcome fear, we must have the Love of Christ in our heart. With that kind of love, we will be able to cast away our fears. The verse teaches us that understanding God’s love for us will deliver us from our fears. When we love him, we move closer to him and the more we move closer to him the more we are confident in him to confront fear and have power over it. As human beings, it is very okay to be afraid, there are things that terrify us when we see them or when we hear of them. This is the reason why the Bible mentioned the word “fear” more often.
The word “fear” according to how it’s being used in the Bible is categorized into two parts. Generally, the meaning of fear is the state of being afraid of something or to be scared of danger. According to the Bible, fear can be called a weapon that the enemies use to intimidate Christians or to bring worries to them and make them lose focus.
The first type is beholding the Glory of God. This type of fear depicts how human beings take God to be as great and majestic that one cannot behold. 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” Psalm 97:4 “His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.” This type of fear is what brings about wisdom. The reason why it is said that to fear God is the beginning of wisdom is that seeing God how big he is and the marvelous works he has done, it would be a wise thing to obey all the commands and reference him. To fear the Lord is to acknowledge His supremacy, he has the power to create and destroy, he has the power to do and undo, this is why the Bible explains what it means to fear the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
In another part of the scripture, what it means to fear the Lord was stated for the better understanding of fearing the Lord. Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” There is a punishment that God has set down for those that get involved in doing evil, pride and arrogance, bad behavior, and dirty talks. Fear of the Lord is not what we get by ourselves, it is the spirit of God that He Himself gifts us. Isaiah 11:2 “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.”
The second type of fear is to be afraid of someone or something. The fear of man or something is said to be caused mostly by experience that one has had in the time past, some experience brings about trauma. As this grows in the mind of man, it becomes worried and fear comes in. The Bible made us understand that fear is a very dangerous thing that can deprive us of benefits from God and also it can deprive us of some opportunities that will cause us to have success. Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”
If we need success in all we do, the Bible says we must be courageous and never be afraid to take steps. God was telling Joshua in the book of Joshua 1:9 what he must do to a “good success”, courage is needed to become successful.
In the Bible, the phrase “fear not” occurs about 365 times. It was said to be a constant reminder to the Christians about not being afraid of whatsoever may come their way. This why God gave the power to overcome fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The Bible told us who we should focus much on, who we should fear the most. Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
