When you look in Scripture, you can find some very stunning examples of people who had pockets of fear—and I’m talking about some great saints of old. For example, Abraham had a pocket of fear about being killed. Here is a man described in Hebrews 11 as a man of great faith. God called him from a prosperous and comfortable life and said, Go to a land I will show you, and Abraham simply obeyed. He packed up and went to a place he had never been before, leaving his family and familiar surroundings behind. Even though he did not know where he was going, he went. That took great faith. Would you be able to do what he did?

He also was able to believe God could give him a son even though his wife was barren and they both were past the age of childbearing. That took tremendous faith. What really marks Abraham as a great man of faith was his willingness to offer that miracle son as a sacrifice because he believed God could raise the dead if necessary. Every time I read that story, I shake my head at this man of incredible faith.

Yet, when he was traveling in Egypt, on his journey to the Promised Land, he revealed a pocket of fear. Abraham was afraid the Egyptians would kill him because of his beautiful wife, Sarah, whom they would want for their own. In fear, he told Sarah to tell less than the truth—to say she was his sister—to keep them from killing him.

You’ll find this story in Genesis 12, and as I read it recently, I thought, “Abraham, what in the world was your problem? You believed God in all these huge areas, but you didn’t believe God could keep you and Sarah alive in Egypt? Where was your great faith?”

Abraham had a pocket of fear, and it led him into sin. It began to dawn on me we all have these pockets of fear. We can have great faith in some areas, at some times, and then our faith falls apart the next day or the next hour or when we round the next corner.

Paul wrote to the Romans: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry. ‘Abba, Father’ (Romans 8:15).

Whatever you are fearful about, it’s not coming from the Lord. Of course, we have an enemy who loves to scare us to death about anything he can, because when we are fearful, it means we’re not trusting God. What is your pocket of fear? Let’s look at some of the more common ones.

Is money your pocket of fear?

Are you fearful of not having enough money, of losing your job, of losing your house, of going bankrupt, or of not being able to afford what you need or want? Frankly, this was a pocket of fear for me. Satan would try to get me thinking, “What if something happens? How will you pay your bills? You could lose your house, all your assets, your retirement money, and everything you own. You could go through all that in no time flat. What in the world will you do then?” That was a pocket of fear for me.

Here’s what I learned to do with this pocket of fear, when it started to possess me. I would say to myself, “Okay, suppose all those things happen. Imagine the worst: No money, no income, no house, no savings, no retirement. You’d survive; somebody in the family or some close friend would take you in until you could get on your feet again. It would not destroy you.”

Then I would make myself claim a promise from the Bible. This was an act of my will, not my emotions. Pretty soon I began to laugh at myself for allowing my thoughts to go to this pocket of fear. It was a stronghold that held me for far too long. I’m so glad by God’s grace I emptied that pocket of fear.

Some good promises to claim for this pocket of fear are:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink: or about your body, what you will wear… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they (Matthew 6:25-26)?

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

By exposing that pocket of fear to the light, by bringing it out in the open and forcing yourself to face the fear, it loses its teeth. It can’t bite you, because you’ve accepted the worst may and could happen, and if it does, God’s Word is still steadfast. He will deliver you.

A good first principle in dealing with pockets of fear is to bring them out in the open and talk to God about them. Then find a verse of scripture to counteract them.

Are you afraid of being alone?

This fear can really take you down the wrong path, and some people are so possessed by it they’ve come to believe nothing is worse than being alone. I know; l used to be that way.

I know many single people who are intelligent, have good jobs, and are very successful in many areas of their lives. But they are so fearful of being single forever that very often this pocket of fear causes them to stay in relationships far too long or allow relationships to develop which were obviously wrong from the beginning.

Are you struggling with that pocket of fear—the fear of being alone or being single or not having someone to live your life with? If you allow this fear to continue, it will grow stronger and start to control your life. It could cause you to make very bad choices, and that could lead to misery.

Will you bring this pocket of fear into the light? Think about it: What is so terrible about being by yourself? You can do what you want to do, spend your money the way you want to, eat when you want and what you want. Imagine what it would be like to be with the wrong person; aloneness is highly preferable to being with someone who is not right for you. Face the fact that you might be alone or single for the rest of your life. Get it out in the open and expose it to the light. Does it mean you cannot have a meaningful life? Of course not!

This fear of being alone is an unreasonable fear. And here’s the thing, the more you reach out to others and start helping others, the more your life will become so full of love and meaningful relationships, you’ll covet some time alone.

Then, find some Scripture to remind you of God’s eternal presence in your life. Jesus promised he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Nothing you can name will ever separate you from the love of God that you have in Christ (Romans 8:38-39). Concentrate on God’s promises to you, and defeat that pocket of fear of being, alone. It’s a monkey on your back, and you don’t need it.

Are you fearful of rejection?

For some people, being accepted, liked, and having the approval of others is more important than anything else, so that can easily lead to this fear of rejection. When we are fearful of being rejected, we allow that person or group who might reject us to have a lot of control over us. If I live in fear that you may reject me, you have a great deal of leverage in my life. I will do and say things to try to please you, to avoid upsetting you, and to gain your approval.

Usually, the fear of rejection looks anemic when we bring it into the light. Are you willing to do that? Just expose it—admit you are fearful of being rejected and then ask yourself, “Why? Why is it so important for me to have the approval of this person? Why am I allowing them to have such power over me?” Probably the truthful answers to those questions will surprise you and you’ll see how foolish it is to live with that pocket of fear.

Are you afraid of failing?

When failing is fearful to you, it keeps you from doing very much because the road to success is filled with failures. Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong until you get it right! Fear of failure will rob you of many achievements. Or it will drive you to perfectionism and workaholism. Are you afraid of facing the reality that you can and will fail, just like everybody else? Is it difficult for you to believe you’re not as good as you think you are? Fear of failure may have a lot of pride wrapped up in it.

It will be a great help if you’ll bring this fear into the open and expose it. Ask yourself, “So, what will happen if I fail? If I try and it doesn’t work out, will the world stop revolving?” The sooner you expose that fear to the light, the sooner you can find victory over it through God’s Word and prayer.

Why is it important for us to deal with these pockets of fear? Because any area of fear is an area we are not trusting God, and without faith it is impossible to please God. When I have a pocket of fear, I know God is very displeased since it shows I don’t have faith in that area.

You’ll remember Abraham had a pocket of fear that led to a very disgraceful episode in his life. How could such a man of faith have such a pocket of fear?

Abraham found himself in this predicament because he was not totally obedient. God never intended for him to go to Egypt: that was Abraham’s idea to avoid a famine. Again, Abraham couldn’t trust God to feed them in a famine, so he came up with his own plan and did it his way by going to Egypt. One fear led to another, and that caused Abraham to sin. Disobedience will get us into these places of fear, and fear will cause us to disobey.

John wrote there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear… The one who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).

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