If you are or have been in the military or play competitive sports, there is a certainty… you will experience grueling preparation & training. I use the word grueling because to survive the contact, the preparedness must be physical, mental, and emotional. It must push the limits. In a culture of fewer & fewer participants in team sports or military experience, this seems extreme & unnecessary. Yet, look at the high levels of anxiety. In a Google search I found, “In 2024, a poll by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that 43% of adults reported feeling more anxious compared to the previous year.”

When “fear” is uncontrolled…with nowhere to go, it goes to anxiety. Anxiety is like a devouring monster that waits in the dark to consume you.

Fear is a natural emotional response. We fear what we don’t know. We feel inadequate to respond. No matter who you are, we all have fears. Fear is coming. The question is, what will you do with your fear? Will you choose to prepare or be caught flat-footed in a culture that uses fear to control?

Years ago, I was leading a small non-profit organization that suddenly became threatened by an aggressive & larger organization. One of our long-term employees asked me, with trembling lips, “What are we going to do?” BAM! She had much to fear. She recognized I had only been with the organization a short time. I had no Go-To supporters. It looked impossible.

Did, I fear? You bet! The thought of being responsible for an old & successful organization being run out of existence scared me to death. The fear was real. I remember saying something like, “I don’t know, but I do know He (God) brought me here. I know He (God) will provide.” But how could I say that? How could I know? I remembered… it was only God who orchestrated the way I got the job. I remembered my impossible situation with cancer. I remembered His Word, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20). God had prepared me through His grueling experiences that had been wrapped in His Word.

When I have wrapped my hard times in His Word, He has done 2 things. First, He brought guidance, confidence, and strength to me like nothing else. Second, His Word became my GO-TO when the next fear would surface. In the Psalms of my Bibles you will find many date notations, especially Psalm 91 where I went daily during that hard season. His Word, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty…You will not fear the terror of the night…For He will command His angels…I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him…” And deliver He did. It was totally God. Our organization not only survived, but it thrived. He deserves the Glory.

Question, are you prepared for your next fear? Will it be family, financial, health, work, relationships, political….? No matter what the fear, the source is always the same, God’s Word. God’s Word is flawless (2 Samuel 22:31) & time tested. But like practice & training, it only works if you do the work (see Proverbs 2:2-6). Those who come to practice and gut out the sessions will be better prepared when fear strikes… and it will (John 16:33)! At that instant have a GO-TO verse…an Attribute of God that provides the confidence to say as Paul said, “I Press on…” (Philippians 3:14)

God illustrates this preparedness in Joshua 4. God ordered Joshua and the people to take 12 stones from the River Jordan and build an altar. But why? “… to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:6-7 My Bibles have many notations or stone altars…my GO-TO’s.

Like it or not, the impossible situations we experience and how we respond will be in direct proportion to our preparedness. I encourage you to enroll in a Bible study. I recommend Bible Study Fellowship, (https://www.bsfinternational.org/). It’s a choice. Are you coming to practice?