What is fear?
According to research (American Psychological Association, 2025; Marshall, 2018), fear is a primal emotion that triggers a universal biochemical response. Based on both foundational psychology and neurobiology, fear is a universal survival emotion triggered by a perceived threat—whether immediate and physical or anticipated and imagined—that activates an identical, automatic fight-or-flight response in the body.
It serves to protect an organism from danger, but can easily generalise into chronic anxiety or phobias when internal mental imagery overrides the brain’s logical reality filters.
Fear is a form of self-preservation that stops us from stepping out of our comfort zone into what our brain perceives as a potentially dangerous situation.
The brain is an amazing machine. Our brain knows when we are in danger and will cripple the body in an attempt to protect itself. However, when this happens and we are paralysed by this response, which prevents us from facing the problem or danger eliminating any chance of victory.
That is why is it imperative that we learn to control this response.
Fear is the primary inhibitor that keeps people from doing what is necessary.
The two types of Fear.
There are two types of fear: The first is what I call Face-Value fear and the second is our internal fears.
Our Face Value fears are like a fear of heights, spiders, relational and/or vocational challenges. I have a “healthy respect” for heights and I can “admire” spiders from a distance, the hard conversations need to be had and the work issue needs to be addressed. These fears are usually easier to overcome because they can be overcome by doing what scares you, conquering it, and changing your perception.
Last year I was given the opportunity to go bungy jumping. I obviousley accepted because why not. It’s an adventure. I went to the Bloukrans Bridge Bungy which is one of the world’s highest commercial bungy jumping sites at 216 metres above the Bloukrans River in the Western Cape in South Africa.
For my first attempt at conquering my fear of heights I chose one of the highest bridge bungy jumping sites in the world. A bit audacious if I do say so myself. It was not like I was gradually facing my fear I went for the biggest one right off the bat. I was properly nervous of this stunt.
I would not have forgiven myself if I walked away, I had ample opportunity to do so; to give in to fear, but I was on this journey to overcome my fears and learn how to face them. I was determined, I held my ground to saw it through.
If I had walked away then Fear would have won.
To my great surprise it was a phenomenal experience—one of the coolest things I have done in my life. The feeling of weightlessness and acceptance was overwhelmingly serene and eventually when the adrenaline had worked out (and I had come back to earth) I wanted to do it again.
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”
When I was young I had severe anxiety kindled by past trauma and fueled by imagined fear. I missed out on a lot and wasted a lot of time worrying about an unknown future, an uncontrollable variable. At some point in my youth, I had enough, I decided that fear would no longer rule my life and steal what precious time I had. In an attempt to overcome this anxiety and fear I started putting myself in uncomfortable situations (within reason) that would force me to overcome whatever fear was relevant to that situation.
I attacked my fear head-on.
That is what needs to be done when facing our face-value fears. The longer we wait to face the problem the bigger and scarier it gets, our anticipation exacerbates the problem. When we postpone fixing the problem start hesitating, overthinking kicks in, the fear grows, and we end up running away from it because we can’t see the next step.
There is a great quote about fear and overthinking in the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy that goes:
“I can’t see a way through,” said the boy. “Can you see your next step?” “Yes.” said the boy. “Just take that,” said the horse.
There is always a way forward, we need only accept our emotions, analise them, and take the next best step. Do this enough times and before we know it we are at the mountain peak enjoying the view.
The second is our internal fears, like the fear of rejection or the fear of being judged or hated etc. These fears have to be trained out of us. We need to change our mindset regarding our internal fears.
"We suffer more in imagination than in reality"
These were, for me at least, more difficult to overcome because I had to change the way I perceived my environment and the actions of others. I had to discern which actions were malicious and which I simply misunderstood. When one assumes without clarifying then these fears become bigger than they have to be.
The ancient stoics believed that fear isn’t the enemy. They believed these emotions are a natural response and the true enemy is our allowing it to paralyse us. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react. The greatest men in secular and church history did the right thing and displayed courage despite their fear. They didn’t let their fear get the better of them; they accepted their emotions, examined them closely and did not let their emotions dictate their actions. The Stoics believed that doing the right thing regardless of the consequences is the hallmark of true masculinity. This does, however, point to a deeper Biblical truth that the Stocis can’t explain, that is, there is a “force” that drives men to stand firm against something bigger than themselves. They have a strength that is not their own.
Both of these fears can be addressed with what is called Cognitive reframing, essentially it manages anxiety intercepting automatic negative thoughts and systematically replacing them with balanced, realistic alternatives (Curtiss et al., 2021).
When anxiety strikes, your brain’s alarm system, the amygdala, takes over, launching you into a loop of terrifying “what-if” scenarios making temporary things absolute. Cognitive reframing acts as an intervention, stepping in to shift control back to your rational prefrontal cortex.
The strategy unfolds in three deliberate stages:
- Unmasking the Trick: You first learn to spot the mental traps your brain sets, like assuming the absolute worst or trying to read other people’s minds.
- The Reality Check: Instead of blindly believing the panic, you pause to put your thoughts on trial, demanding real facts and objective evidence.
- Rewriting the Script: You trade unrealistic positive thinking for grounded, believable truths. By speaking to yourself clearly—and even using your own name—you build a steady inner voice that guides you through the storm.
When you practice this daily through journaling and deep breathing, you train your brain to rely on logic rather than fear.
Where do we find truth to replace lies?
God has bestowed His common Grace upon the world, that is why we have medicine, psychology, the arts, and engineering etc. All things that help people, help people. Psychology can accurately describe the loop – the amygdala hijack, the catastrophic thinking, the need to intercept the lie and replace it. But, what it can’t supply is the truth to replace the lie with. ‘Rewriting the script’ with our lived/subjective truth still leaves us as the author. How are we supposed to find objective truth if we can’t think objectively or Biblically?
When Jesus claims that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) He is claiming to be the very source, standard, and embodiment of all reality.
John Calvin wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion that the human mind is a perpetual factory of Idols because humans are fallen and our reason and emotions are fundamentally corrupted. When we look for objective truth without Christ we don’t become neutral, we immediately start creating substitute truths and falsehoods to justify our desires or fears. We need to go to the revealed source of truth for truth.
Scripture provides you a script that isn’t yours: God is sovereign, God is good, God has not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). The technique is real, the psychology helps but the content that saves you from despair isn’t self-generated, by a fallen and damaged human, but a truth revealed by a perfect and Holy God who cares for you greatly.
Fear is always an emotional reaction to a lie. When you feel anxious, your mind has likely elevated a temporary thing into an absolute truth. When we feel this way we must ask ourselves “What am I assuming is ultimate right now?”
There is always an underlying Biblical reason for secular fear:
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- If you fear financial ruin, the underlying lie is: “My security comes from my bank account, not Christ.“
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- If you fear rejection, the underlying lie is: “My worth comes from human approval, not Christ.”
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- If you fear the future, the underlying lie is: “Chaos is in control, not a sovereign King.”
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- If you fear dying the underlying lie is: “If my physical life ends, everything is lost, and chaos wins.”
The reality is your life does not belong to you, nor does it belong to the danger you face. It belongs entirely to Christ. Therefore, no accident, illness, or enemy can touch you apart from the sovereign will of your heavenly Father. Remind yourself: My anxiety doesn’t change the fact that Christ is King. This crisis feels random but because Christ holds all reality together, it is entirely under His sovereign care.
The focus shifts from panic to the Sovereign Care of Christ.
Courage in the face of adversity
Highschool is a weird stage of life for everyone. We are all busy finding ourselves and trying to navigate the social dynamics of this new world. Here is where our values and principles from our parents come through because they serve as a baseline for our behaviour. One thing my dad drilled into us was that integrity and courage were most important in a world where people have a price.
My first year in high school I was faced with this very choice: Do the right thing when it might cost me a lot, or look the other way. I chose the former. I was driven, by my conscience and hatred of injustice, to do the right thing.
This is an illustration from my own life of a much greater principle. Good, godly men, of all ages, can’t have a price and should not make peace with evil, instead they should wage war against it.
We have ample examples of men in Scripture who faced adversity:
(1) David took on Goliath, who blasphemed against God, with faith in God and a sling with 5 stones. (2) Daniel defied the laws of the king when he openly prayed to God and was thrown in a den full of lions, but he kept faith and God delivered him from the lions teeth. He stood firm in his faith while living in a foreign and hostile land. (3) Paul preach in hostile lands where he was beaten, stoned, and imprisoned. He sailed dangerous seas to preach, and died in prison with peace and bravery.
The common denominator between these events and the men who stood in defiance against evil is the object of their faith. Faith is only as strong as its object and because they put their faith in the Almighty God, King, and Creator of the Universe they could be brave with confidence that Gods will would come to pass.
The quote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is doing the right thing even when you are afraid,” is very appropriate but I amend it:
“Courage is doing what is right in the face of fear, relying not on your own strength, but on the power of Almighty God.”
What does the Bible say about fear?
The Bible says that Adam lived in peace and communion with God. There was no sin or want, thus Adam had no anxiety. He lived in paradise with God and then later with Eve. However, right after they had sinned against God, fear and sin entered humanity and peace with God was lost (Genesis 3:10).
Now humanity was permeated with sin, which includes but is not limited to anxiety and fear. Sin affects the human mind, emotions, and physical body (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 8:7–8; Genesis 6:5). Therefore, the brain’s tendency toward panic or chemical anxiety is part of the brokenness of the fallen world.
R.C. Sproul said it like this ,”anxiety is fundamentally a spiritual attitude of worry, apprehension, and fear directed toward the future, driven by a lack of trust in God’s promises” (Ligonier Ministries, 2020).
The good news however, is a repeated command in the Bible is “Fear not”. It is often repeated because Jesus requires us to put our trust in Him, because He is Good and has promised us hope. There are many verses in the Bible encourage and comfort us through our fears and anxieties:
Isaiah 41:10 1 Peter 5:6–7 Isaiah 26:3 Psalm 91
Matthew 10:29–31 Philippians 4:6–7 Psalm 46:1–2 Proverbs 3:5–6
John 14:27 Psalm 56:3 Romans 8:28 John 16:33
Psalm 23:4 ETC
Why are God’s children afraid when He is sovereign over all creation? If we have a proper understanding of God sovereignty then we ought to know that everything belongs to Him. That includes us, our needs, reality as we know it, and every molecule in the vast expansion of the universe (Isaiah 46:9–10; Romans 11:36).
God is sovereign over all. Which means He is intricately woven into the fabric of His creation (reality) and can exercise His will over it as He pleases (Psalm 135:6). The implication of this is when God says “do not be Anxious” He means it. His track record testifies that He has always provided spiritually and physically for His elect.
It would be inconsistent with rational thought that God would fail in any sense to provide for His people.
Christ said that we will suffer in this world for His sake, but that He will be our strength to endure because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). He will give us rest when we are tired and He will give us peace in the midst of the trails He ordained for our sanctification. Knowing that God is sovereign and He is the one who brings everything to pass, including our trails, gives us great comfort because we know that God is good and so are His purposes. We don’t suffer because God lost control, we face trails for God’s glory, like Job. God ordained our trails because He wants us to be righteous.
We can rest in the truth that Gods character is immutably good and that His track record is perfect.
How does this knowledge relate to fear and anxiety?
Many of the men that God used in the Bible were afraid. Moses, Joshua, Gideon, the 12 apostles and all of believers today experience fear and anxiety. To experience fear ,sometimes, is a natural response to our environment and/or actions of others. What is not okay though, is cowering away from the challenge because of fear, cowardice has no room in the life of a Christian. We must ”13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
How do I do that?
We can do this only because it is Christ who enables us to. We have a limited capacity and strength; if we try to carry all of our burden we won’t make it. We must cast our burden and anxieties on Christ (Psalm 55:22) who is the strong Shepard and Ruler of the universe with infinite capacity. This doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing, we must delight in our hard work, but surrender the results of our efforts to Christ, and trust in His promises.
The men God used where flawed, but faithful. God gave them the courage to be bold. Sometimes we will still feel afraid, overwhelmed or anxious, we will obviously fail at times but as the Bible says in Proverbs 24:16:
6 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
The wicked and cowardly stay down when they fall and shake their fists at God, but the righteous man glorifies God in the dust and rises again. The only thing that gets me through the dark valley is remembering God’s promises, finding comfort in His absolute sovereignty, and trusting for His will to be done because He is Good. We must learn to take control of our feelings to not let them control us. We submit our fear and anxieties to Jesus.
Remember, the giant feeds on fear, and behind him waits our triumph. We must be strong and courageous if we are to be victorious (Joshua 1:9). We can only have victory if we abide in God our Father. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Conclusion.
Seneca says we suffer more in imagination than reality, true, but why should we trust that reality is safe to face? Because God is sovereign over it (Psalm 135:6). CBT says replace catastrophic thoughts with realistic ones, but what’s realistic if the future really is uncertain? “Realistic” for the Christian is Romans 8:28.
Psychology and Stoicism do offer great insight to how fear and anxiety effect our lives and are good at diagnosis, but only the gospel offers the ultimate cure because God is the ultimate physician. As R.C. Sproul stated, “We are not stoics who are called to keep a stiff upper lip out of some nebulous concept of fate; rather, we are those who are to rejoice because Christ has overcome the world” (R.C. Sproul, 2021).
Gentlemen, do not let fear become your master, it will prevent you from living the life of God has for you. Don’t miss the call of God because of fear. Stare back at your fear and resist.
I believe in each man reading this, that you sir, can and will overcome this beast called Fear. Grace has been given to you and it enables you to fight back. However, it is you who must fight, no one can do it for you. This dragon you must face.
But remember, you never fight alone.
