Sermon quotes on Fear

Frederick Buechner

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.

 

Rudyard Kipling

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.

 

H. P. Lovecraft

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.

 

Abraham Maslow

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves. 

Donald Miller

Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.

 

Watchman Nee

The sight of any trouble strikes terror into the heart of those who do not have faith, but those who trust Him say, “Here comes my food!”

 

Florence Nightingale

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.

Source Unknown

 

Blaise Pascal

There is a virtuous fear, which is the effect of faith; and there is a vicious fear, which is the product of doubt. The former leads to hope, as relying on God, in whom we believe; the latter inclines to despair, as not relying on God, in whom we do not believe. Persons of the one character fear to lose God; persons of the other character fear to find Him.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

 

Nelson Searcy

You’re afraid? So what. Everybody’s afraid. Fear is the common ground of humanity. The question you must wrestle to the ground is, ‘Will I allow my fear to bind me to mediocrity?’

Charles Spurgeon

The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the (the Christian) cured of the disease of fearing.

 

J.R.R. Tolkien

A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only take a short cut to meet it.

 

Clay Scroggins

If you sense fear in yourself, the best way to face those fears is with a healthier sense of self. You turn up the volume of what is true about you, and you listen to what God says about you. As you do, your identity will adjust.

 How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge

John Hall Wheelock

Love is so great, is to be half afraid— It is like looking at the sun That blinds the eye with truth.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Men hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they cannot communicate with each other; they can’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other.

 The Papers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Blaise Pascal

Fear not, provided you fear; but if you fear not, then fear.

Francis de Sales

Those who love to be feared fear to be loved, and they themselves are more afraid than anyone, for whereas other men fear only them, they fear everyone.

Timothy R. Jennings

Fear impairs our judgment, paralyzes our reason and leads us down the path of selfishness.

Taken from The God-Shaped Brain by Timothy R. Jennings. ©2017 by Timothy R. Jennings.  Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove  IL  60515-1426. www.ivpress.com

Paul Martinelli

All fear stems from either ‘I am not enough’ or ‘I don’t have enough.’

Neil Postman

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.

Huxley feared that we would become a trivial culture. . . .

Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us.

Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Ann Voskamp

All fear is but the notion that God’s love ends.

One Thousand Gifts, 161.

David Whyte

The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears.

Jerry Seinfeld

I saw a study that said speaking in front of a crowd is considered the number one fear of the average person. Number two was death. This means to the average person, if you have to be at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.

French Proverb

Fear and restlessness kill more than do illnesses.

Julian Of Norwich

He did not say: You will not be troubled,

you will not be belaboured,

you will not be disquieted; but he said:

You will not be overcome.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Taking a new step, uttering, a new word, is what people fear most.

Abraham Maslow

In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth, or to step back into safety. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

Cor De Jonghe

Fear is the heartbeat of the powerless.

Rosa Parks 

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Marilynne Robinson

To value one another is our greatest safety, and to indulge in fear and contempt is our gravest error.

The Givenness Of Things

Dorothy Thompson

Fear grows in darkness; if you think there’s a bogeyman around, turn on the light.

Henry Ward Beecher

If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost.

 

Bob Goff

What I’m learning about love is that we have to tackle a good amount of fear to love people who are difficult.

Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People (Nelson Books, 2018).

Bob Goff

Oftentimes, when I encounter someone who makes me feel afraid, I instantly put up barriers. I put them up with my big words and opinions. I construct them to protect myself. Barriers make me feel right, and that makes me feel safe.

Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People (Nelson Books, 2018).

Skye Jethani

Fear and control are the basis for all human religions. From this common beginning the paths diverge dramatically, splinter, multiply, and finally terminate in different places. But each one is an attempt to overcome suffering, fear, and death by exerting control over natural, and sometimes supernatural, forces.

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 18.

David Benner

Fearful people live within restrictive boundaries…. People who live in fear feel compelled to remain in control. They attempt to control themselves and they attempt to control their world. Often despite their best intentions, this spills over into efforts to control others…. Fear also blocks responsiveness to others. The fearful person may appear deeply loving, but fear always interferes with the impulse toward love. Energy invested in maintaining safety and comfort always depletes energy available for love of others.

Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality, expanded ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2015), 41–42.

Marilynne Robinson 

Fear is not a Christian habit of mind.

Ann Voskamp

Fear is what we feel—but brave is what we do.

Twitter, October 18, 2016, 4:45 p.m., https://twitter.com/annvoskamp/status/788526326680588288?lang=en.

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