With so much going on in the world right now, many people are dealing with the spirit of fear and anxiety. I want to share a short word of encouragement and some Bible verses to help us all fight against the spirit of fear. You may be fearful about how this pandemic is affecting your life and uncertain about what tomorrow brings, or you may be dealing with fear concerning other parts of your life. I want to remind you that you were not created to be overcome by fear. God’s perfect love casts out ALL fear (1 John 4:18) and He has given you power to tell the spirit of fear to leave! (As you read this and meditate on these Bible verses, think of the areas where you are dealing with fear and allow God’s perfect love to cast it out!)

Some of the ways that fear manifests itself is by paralyzing you, causing you to see and believe things that aren’t there, preventing you from making a decision or causing you to make the wrong decision, and throwing off your thinking pattern. It’s hard to see God when your mind and eyes are clouded by fear. Fear almost caused Moses to reject the call of God on his life. Fear caused the children of Israel to yearn for their familiar life of slavery and wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Fear is not something that should be taken lightly, it should be attacked and dealt with aggressively because it can hinder us in so many ways.

God’s word is full of hope for every situation that we face. Sometimes discouragement, disappointment, delay, fear, doubt, and worry can take away our hope, our confident expectation, in God or in the promises that He has made to us.

Below are 22 Bible verses for when you are feeling hopeless or when you feel like your hope is decreasing. If you can put our hope in anything, it’s in God and in His word. You can confidently hope in God, confidently hope in His word, confidently hope in His promises to you, and confidently hope that He will keep you through any and every situation. Most importantly, you can confidently hope in the promise of eternity with God.

If you are in a situation and you’re unsure of God’s will concerning it, seek God diligently about the situation and put your hope in what He says. If you’re losing hope concerning specific promises that God has said to you in the past, go back and recall those promises to mind; meditate on them, ask God to confirm them if need be, and war with each prophetic word you have ever received (1 Tim. 1:18)! Remind yourself of what God has said then remind yourself that God is not a man that He should lie (Num. 23:19). God will not leave you to be ashamed concerning any situation! He will not abandon or forsake you. Put your hope (your confidence) completely in Him.

Peace. The peace of God is a promise and an inheritance to His children. In this chaotic world that we live in, it’s easy to let the cares of life overtake us and lose our peace. But the Bible tells us that if we keep our mind on Christ, He will give us perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). This means He’ll give us a peace that lacks nothing, a peace that is able to take us through and keep us in ANY situation. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we will have no peace, but when we fix our eyes on Him, we will have peace like a river.

There is POWER in God’s word to give us what we need in every situation. There is no situation so great that you can’t rest in the peace of God. The thing about peace is that you must choose it. You must choose to receive GOD’S PEACE. You must choose to believe that God is with you, that He sees you, that He cares, and that every situation is in His hands. His peace is available to you and He cares for you.