Fear is very lonely. It seems to place a barrier between us and others, and between us and God. It feels like we’ve walked into a chamber and closed the door. There, alone, trapped with our terrible thoughts, our emotions churn and our body grows weary. In fact the suffering that fear brings is often worse than the problem itself. We can suffer through the same event over and over again in our mind, long before we actually encounter whatever it is we fear.

I wish there were a way we could do away with fear forever, but that blessing awaits the return of Jesus Christ. Until then you and I live in bodies that are vulnerable to fear. But when God gave us the Holy Spirit, He placed inside us a power greater than fear, a power strong enough to bring our rebellious emotions into submission. Here’s how the apostle Paul described that power: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal (dying) bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Ro 8:11).

That means that the Holy Spirit who lives inside the physical body of every believer is stronger than the forces, impulses, temptations or attitudes that arise from that body. This means you and I have been given access to a power greater than fear. And that means you and I are not slaves of fear; we can break its grip and live free of its control. There is no promise in the Bible that says fear will never trouble a believer, but there are many promises that say we can have victory over it when it arrives.

The apostle John gives us a remarkable gift in the passage we’re studying today. He records Jesus talking about how He dealt with the fear of the cross. If Jesus had to deal with fear, then so do we. But as we’ll see, when fear attacked Him He didn’t allow it to control Him. He knew how to gain victory over it. So let’s listen to Him carefully and learn to do what He did.