Let Christ’s Presence Eradicate Your Fear

Fear of the unknown, often referred to as a fundamental fear, is a person’s natural tendency to experience fear simply because they “don’t know.”

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago in a 2016 study reported, “Several anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobias, share a common underlying trait: increased sensitivity to uncertain threat, or fear of the unknown.”^[1]

When we are forced to embrace unexpected life events, often completely out of our control, our first thoughts can bring anxiety, disappointment, and panic.

Is it unnerving to you when plans change or expectations go unmet? How many times have “what if” questions kept you from doing something you probably should have done?

Anxiety can follow uncertainty and enter your presence like an uninvited guest.

The story of Jesus walking on the water is told from three disciple’s perspectives in the books of Matthew, Mark and John. Immediately after miraculously feeding the 5,000 plus people with five loaves of bread and two fishes, Jesus sends the disciples across the lake to Bethsaida, telling them he’ll join them later. He stayed back to say goodbye to the crowd and then walked up into the hills to pray. In the early morning hours he looks across the lake and sees the disciples in the middle of the lake struggling against the winds and waves.

So, being Jesus and all … he walks out onto the water to help them. They see him coming and are immediately afraid because they don’t recognize him. “They thought he was a ghost (Mark 7:49 NIV). The disciples were afraid, but once they realized who He was, His presence calmed their fears, as well as the water and wind.

When you experience fear, anxiety, the unexpected or the unknown, do you try to overcome it on your own, or do you invite Jesus to speak into the unsettling winds and waves in your life? In the face of the unknown, peace comes when you remember Christ is always with you (Matthew 28:20). Choose to allow Christ’s presence to eradicate your fear.