How to Overcome Fear According to the Bible

9/28/2019 Christianity 22 Comments

Distressful events that happen in a person’s life, especially if they happen during childhood, normally leave a negative impact on his outlook in life, on his impression of other people, on his attitude, and in some other aspects of his personality. More specifically, he usually develops fear and anxiety, and distrust towards other people.

Examples of these distressful or traumatic events are death of a loved one, domestic abuse – be it verbal, physical, or emotional, separation of parents, natural calamities, and rape, among others. And indeed, it takes time before one is able to recover from these experiences.

A young girl, for instance, who had been sexually abused by her own father, or by her step-father, would find it difficult to forget and get over that hateful experience. It’s not only fear and distrust in every man that is developed in the victim but also the feeling that all men are bad. What is worse, there is the possibility that she might think that God has allowed such loathsome thing to happen to an innocent child like her.

And these negative thoughts and feelings will not be readily erased unless she gets a strong support system and unless she learns the ways on how to overcome such fear from biblical pronouncements.

First of all, the Bible tells us that there are six or seven things that are abomination to God.

PROVERBS 6:16-17 (KJV) says,


Let us pay special attention to that portion, “that shed innocent blood.” The term “innocent blood” does not only refer to somebody who is not sinful, or somebody who is not guilty of something. In the Bible, “innocent blood” was first applied to children.

PSALMS 106:38 (KJV) says,


This verse proves that the Bible used the word “innocent blood” to refer first to the children, to the babies that some Israelites offered to their idols in the land of Canaan. To sacrifice children or to let them pass unto fire to be sacrificial offerings to false gods is an abomination to the Lord.

JEREMIAH 19:5 (KJV) says,


The Lord confessed that such an abominable act did not even enter His mind; and He did not even think that the Israelites, His own people, would do such thing because He had shown them too much compassion, especially to the children. Hence, during the time of Solomon, relative to what happened in Canaan, the six or seven things that are hateful to God were written.

PROVERBS 6:16-19 (KJV)


There are seven things that are unforgivable for God; they are abominations in His sight. And one of them is the shedding of innocent blood, or abusing children. So, definitely, abusing children is against the will of God.

But how can a victim of an abuse be able to overcome the fear, or the trauma it created? The answer is simple: Trust in God. Trust God because God protects them that trust in Him.

If you are that person who had been abused, sexually or otherwise, during your childhood, try to look at it from a different perspective. Maybe that thing happened to make you more God-fearing and more trusting in God.

The Bible tells us that if we are children of God and if we will trust in Him, He will never leave us.

HEBREWS 13:5 (KJV) says,


God promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” However, it doesn’t mean that when a young girl was raped, or something bad was done to her, God has forsaken her. No, no! Let us not look at it that way. Do not forget, GOD CARES!

1 PETER 5:7 (RSV) says,


Maybe we cannot see God caring for us personally because He is a Spirit but He works in a silent manner. Actually, the reason why we are still alive is because God cares for us. And the clearer manifestation that He cares for us is, He calls and makes members of the Church of God even those who became victims of abuses during their childhood.

ISAIAH 41:4 (KJV) says,


It is God who calls from the beginning to the last generation. And when God calls a person, he is called into the Church.

As written in 1 CORINTHIANS 1:9, 2 (KJV),


The word “church” or “ekklēsía” in Greek means the calling out. Wherever you may have come from, if it is God that calls you, He calls you unto the fellowship of His Son in the Church of God, like what happened to the brethren in Corinth. They were called in the Church to be saints.

Why am I mentioning this? If a woman who happened to have experienced a traumatic incident in her childhood becomes a member of the Church of God, it means that God called her unto the fellowship of His Son. So, if she believes that she was called by God and God cares for her, and if she loves God, all the deep-seated fear in her caused by an unpleasant experience will all vanish.

1 JOHN 4:18 (KJV) says,


If you will develop the love for God foremost of all, and also love for your fellowmen, even for your enemies, the word of God which says, There is no fear in love, will not fail. The moment you acquire the virtue of loving God above all and your fellowmen, you become under God’s protection.

If you love you have nothing to fear because that very love that you are feeling is God.

1 JOHN 4:8,16 (KJV) says,


Have the love that the Bible teaches and you will not fear anymore. Be steadfast in faith, learn how to forgive, and trust in God’s power that will take care of you.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 (KJV) says,


Instead of fear, you will experience peace. Not just an ordinary peace but the peace of God which passeth all understanding. The peace of God transcends all understanding on earth; it shall keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

You have nothing to fear if you love God. God is all-powerful that He will protect you from all harms and abuses.

Speaking of God’s protection and deliverance, I, myself, have experienced lots of it in many occasions. One instance was when leaders of one religious organization tasked a member of their liquidation squad to assassinate me. The assassin went in one of our congregational gatherings and he was just waiting for the right moment to carry out his mission. As it was my practice to walk closer to my audience while preaching, unknowingly, I came quite near to where my supposed assassin was. He was all set to assault me. But when he was already standing at my side, he couldn’t execute his plan because, all of a sudden, he couldn’t see me. I got lost from his sight but I was actually there being seen by everybody, yet he couldn’t see me. So the assassination plot did not materialize. He, himself, confessed it to us later on because he eventually got converted and became a member of the Church.

Another instance was when a group of NBI agents went to our central office to apprehend me for a libel case that was filed by our enemy in faith. What I considered a miracle was, when I was alighting from my car, an NBI agent approached me and asked me, “Where is Soriano? Where is Soriano?” How can that be, I asked myself. Isn’t it that most of the time arresting officers have photos of the person that they are going to arrest? How come was he asking me “Where is Soriano?” So I told him I do not know, and I calmly got off my car and went straight to my office. In other words, they were not able to arrest me because they couldn’t find the Soriano that they were looking for, who in truth was the very man whom they asked, “Where is Soriano?”

There was also a time when the officers who were supposed to arrest me called me up to tell me that they were coming for my arrest. Somehow they were indirectly giving me a signal to leave right away because they were coming. They did not hesitate to forewarn me because they know that I am not an evil person.

All of those are wonderful works of God. They are His acts of deliverance.

What might have really happened? Maybe just like what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah when some men were trying to get the two angels in the house of Lot. They were blinded so as not to see the men, who were actually angels, that they wanted to get and rape.

Those maybe are simple miracles but they mean a lot.

The Bible tells us not to fear because we have a keeper, and our keeper is the peace of God. And all our fears, whether they were caused by some distressful experiences in the past or by some other factors, will be dispelled if we trust in God and if we love God above all else.

May God bless us all!