Stress/Anxiety is Fear In The Bible

 Fear in the Bible                                                                                                               10-20-26

If a person looks up fear in Bible Gateway (NKJV) it lists fear 457 times including 73 times in Psalm, 24 times in Provers, 33 times in Isaiah, 12 times in Matthew, 20 times in Luke, and 9 times in Hebrews. That is 171 of the 457 times fear is mentioned. 

So, why is fear mentioned so many times in the Bible?  God is warning us that fear is the number one issue for Christians and non-Christians.  God does not want us to fear because it does great damage to our health.   Most importantly, God does not want us to fear because fear is sin.  Sin is disobedience and it causes sickness and disease according to Deuteronomy 28:15-68.  Deuteronomy mentions numerous sicknesses and diseases and includes every sickness and disease known to mankind in verse 61 also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed.  We are destroyed because of sin.  Fear does the most damage because it affects every part of our body physically and emotionally.

We ignore the word fear.  Fear has been in the Bible since fear was first mentioned in Genesis 9:2. About 6,000 years ago.  We have replaced fear with stress and anxiety which has minimized fear in the Bible.  The word stress comes from a shortening of the Middle English word destress in the 1300s.  The word anxiety originated in the 1520s.

Interesting, we are always declaring how stressed we are and how much anxiety we have.  These are negative declarations and people are cursing themselves, Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing James 3:10 Out.   People rarely admit to feeling fearful because social conditioning, pride, and survival instincts often equate fear with weakness, vulnerability, or a loss of control. 

I have been visiting churches for many years and I have not come across a church that addresses the sin of fear.  How can the flock be delivered from fear if we don’t confess our fear as sin to God, ask God to forgive us, cast out the evil spirit of fear and pray for healing?  Actually, this is the most powerful prayer for any sin we have that is causing sickness and disease symptoms.  James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  How do I know it works?  Because this is the prayer I use daily?  Why daily?  Because Satan and his fallen angels attack us throughout the day and night.

Evil Spirits – We can’t ignore what Jesus Christ commanded His disciples and us as disciples to do in Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons.  Unfortunately, the church and the body of Jesus Christ shies away from the mentioning of demon spirits.  The very demon spirits that are killing God’s children.

Science and Medicine – The below are two items I researched on the internet.  It shows how stress/anxiety/fear affects our health. Science identifies, describes and classifies sickness and disease.  Doctors treat the symptoms with drugs.  Only God can heal our symptoms through prayer.   Yet, our first choice are doctors.  I do not advocate eliminating doctors.  I do advocate prayer for healing. Only God can heal you.  I added notes in red. 

 #1 There is no fixed number of stress-related illnesses, because chronic stress can affect nearly every organ system in the body. Medical organizations and health guides commonly highlight primary categories of physical and mental conditions triggered or worsened by stress (fear): 

Common Stress-Induced Illnesses & Conditions

• Heart and Cardiovascular Problems: High blood pressure (fear), rapid heart rate (stress/fear), chest pain, heart disease, and broken heart syndrome (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy also called broken-heart syndrome or stress/fear cardiomyopathy). 
• Gastrointestinal Issues: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), stomach pain, heartburn/GERD, diarrhea, and ulcers. Nervous (stress/fear) stomach is common.
• Mental Health & Neurological Disorders: Depression (Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety (fear) in the heart of man causes depression), generalized anxiety (fear) disorders, burnout, tension (fear) headaches, migraines (fear), and insomnia or sleep dysfunction as a result of fear. 
• Endocrine & Metabolic Conditions: Elevated blood sugar or insulin resistance (contributing to Type 2 diabetes) and stress-related (fear) weight fluctuations or obesity (cortisol-driven fat storage). 
• Immune System Suppression: Frequent common colds, lingering infections, and slow-healing wounds due to a weakened immune response.  Immune system compromised by fear and cortisol drip.
• Musculoskeletal Pain: Chronic tension (fear), muscle spasms, and stiffness in the neck, shoulders, and back because of tensed muscles, ligaments, and tendons. 
• Skin Conditions: Stress (fear) triggered acne, hives, itching, rashes, pimples or eczema flare-ups. 
• Autoimmune & Inflammatory Flare-ups: Worsened symptoms in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease due to elevated inflammatory chemicals (like cytokines).  Cortisol drip will cause inflammation, destroy soft tissue, and white T cells. 

#2 Chronic stress (fear) triggers ongoing "fight-flight-freeze" hormone changes (such as adrenaline, cortisol, and epinephrine) that can trigger or worsen 10-12 primary categories of physical and mental conditions:

Cardiovascular & Metabolic

• Broken heart / Takotsubo syndrome: Sudden stress (fear) induced cardiomyopathy mimicking a heart attack.  Broken heart can lead to unhealthy sorrow and illness.
• Ischemia & heart attacks: Constricted blood vessels and restricted blood flow to the heart muscle. Heart overworking to pump blood through narrowed and blocked vessels.
• High blood pressure (hypertension): Sustained elevation of vascular pressure from chronic sympathetic activation.  High blood pressure is primarily due to fear as in fear of the future.  130 million people in the U.S. have high blood pressure.
• Hyperglycemia: Elevated blood sugar levels driven by cortisol releasing stored energy into the bloodstream. Possible root causes: generational self-bitterness, self-rejection, self-hatred, self-pity and guilt coming out of extreme rejection by a father.

Neurological & Psychological

• Insomnia & sleep disturbances: Hyperarousal and racing thoughts that disrupt natural rest cycles.  Insomnia is caused by stress and anxiety which is fear.
• Anxiety/Fear: Persistent worry (fear), panic, or nervous (fearful) system hypervigilance.
• Depression: Mood disorders linked to long-term neurochemical and hormonal imbalances (such as serotonin and dopamine).  The Bible says “Anxiety (fear) of the heart of man causes depression Proverbs 12:25.
• Altered pain processing: Heightened sensitivity to physical discomfort, chronic tension (fear), and headaches. Headaches, insomnia, and migraines are fear driven.

Systemic & Visceral

• Chronic inflammation: Low-grade, persistent immune system activation that damages healthy tissues.  Cortisol drip and anxiety/stress/fear casues inflammation according to science.

·        Weakened immune system: Suppressed immune cell activity increasing vulnerability to frequent infections.  Stress/anxiety/fear causing cortisol drip will destroy soft tissue, and white T cells weakening the immune system.

• Reproductive irregularities: Painful, irregular, or missed menstrual periods and changes in libido or fertility.  We must consider all expressions of fear (as in stress and anxiety); self-hatred, self-rejection and guilt; lack of nurturing; drivenness and performance.

Every sickness and disease is caused by sin.  Every sickness and disease has a symptom.  We must identify our sin causing the symptoms.  Many, like bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness, hatred, lying togue, pride, slander, the love of money, and many more.

Unbelief of what the Bible tells is the biggest road block for healing, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, John 3:16.  Our sickness and disease cannot be healed if we don’t pray and pray effectively.

This the most powerful prayer I have found for healing.  It meets all the requirement for healing according to scripture.

We confess our sins and ask God to forgive us – 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We cast out evil spirts working in us due to sin – Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons (evil spirits) and send them to dry places, Matthew 12:43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

Sample Prayer:  Father God, in the name of Jesus, I confess my fear as sin and I ask You to forgive me for being fearful.  In the name of Jesus, I cast out this anger and send anger to the dry places and I pray for deliverance and healing from fear.  I thank you God.

Understand that healing is a process.  Example: We can pray away and be delivered from sin due to someone who has hurt us, but Satan and his crew are there to temp us and remind you of what they did to us causing bitterness and anger to re-enter.  So, we pray again and again until the sin is minimized or eradicated. It works because God tells us it works in His Word! 

Why are we in defiance of what Jesus commanded us to do in Mark 16:14-18?  Why? 

Thank you for your time and God bless you.  Tony 10-17-26