God Is Bigger Than My Fears

God Is Bigger Than My Fears

by Tiffany Zeigler Williams

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The voice of fear…it won’t go away. I can’t get away from it. Everywhere I go it is there. So I run! I run as fast as I can until I crash right into the heart of God. I want to teach my kids to do the same when voices of fear surround them. They won’t need to run far because God is right beside them, cheering them on, “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be discouraged or afraid! I am with you wherever you go!” (Joshua 1:9). I want to teach them that being courageous doesn’t mean you don’t feel fearful, but it does mean you “feel the fear and do it anyway”.

I used to have anxiety attacks really bad, and I remember the only thing that calmed me was when I buried myself deeply in God’s word. When I surrounded my heart with God’s word, my fears were calmed. Imagine how I felt when I saw my children modeling the fearful behavior they learned from me? One time my daughter barely ate for a week because she was so anxious about having to face what looked like Goliath each day at school. I taught her that she had a sling which was the truth of God’s word, and that her reciting those words would be the stones that killed Goliath.

During those days God showed me a deep rooted truth. I needed to change how I responded to fear if I wanted my children to learn how to respond to fear. So I began citing God’s word and speaking words of affirmation around them whenever I was fearful. This taught my children to be honest with God about their fears and to be confident that He will calm their anxious heart (Romans 8:1). My heart smiled so big one day when I overheard my child saying, “God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. God is with me. God will protect me.”  (2 Timothy 1:7)

As our children go through this school year, let’s reassure them that God has great plans for them, plans to prosper them and not harm them, and bring them to an expected end of peace. (Jeremiah 29:11) While they’re flipping through the channels of their vivid imaginations worrying if others will like them, what their peers will think of their outfit, will anyone want to be their friend, or what they will do when they see the big bad bully from last year, we must be standing on the wall interceding on their behalf.

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to give all of our worries and cares to God, for He cares about us. When we teach our children to run to God and turn their worries and fears over to Him, we teach them to make Him bigger than their problem. Let’s pray that our children will be courageous enough to speak God’s word over anything that worries them because it’s His word that will bring peace to their troubled hearts and minds (John 14:27).

Now #MomArmy15, let’s pray like our kid’s lives depend on it! You may use the scripture prayer below and insert your child’s name when you see a blank. Or feel free to use other scriptures God has placed on your heart. We would love it if you typed at least one sentence of your prayer in the comments section or left a comment that shares your heart with us. We love you!

Dear God,

I pray that you will help ___know that you are the Lord his/her God. Remind ___ that you are with him/her and are mighty to save. Help ___ understand that you take great delight in him/her (Zephaniah 3:17) Help ___ to keep his/her mind fixed only on thoughts that are true, honest, just, pure, of a good report, and lovely. (Philippians 4:8). Lord remind ___to trust you with all his/her heart, pain, emotions, fears, worry, and anxiety. Thank you for directing his/her path. Help ___ to trust you even when he/she doesn’t understand what’s going on around or within him/her. (Proverbs 3:5) Help ___ to realize when he/she operates in a spirit of fear that he/she is operating in a spirit that you didn’t give him/her. (2 Timothy 1:7).

You are our peace God, so help us mothers to serve as a model for our children on how to experience your peace in the midst of chaos, fear, worry, and anxiety. We will not be anxious or worry about anything, but we will submit our request to you and thank you for answering us. We thank you for sending your peace to guard our hearts and minds, and the hearts and minds of our children through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. 

This post is part of a blog series hosted by Anna Frye, founder of Chosen And Crowned Ministries. Anna's heart, along with the 12 other mom writers in this series, is to raise up a growing army of moms (#MomArmy15) who Pray Like Their Kids Lives Depend On It. This series runs from Sept. 7-Oct. 2. Join the Mom Army and invite your friends at www.ChosenAndCrowned.com/blog.