When you were young, were you scared of the monsters under the bed? Did Mom or Dad have to prove to you there really wasn't anything there? You probably still weren't sure—and were still frightened.

Now you are afraid of spiders, heights, poverty, disease—even death. Your childhood fears seem silly and irrational. Your fears now are more real, more believable.

Or are they?

Turn your fears over to Jesus

Because of sin and the devil, we can never totally escape our fears. But when we trust in Jesus, we can face our fears and work to overcome them. Jesus shows us that though our fears are real to us, we really don't need to be afraid of anything.

Even though we know we have nothing to fear with Jesus near, our minds still tell us we are afraid of certain things. We might fear snakes or public speaking or rejection.

God gives us words of wisdom to help us combat some common fears:

Fear of the dark. This fear might seem childish. When we were young, we needed our night-light and security blanket, and that door better be open a crack.

But we still may be afraid of the dark as adults—or at least of things that happen in the dark. Robberies, strange noises, threatening shadows happen when the lights go down. But the Bible says in Psalm 139, "Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Jesus sees us in the dark of night. He is always there for us.

Fear of being alone. We can feel alone even when people surround us. We may be lonely. We may be in a place where we don't know anyone. We may discover we are sick and wonder if anyone else is going through the same thing. It's scary to feel so alone.