Ideas to Teach "How Can the Savior Help Me Overcome My Fears?" (March 12)
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Have you ever been afraid? Then this lesson is for you! Let’s talk about ways we can share the gospel of Jesus Christ at church with lesson ideas for “How Can the Savior Help Me Overcome My Fears?” (March 12). This is usually taught on March 12 and goes through Matthew 9-10, Mark 5, and Luke 9.
When I was about 15 years old, one of my Young Women's leaders encouraged me to memorize the scripture in 2 Timothy 1:7 because it was one of her favorites and we probably got a reward like a little piece of candy or something. And so, I did it. It's short and sweet and easy to memorize.
“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.”
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Sometimes talking is hard. LOL. Enjoy some of my funny phrases such as “fishes” and “moto” instead of “motto.” Oh well, we’re moving forward anyway!
I love that scripture and have used that truth throughout my life. The reason I am here today doing these podcasts is and creating these fun coloring books and games for you is because of the truth in that scripture. God doesn't give us fear. That's Satan. God gives us power and love and peace.
There are a million fears that can engulf us every single day. But we can't let those fears win. We have to continue. If we don't let fear win and we choose faith, we'll find so much beauty.
Because I'm so passionate about this topic, I've actually spoken about it a few times so part of the video is actually from my 2020 self. Let's dive in.
Doubt Knot, Fear Knot
President Russell M. Nelson explained, “The adversary is quadrupling his efforts to disrupt testimonies and impede the work of the Lord.” Quadrupling! That's reason enough to fear right there. List some fears on the board, but do not dwell on them. Just add a quick few that most people can relate to then grab a rope and ask your class, “Anyone afraid to climb a rope?”.
You know the ropes that they have at PE sometimes or in the gym. Is anyone afraid to climb them? Maybe you are afraid because you think you're not going to get to the top or even past the first little bit of the rope. It's too scary. What are some things that can help us climb a rope?
Usually, at the bottom there's a little knot, right? And what does that knot do? It helps us from sliding all the way down. It helps us get a spot to grab onto. If it's further up on the rope, that knot gives us something to shoot for. Where are you supposed to look when you're climbing a rope?
Up or at least straight in front of you, not down, right? There's a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 that says,
“Look unto unto me in every thought. Doubt not , not fear not.”
We're going to tie in some doubt knots, fear knots in our rope. Every time that we choose to have faith in Jesus Christ, rather than fear in something else, we are creating a knot in our spiritual ropes. Even if we slip, this knot can catch us and we don't have to go all the way back down to the bottom. Even when we mess up, it's easier to come back up because of the things that we have chosen to do- fear not, doubt not.
Our path to the Celestial Kingdom will be filled with fear knot doubt knots because fear and doubt go together. The opposite of fear is faith. If you take all of those fears that you've already listed up on the board and really examine them, you can see that faith in Jesus Christ can conquer every single one of them. Overcoming our fears is an act of faith. It doesn't mean that everything is resolved in our lives, and it doesn't mean that it's even the way that we want, but it's going to be okay because of Jesus Christ.
This is an excellent time to break out your scriptures and study the things that you have already been reading in Come Follow Me this week. There are three examples that the manual points out for stories to dive into:
The man with the unclean spirits that then got cast into swine.
Jarius’s daughter dying
The woman with issues of blood that she had for years then touches the hem of Christ’s garment to be healed.
Read those stories and listen for what Jesus does and what He says to them. He strengthens their faith. And that's what helps them overcome the fears, any of the fears that they've had and heals them. Their faith makes them whole.
Break into groups, assigning each one a story. Then invite someone from each group to come up and tie another knot in the rope as they share what their story teaches about faith.
The Wise Man and His Rock
Another idea that you can use is from Matthew 7:24-27. We read this in February with our Come Follow Me studies. It talks about the wise man and the foolish man. Sing the delightful primary song, “The Wise Man Built His House upon the Rock” together as a class. As you sing it, use objects to represent the story, invite several to come up and draw it up on the board, or go all out and act the story out. Yes, someone be the house, someone be the wind, etc. Let’s get as many people as possible involved.
Grab the coloring page
We know that the foolish man's house washes away and the house on the rock stays still. We know that the rock represents Jesus Christ.
Elder Neil L. Andersen said, “Although we need not fear, we are to be on guard.” What does the wise man need to do after it's rained? Is he just fine? No. He has to keep fortifying. He needs to go and see if there are any cracks in that foundation and patch them up. He can build up a better wall.
President Russell M. Nelson went over this in the October 2020 General Conference talk, “Embrace the Future with Faith.” He encouraged us to be like Captain Moroni by creating places of security, by preparing our minds to be faithful to God, and by never stopping to prepare physically or spiritually. He said,
“The adversary never stops attacking, so we can never stop preparing. The more self-reliant we are temporarily, emotionally, and spiritually, the more prepared we are to thwart Satan's relentless assaults.”
What are some ways that we can keep building our faith, securing our foundations, and choosing God like the wise man?
You could also bring in President Nelson's analogy of the Salt Lake Temple. There are many pictures of renovation online and there's a little video clip from President Nelson’s talk where he talks about the foundation and how we can strengthen it.
If your class needs to constantly be doing things, they need kind of more of that hands-on interaction, as you talk about ways that you can build your faith, they can then take a block and build a tower of faith.
Consequences of Choosing Fear
If you think back to General Conference from October 2020, fear was a big topic. It's in at least 15 of the talks- that's about half. How can fear, like fear of the world, fear of the unknown, be dangerous for us?
Fear stops us from progressing
President Russell M. Nelson said, “Our spirits long to progress.” We're here to progress. If we can't progress, that's a problem. And Satan definitely wants it that way. Fear is also used as a manipulative tool, and it can make us go backward.
I don't know about you, but I worked really hard to get to this point and I don't want to go backward. Don't let fear be the reason you stumble.
Fear creates contention
Fear makes us shortsighted. We can only see right here, right in front of us. Our perspective is off and it creates that contention because it's only the way that I see it. Contention is definitely of the devil.
Fear Stops the Holy Ghosts from being with us
It blocks the Holy Ghost because fear is not of God. We know that (2 Timothy 1:7- told you it’s a good one to know). What happens is we block that peace and comfort that should be with us. When we choose fear over faith, we choose not to have the Holy Ghost with us, and that's a problem. We need him so much. I love what President Nelson said,
“Life without God is a life full of fear. Life with God is a life full of peace.”
Such a drastic difference in choices, right? I much rather have a life full of peace.
When we choose fear instead of faith, love flees and we feel alone
Think about it. When you're really afraid, don't you feel so alone? That's exactly what Satan wants you to feel. You do not have to face this world alone. God can always be with you and the Holy Ghost. When we feel alone, it creates more of that contention, doesn't it? It's a problem. We need each other. There's a reason why we do ministering. There's a reason that we gather together when we can. We need each other to continue to move forward and to learn, grow, and be strengthened.
Three Keys to Overcoming Fear
What do we do? What can we do so that we're not immobilized by fear and we instead valiantly march forward with faith?
Trust and have faith in God, the Father, and Jesus Christ.
It really is the answer. President Dallin H. Oaks stated, “The Lord is all powerful. Trust Him.”
As our confidence in God goes up, our fear goes down. That's definitely what we want.
Conquer fear through Charity
Perfect love casteth out fear. That's amazing. Perfect love is charity. Elder Dieter F. Ucthdorf back in 2017 said,
“Replace fear with Christ's perfect love.”
Christ's love will replace fear with faith. When we have charity in our lives, it changes our hearts and makes us more like Christ which then makes fear leave, our confidence in God increase and we become more fearless.
Christ is the way. He's not just the way in one thing; He's the way in all aspects of our life, including the way to conquer our fears. Our ability to hear Him goes up, which means our fear goes down. I love the Relief Society motto. Remember, charity never fails. That includes with conquering our fears.
Preparation
You guys know this one. If you are prepared, you shall not fear. Elder David A. Bednar gave five things where we should be prepared in his October 2020 talk. Obviously, food storage is a huge one. But listen to all these areas we need to be prepared in: spiritually, physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually (sound familiar?).
Think about all those ways that you could be prepared. Grab the extra can of food at the grocery store, but also learn something new. What do you need to learn so that you won't be so afraid? Do you want to increase your knowledge of how to make bread? Do you want to increase your knowledge of how to take care of your car? Whatever it is, it can help be prepared and overcome the fears that you have.
How can you be prepared physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually?
Think about what happens when you start to be more prepared. Even just one more thing on your preparedness shelf. It helps you feel less fear. Think about how it gives you hope. You start to see the future. So, the three basic things that you need to overcome fear are faith, hope, and charity.
I loved President Henry B. Eyring’s talk back in 2017. It was “Fear Not to Do Good” and in it, he said, “Faith always defeats fear.” Always. Not, sometimes, not only a little bit but always, always, always, always.
Now, I'm going to leave you with two questions to ponder from Sister Lisa L. Harkness’s talk. She quoted two scriptures and two questions from them.
Why are you so fearful? Think about it. What are you really afraid of in your life?
Where's your faith? How can your faith conquer those?
President Nelson at the end of the General Conference said, “Despite the world's commotion, the Lord would have us look forward to the future with joyful anticipation.”
We should embrace our circumstances, whatever they are, however crazy they are, cause that's life, and press forward with a steadfastness in Christ and faith in Him because faith always defeats fear. Continuing with that question, “Where is my faith?”, think about where we are actually putting our faith. What are we actually putting our faith in? Is it on Jesus Christ or is it on that product that we just saw a commercial for? Where is our faith focused? Because we're believing in something, but are we believing in the right thing? It's a great discussion that you can have with your class. Continue to talk about those questions and how charity really can help us.
Stories of Faith Overcoming Fear
Share some Faith Stories! If you need some to draw from, I have two great faith stories you can summarize and use in your lesson. So often we think of faith as this abstract concept, or it's just this five-letter word. It's too simple and too small to actually be the entire solution. Faith is powerful.
First, there's Cindy's story. Cindy was a freshman when the Columbine shooting happened. She shares her struggles, and the moment she decided to choose faith instead of fear and how that even affects her today.
The second story is one of my stories about when I was first diagnosed with leukemia and I was stuck in the hospital for months, and then one morning I woke up and I couldn't even see. Now, these are big dramatic examples, but I share them because faith really is the answer in the big things and the small things.
President Nelson said, “Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe.” That's from April 2021. Faith is powerful. It will give us strength and will help us overcome all things. I can't state it enough. Choose to believe. Choose to have faith, choose to have peace. Choose Christ.
To help us remember to have faith over fear because that's part of the challenge is remembering, I made some great images that you can use and share with your class. You can put them online, in your Instagram stories, your tik toks, etc. Share them and put them somewhere where you'll remember that faith always conquers fear.
All Things are Possible with Christ
One last point. In Luke 9, it talks about how Christ feeds the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. Often we feel just like the apostles did, we do not have enough. We are not enough. This task is impossible. But again, that's the fear speaking. Just like the loaves and the fish with Christ, we are enough. We have enough.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Pass out some great posters that I've designed with this year's youth theme in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ with strengtheneth me.” Color them as you listen to some faith music, hymns, and the youth theme music for the year. Ponder during those last few minutes of class how you can choose faith instead of fear.
Hang the posters on your wall so that you can remember that you are not alone. You do not have to do it alone. There is always Christ and. faith always wins. We have the spiritual power to change the world, so let's embrace the future with faith.
General conference is coming!
It's so exciting, but it's also an exhausting weekend. Give yourself the tools you need to focus and engage with General Conference like my General Conference Notebook. It’s designed specifically for teens to help you prepare, engage, and review General Conference. Hurry though, Conference is going to be here before you know it.
