What scares you? We're not talking about horror movies or Halloween here. What mortally scares you? Take an inventory: death? snakes? public speaking? heights? Knowing in advance what scares you provides a unique opportunity to bring it to God.

Jesus' disciples, fearing they were going to drown in a 'furious squall' (Mark 4:37) at sea, woke Jesus from his peaceful sleep. Did they feel safe in Jesus' presence? No. Did they ask Jesus to comfort them in the storm? No. Did they wake Him to invite Him to join them in prayer that they'd make it safely across? No.

They woke Jesus from His peaceful sleep and said, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38). Now, what kind of faith is that? That was the voice of panic - they accused Jesus of not caring if they lived or died! How, after all they'd seen... all they had experienced, could they think He didn't care? Fear was speaking, not rationality. And Jesus' response contained a formula we must all apply to our fears:

"Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

In essence: as your faith increases, your fears decrease, and as your fears decrease, your faith increases.

So step #1: Identify your fears.

Step #2: Bring them to God in prayer: "Lord, this is my fear... should it ever be realized in my life, I trust You to bring me through it.

Step #3: Repeat daily.

Because no matter what your fears are, God will bring you through it. I've heard people all my life say things like, "If ever this thing happened, I would no longer want to live", or "I could not believe in a god who would allow such-and-such to happen." Not a lot of faith in those words, is there.

Many of my fears have come to pass. And it's inevitable many more will. Instead of losing faith, my faith was increased, which in turn prepared me to endure the next fear when it came to pass.

Increase your faith and your fears will conversely decrease.