7 Prayers for Your Sound MindSýnishorn

Prayer 6: Be Not Dismayed

Pray this: “Father God, in Jesus' name, please help me not to fear or be dismayed. Make me perfect in Your perfect love, which casts out fear. Help me to always remember that You are bigger than any problem that could beset me, and that You will see me through. Thank You.”

God's Word tells us in Isaiah 41:10 that we should not fear or be dismayed, for the Lord is with us. Fear and dismay are two separate issues, but both are important.

First, you need to know that fear is not your portion.

God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. And 1 John 4:17-19 tells us that fear is cast out by God's perfect love. As we get to know God and His love more and more each day, He continually makes us perfect in His love ... and His perfect love will drive all fear out of us.

But what does it mean to be "dismayed"?

According to Strong’s Concordance, being dismayed is when you look at something …

… when you inspect and consider a thing …

… and you become anxious, bewildered, or nonplussed by what you see.

Basically, being dismayed means you’re looking at some problem you have, and you become intimidated or overawed by the size of the problem …

… instead of looking at God and seeing how much BIGGER He is than that same problem.

However, if we will magnify the Lord instead of magnifying our problems, we will not be dismayed.

“Magnifying” anything means to make that thing bigger in your field of vision. If I "magnify" Jesus like I am supposed to, then I will narrow the focus of my mind, thoughts, and words so much that I “zoom in” on Jesus to the point where He, and only He, fills the entire horizon of my vision.

Unfortunately, however, we humans tend to get dismayed because we do the OPPOSITE of that.

We tend to “zoom in” on our problems instead of on Jesus. And when we look closely at our problems, our field of vision is distorted. Our focus becomes so narrow that we can only see the problem, and Jesus looks very small in the distance.

If, however, we would magnify the Lord at all times, the following would happen:

• We would only have room in our field of vision for Him. Jesus would take up our entire horizon.
• We would know that we know that we know that we have a Great Big God and little tiny problems.
• And then, we would never be dismayed because we would never look at any problem and think that it is too big to overcome.
• We would constantly be obsessed by the omnipresent, limitless size of Jesus.

So, when you ask the Lord to help you not to fear or be dismayed, you are asking Him, “Lord, make me perfect in love, which casts out fear. And help me to remember that You are bigger than any challenge I could ever face.”

Beloved, read Isaiah 41:10 again. Also, read Romans 8:35-39 and Isaiah 54:17. And remember that we are not to be dismayed. As we move through our daily lives, we must keep in mind that our God is bigger than anything in the world.

Nothing can separate you from God’s love. No weapon formed against you can prosper. And you can rest when you look at your problems, knowing that greater is He (JESUS!) who is in YOU than he who is in the world.