When I talk about praying through fear, I am not talking about the kind of fear that makes me stop and thoughtfully consider the outcomes of the decisions I am making. That can be a healthy expression of fear.
I am talking more about the chronic worry that stops me in my tracks. The kind of fear that shouts at me from the past. The persistent belief that the bad thing that happened long ago will happen again.
The Problem
I have spent far too much of my life trying to deal with fear by avoiding it. Maybe if I ignore it long enough, someone else will take care of it for me. The problem is that no one else can.
My inner life is my responsibility.
It is like a garden that only I can weed. Even God will not force Himself into that mess until I invite Him into it.
Fear has a quiet way of shaping the leadership decisions I am making.
For Christian business owners, unmanaged fear can affect communication, team culture, confidence, and clarity. Left unchecked, fear eventually leaks into every area of life.
The Prayer
When praying through fear, there are five distinct parts.
1. Awareness
The first step is counterintuitive to most people. It is the willingness to acknowledge that I have fear in the first place.
For some reason, everyone around me can usually see it before I can.
Fear is an automatic response that affects my facial expressions, darkens my thinking, and directs my decisions. It unintentionally puts me into attack mode. The problem is that fear rarely moves me to attack problems. It usually moves me to attack people.
Because of this, the fear I am working so hard to ignore often becomes obvious to everyone around me.
Awareness is the willingness to feel the tension in my own body. It is the readiness to hear the words coming out of my mouth. It is the decision to be present enough to notice the effect I am having on others.
Awareness is the hardest part because I do not want to acknowledge that fear exists within me. It is a deeply humbling process, and one that I have spent most of my life running from. But humility requires that I stop running and honestly face what is happening inside me.
2. Confession
When I am willing to acknowledge my fear, the second step becomes easier. It is simply putting the fear into words.
The church has always called this confession.
I feel fear, but I am afraid people will abandon me.
I feel fear, but I am worried about losing the contract.
I feel fear, but I am anxious about saying the wrong thing.
When I put the feeling into words, I can finally do something with it.
3. Give It to Jesus
The third step is to give the fear to Jesus.
Jesus is the only One who can truly carry my fear without becoming tired or overwhelmed by it. Not only can He handle it, He knows exactly what to do with it.
Because of this, I do not feel guilty bringing my burdens to Him.
“Dear Jesus, I give You the fear of (name it).”
I do not beg Him to take it because that implies He is reluctant. In reality, I believe He is willing and ready to receive it. He is simply waiting for me to confess it and surrender it to Him.
I cannot prove this, but I believe that every time I give Jesus my anxious thoughts, He smiles. Because of this, I have decided to try to make Him smile every day.
4. Receive
Most people stop at step three, but step four is where something powerful happens.
Ask Jesus to replace the fear with something else.
At this point, it is helpful not to tell Jesus what He should give you in return. I often ask for less than what I truly need.
If fear has the power to take over my mouth and turn me against my spouse, my team, or the people I love, then I need something truly powerful to take its place.
Ask Jesus for it.
“Dear Jesus, I give You the fear of (name it). What do You give me in its place?”
5. Listen
The final step is to listen.
Pause for a moment. Be still. Become present to Jesus.
When I pause long enough to become present with Jesus, peace begins to wash over me. In that place, I receive the very thing that calms my fear.
If I am afraid of rejection, I receive love.
If I am afraid of saying the wrong thing, I receive guidance.
If I feel vulnerable, I receive strength.
He gives what is needed without guilt, shame, or condemnation.
The Byproduct of Praying Through Fear
As we learn to interact with Jesus in this way, fear slowly begins to lose its grip on us. But something else happens as well.
Most of all, we begin to feel calm and clear again.
For Christian leaders, learning how to pray through fear is not just about emotional health. It is about learning how to lead from peace instead of anxiety, wisdom instead of panic, and trust instead of control.
Give this a try and tell me how it goes.