Prayers for Fear
Fear does not usually arrive with a good explanation. It arrives at two in the morning, or in a waiting room, or in the middle of an ordinary Tuesday, and it makes the next hour feel impossible. The prayers on this page are for that. The short ones come first, because when you are frightened you cannot hold much in your head.
Lord, I am frightened and I am bringing it to you rather than carrying it.
Come close. Steady me.
Take the weight of this off my chest,
and hold me until it passes. Amen.
Say it slowly, twice. Ten more short prayers are directly below.
On this pageShort Prayers When You Are Scared Right Now To Overcome Fear Fear at Night Fear of the Future For Someone Else What the Bible Says Bible Verses Questions Browse All Prayers
Short Prayers for Fear
Ten prayers you can say from memory. None of them takes longer than a breath or two.
Lord, I do not want fear running my life.
Take it out of the driver’s seat.
Give me a clear head, a steady heart, and courage for the next hour. Amen.
Father, remove this fear from me.
Where it has taken root, pull it out.
Put your peace in the space it leaves. Amen.
Lord, my mind keeps going back to it.
Every time it does, I will hand it to you again.
Meet me there each time. Amen.
Lord, I am walking into this afraid.
Go in ahead of me.
Whatever is waiting, be there first. Amen.
Father, I do not feel brave and I am asking anyway.
Give me enough courage for today only.
I will come back tomorrow for more. Amen.
Lord, I cannot tell you what I am afraid of.
You know it anyway.
Deal with what I cannot describe. Amen.
Lord, I am afraid for them more than for myself.
Hold every one of them tonight.
Let me put them down and sleep. Amen.
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
Psalm 56:3, and one of the shortest complete prayers in the Bible. David wrote it in enemy hands, which is the situation it was built for.
Lord, I am worn out by this.
I have prayed it before and I am praying it again.
Do not let go of me while it lasts. Amen.
Jesus, I am afraid. Be near.
A word of care
Fear that will not lift, panic that comes out of nowhere, or dread that is stopping you eating or sleeping is worth taking to a doctor as well as to God. Prayer and treatment are not rivals, and asking for medical help is not a lack of faith. If that is where you are, our prayers for anxiety and prayers for panic attacks are written for it.
Prayers for When You Are Scared Right Now
For the moment itself. These are meant to be said out loud, under your breath, or just thought, and they are short on purpose.
Jesus, help me. Stay with me. Amen.
Lord, my heart is racing and I cannot slow it down.
Breathe with me.
This will pass, and you are here while it does. Amen.
Father, I am on my own and I am scared.
You are in this room.
Let me feel that until it eases. Amen.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Psalm 27:1. Repeated slowly, ten or twenty times, it does something that thinking about it does not.
Lord, I am still afraid and I still have to do this.
Walk me through the next five minutes.
Then the five after that. Amen.
Prayers to Overcome Fear
Longer prayers, for when you have time to sit with it rather than survive it.
Father, fear has had more of me than I want it to have.
It has made me smaller, quieter, slower to do the things I know I should do.
I am not asking you to make me fearless. I am asking you to make me free.
Let me act while I am afraid, instead of waiting to stop being afraid.
You have not given me a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Remind me of that when I forget it, which will be often. Amen.
Lord, here is the list.
The thing I am afraid will happen. The thing I am afraid I will not survive.
The person I am afraid of losing. The thing I have never said out loud.
I am putting each one in your hands, and I know I will pick some of them back up.
When I do, take them again.
Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you. So I am doing that, one fear at a time. Amen.
Lord Jesus, in your name I refuse fear a place in my life.
Not the ordinary fear that keeps me careful, but the fear that lies to me,
that tells me I am alone and that it will end badly.
Silence it.
You are my light and my salvation. There is nothing left for me to be afraid of. Amen.
Father, I am not asking for the situation to change yet.
I am asking for peace inside it.
The peace that passes understanding, the kind that makes no sense from the outside.
Guard my heart and my mind today. Amen.
Prayers for Fear at Night
Night fear is a category of its own. Everything is worse at three in the morning and nothing can be acted on until the sun is up.
Lord, it is the middle of the night and I am frightened again.
Nothing can be solved at this hour and you know it.
Take the watch. Let me sleep.
We will look at it in daylight. Amen.
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8. A whole prayer in one line, and the oldest bedtime prayer there is.
Lord Jesus, this room is yours and so is this child.
Take the fear out of the dark.
Send your angel to sit with them until morning. Amen.
More at our prayers for sleep, prayers for bedtime and prayer for a child with anxiety.
Prayers for Fear About the Future
Lord, I cannot see round the corner and it is frightening me.
You are already there.
Give me enough light for the next step, which is all I have ever actually been given. Amen.
Father, I am afraid of what I am about to hear.
Whatever it is, you will still be God and I will still be yours.
Let that be true in my body, not just in my head. Amen.
Lord, I am holding this too tightly because I am afraid of losing it.
Loosen my grip without taking it from me.
And if it does go, be what is left. Amen.
Father, the news is frightening and my own situation is not much better.
Keep me from despair and from pretending.
Give me what I need today and let tomorrow wait its turn. Amen.
More at our prayers for financial help and prayers for guidance.
Prayers for Someone Who Is Afraid
Lord, they are frightened and I cannot fix it.
Go where I cannot reach.
Quiet the fear, and let them know they are not carrying it alone. Amen.
Father, my child is afraid and too small to explain it.
You made them and you know exactly what this is.
Settle them. Give them courage that grows with them. Amen.
Lord, be with them in the fear as much as in the treatment.
Steady their hands and the hands of everyone caring for them.
Let them not be afraid tonight. Amen.
More at our prayers for children, prayers for a friend and prayers for healing.
What the Bible Actually Says About Fear
Four things worth knowing, because the popular versions of them are doing real damage to frightened people.
The Bible does not say “fear not” 365 times
You will see this claim everywhere, usually with the line that God gave us one for every day of the year. It is not true in any translation. Count “fear not”, “be not afraid”, “do not be afraid” and every close variant and you land somewhere around a hundred, depending on the version and how generously you count. It is a lovely idea and somebody made it up.
The real number is still remarkable. It is the single most repeated instruction in scripture, given to shepherds, prophets, soldiers and terrified women, almost always by someone who has just turned up unannounced. It does not need inflating.
“A spirit of fear” does not mean what people think
2 Timothy 1:7 is the verse most often quoted at frightened Christians: God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. It is usually deployed to mean that if you are afraid, the fear is not from God, which lands on an anxious person as one more thing to feel guilty about.
The Greek word is deilia, and it means cowardice or timidity, not the ordinary experience of being frightened. Several modern translations render it “spirit of timidity” for exactly that reason. Paul is writing to a young man who is nervous about standing up in public, and he is telling him not to shrink back. He is not telling anyone that fear is a sin.
Jesus was afraid
In Gethsemane, the night before he died, Mark says Jesus began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy, and that he told his friends his soul was sorrowful unto death. Luke says he was in agony and that his sweat was as great drops of blood. Then he asked his Father to take the cup away, and added: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Whatever fear is, it is not a failure of faith, because the one person in the story with perfect faith went through it. He also shows you what to do with it: say what you actually want, then leave the outcome where it belongs.
“Fear of the Lord” is a different thing entirely
The Bible tells you not to be afraid and also that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and people tie themselves in knots over the contradiction. There isn’t one. The Hebrew behind “fear of the LORD” is closer to awe: the sense of scale you get standing at the edge of something enormous. It is the opposite of the fear this page is about, because it is the one thing that puts everything else back in proportion.
And one more, about perfect love casting out fear
1 John 4:18 says perfect love casteth out fear, and it is often read as a promise that a strong enough faith removes anxiety. Read the next few words: because fear hath torment. John is writing about the fear of judgment, the dread of standing before God and being found out. He is saying you can stop being afraid of that. He is not making a claim about panic attacks.
Bible Verses About Fear
Questions About Fear and Prayer
What is a short prayer to overcome fear?
“Lord, I am frightened and I am bringing it to you rather than carrying it. Come close. Steady me. Take the weight of this off my chest, and hold me until it passes. Amen.” If even that is too much, “Jesus, I am afraid, be near” is a complete prayer.
What does God say about overcoming fear?
Almost always the same two things, and rarely a third. First, do not be afraid. Second, the reason: I am with you. Isaiah 41:10 is the pattern for the whole Bible, fear thou not, for I am with thee. What God does not usually say is that nothing bad will happen. The comfort offered is company, not immunity.
How do you pray away the spirit of fear?
Name the fear out loud, ask God plainly to take it, and refuse it in the name of Jesus. There is a prayer for that above on this page. Two cautions. Do not treat it as a formula that fails if you word it wrong, and do not assume that fear which keeps returning means the prayer did not work. Most people have to pray this more than once, and praying it again is not a lack of faith.
Is it a sin to be afraid?
No. Jesus was in agony in Gethsemane the night before he died, and the psalms are full of people saying plainly that they are frightened. Fear becomes a problem when it makes the decisions, not when it is present. What scripture asks is not that you stop feeling it but that you do not let it be the loudest voice in the room.
Does the Bible say “fear not” 365 times?
No. The claim is popular and untrue. Counting “fear not”, “be not afraid” and their close variants gives roughly a hundred, depending on the translation. It is still the most repeated command in the Bible, which is enough.
What is the best Bible verse to calm fear?
Psalm 56:3 is the most useful in the moment, because it is short enough to say while frightened and honest enough to be true when you are: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Note that it says when, not if. Isaiah 41:10 and Philippians 4:6-7 are the two most people turn to when there is more time.
How do I give all my fears and worries to God?
Specifically, and more than once. Vague prayer about “my worries” is hard to hand over because you never quite locate it. Name each fear as its own sentence, say what you actually want to happen, and then stop. When it comes back an hour later, hand it over again. That repetition is not failure; it is what “casting all your care upon him” looks like in practice.
What is the fear prayer in AA?
It is not from the Bible. It comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, in the part of the Fourth Step where you write out a fear inventory and then ask God to remove the fear and to point your attention toward what he would have you be. Members often say it alongside the Serenity Prayer. If that is your context, see our prayers for sobriety and the Serenity Prayer.
What is the difference between fear of the Lord and being afraid?
They are two different ideas that share one English word. The fear of the Lord is awe, the sense of proportion you get in the presence of something vast, and the Bible calls it the beginning of wisdom. Being afraid is the thing this page is about. Growing in the first tends to shrink the second.
What can I pray when I am scared at night?
Psalm 4:8 is the traditional one: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” Add a sentence handing the night watch to God, because the specific torment of three in the morning is that nothing can be acted on until daylight. There are more at our prayers for sleep.
What if I pray and the fear does not go?
Then you pray again, and you also do the ordinary things: tell someone, get some sleep, see a doctor if it is not lifting. Paul asked three times for one thing to be taken away and was told no, and given grace instead. Unanswered in the way you wanted is not the same as unheard.
Send a Prayer to Jerusalem
If there is a fear you would like prayed over by name, you can have it taken to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. A priest prays it there in English, the printed prayer is placed inside one of the chapels in the church, and a candle is lit for you. You receive photographs of both by email within a few days. A portion of every order is donated to the church.
Send your prayer to Jerusalem. Write it from the heart. It is placed and photographed once, so make it count.
More Prayers for Every Situation
Fear and Anxiety
Courage and Comfort
Safety and Protection
Or browse the full prayer library.
In just a few days, you will receive photos by email of your printed prayer placed inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This is the sacred site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
