Facing Deepest Fears Prayer

There’s a prayer secret I’ve found that helps us face our deepest fears.  Our deep fears often stem from a traumatic experience in our past that gives us an irrational fear of something.  In my case, it was the fear of deep water.

Naming Your Biggest Fear

As a kid, I never set out to be an Olympic swimmer.  I did, however, always want to swim in the lake with the rest of the church group, but I was always afraid to jump out into the water with them.  As a child, when we would drive near lakes or cross over rivers or lakes via a bridge, fear would shout at me and tell me to hold onto everything, because losing something into the water meant it was gone forever.  Or I might be gone forever if I fell in.  I was never going to be brave like my grandfather who sailed the Pacific Ocean aboard an aircraft carrier in World War II.

As an adult I’m not opposed to being on the water.  In fact, sitting on a balcony of a ship and reading a good book is very relaxing.  I know that life will change and we wind up coming back around again to the things that once caused us concern.  I know because it happened to me.  After many years of climbing mountain trails, my wife Kelly and I started traveling the oceans.  We became “Cruisers” and it was on our last cruise that I faced one of the biggest fears of my life: deep water.

I will ask you at this point to name your biggest fear.  It’s important to do so.  Name your fear and face it.  Join me and let’s walk together.

The Traumatic Experience That Made Me Afraid of Deep Water

I had a traumatic experience as a child after my mom dropped me off for my first swimming lesson.  The swim instructor was having me try to swim and pushed my head under water when I tried to come back up for air.  I gulped a massive amount of pool water and struggled to get my head up for more air.  I fought my way to the side of the pool, climbed out and refused to go back in the water.  No amount of “it’ll be ok” would get me back in the water.  I lost all trust in the instructor.  For years I played in the shallow end of the pool, but longed to be out in the deep water where everyone else was having fun.

My Attempts at Deciding Which Voice to Believe: Fear or Fact

It wasn’t until I was a teenager that a friend of mine taught me how to pull water with my arms and kick like a frog that I truly started learning how to swim.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2 ESV)

But even then, I never imagined myself swimming in the ocean.  The water was just too deep.

Natural buoyancy is significantly higher in salt water than in fresh water because dissolved salts increase the fluid’s density.  This is a fact that is irrefutable, much like gravity.  But when fear tries to be stronger than fact, your brain has to figure out which voice to believe.

Many years ago my first foray into ocean water wasn’t pretty.  I was trying to snorkel, but was struggling with breathing; keeping my mouth around the snorkel mouthpiece while learning how to kick with swim fins on.  Why the struggle?  Because fear was telling me to get back to the shore.  I wasn’t made for the water.  I was made for the land and terrible things can happen in the water.  Fear was telling me to stop.  Quit.  Flee.  Run away!  Give up!!!

Even the Disciples Faced Big Fears

“Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”    (Matthew 14:22-27 ESV)

The disciples were very far out from the shore that night on the Sea of Galilee.  They had been rowing for a couple of hours, trying to make their way through a storm that was trying to physically sink their boat.  Among the twelve men in that boat were fishermen with many years of experience on this very body of water.  They knew the sea and what to do in a storm, but all of their efforts proved fruitless and they were going nowhere.  They couldn’t bail water fast enough and not enough guys were likely able to row.  Even if they could row, the storm was against them.  It was a force larger than twelve frightened men in a fishing boat.

Imagine being one of the disciples in the boat who didn’t know the sea, didn’t know what to do, and perhaps didn’t know how to swim.  You’ve left everything you’ve known and everyone you love to follow Jesus, but now you’re facing death in a boat on a wide open sea after having just witnessed Jesus feed five-thousand people with one boy’s lunch.  What thoughts do you imagine would go racing through your mind?  Much of it would be fear.  Would you begin to doubt your decision to follow Jesus?  Would you question walking away from it all?

Remember when I asked you earlier to name your fear?  Recall it now as we consider the following: In your deepest fear can you believe that God has not forgotten you?

In the middle of the storm as the disciples were rowing and fighting for their lives, what they did not know and could not know was that the sandaled foot of the Creator had stepped onto the water.  Not “into” the water, but “onto”…on top of.  What was physically impossible was made possible in that moment.  Jesus walked on the water because He was able to suspend the law of physics, not violate it.  He is Lord over physics.  It bows to His command.  Even in a storm.

Fighting Fear When I Went into Deep Ocean Water

On our last cruise, I doubted my decision to get into the ocean in deep water.  On a boat off the coast of Roatan, Honduras, I was questioning my decision to be in the boat in the first place.  On our first stop we snorkeled in around thirty feet of water.  Next, the snorkeling guide told us that we would be getting off of the boat in one-hundred-ninety-five feet of water.

No nearby dock.  Just a small boat out on the water.  Our group of seven prepared to go over the side.

“And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.” (Matthew 14:28-29 ESV)

I didn’t walk on the water when I got out of that boat and into the water.  But I also didn’t sink.  Remember “natural buoyancy”?  I floated.  I went into “trolling motor” mode with small, but steady alternating kicks of my swim fins and turned over on my stomach to see where I was going.  That’s when I saw it.

Seeing God’s Glorious Creation in the Deep Water

I don’t have a picture to share of the sight that I beheld from on top of the water, but what I can say is that getting a glimpse of the reef that lay before me I no longer cared how deep the water was.  The coral reef laid out before me caused me to be in awe of the Creator.  Fear vanished.

I was no longer concerned about touching bottom or any of the other thoughts that used to flood my mind when I was younger.  Many years ago, I had learned how to swim; I had learned how to tread water.  Recently I have swum in deep pools and even cenotes in Costa Maya, Mexico.   I learned how to hold my breath and swim long distances underwater to improve my lung capacity for singing, but there was always a side to grab hold of, or the bottom of the pool to touch or push off of.  The fear was always in the back of my mind.

That fear disappeared when I beheld the glory of the creation of the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth.

I swam over the top of the largest shrimp I have ever seen.  It was at least a foot long.  Our guide pointed out the dark shape of a nurse shark gliding below us through the corral.  We saw sea fans in many different colors waving in the current, and I swam through a school of Bar Jack fish who allowed me to almost touch them.  We saw Crevalle Jacks, Blue Striped Grunts, and sea urchins, and swam with stingrays in the shallow waters.  We saw starfish that looked large enough to be pillows, but were deep enough to be out of reach.  While the top of the water was wind-tossed, beneath the waves was calm and peaceful.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”  (Exodus 15:11 ESV)

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.”  (Deuteronomy 33:26 ESV)

“…and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”  (1 Kings 8:23 ESV)

“For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord.”  (Psalm 89:6 ESV)

“There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.”   (Jeremiah 10:6 ESV)

It’s very hard for some of us to appreciate all that God has made unless we see it with our own eyes.  There are things I would never have seen or experienced if I gave into the overwhelming fear of deep water.  What are you being held back from by fear?  What experiences are you missing by giving into your fear?

The story of the twelve disciples of Jesus doesn’t end with them struggling to make it to the other side of the sea.  It ends with Jesus saving Peter from sinking into the water, and Jesus stepping into the boat. John the Revelator records in his Gospel account: “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”  (John 6:21 ESV)

The wind ceased.  The waves stopped rolling and billowing, crashing over the sides of the boat.

The wind fell silent.  The boat “immediately” showed up at the location they were going to.  Merriam-Webster defines “immediately” as “without interval of time.”

Twelve men sat in awe of their rabbi who had stepped into the boat to join them.  All twelve had just witnessed creation and time bend its knee to the Creator.

Cry Out to God in Your Deepest Fears

I asked you earlier to name your fear.  What is your deepest fear?  Is it losing the one you love the most in this world?  Do you fear losing your job and not knowing where your next paycheck will come from?  Do you fear death itself?

Think about it.  Name the deepest fear you have.  What gives you chills and makes you want to run and hide?

The most important question is this: Have you cried out to God at the bottom end of your deepest fear?

“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”  (Psalm 116:1-2 )ESV

“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.”  (Psalm 18:6 ESV)

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”  (Psalm 34:4 ESV)

I will bow my knee to the one who has physics, time, and the elements of this world obey his “immediate” command.  I will worship the one who rescues and saves those who cry out to him.   I will cry out to Him and give him my fears.  Even the deep ones.  And, the small ones.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  (Psalm 27:1 ESV)

Facing Deepest Fears Prayer

Pray with me:

Father God, I give you my fears.  All of them.  The fears that cripple my mind and keep me from living the life You laid out for me.  You hold all of my hopes and dreams.  I cry out to You to deliver me from my fears and I believe that you will hear me from the depths of my despair, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, and abject fear of that which I cannot control but tries to control me.  I give You control of my life and I choose to rest in You who will anchor my life and my soul.  I believe in You, Lord Jesus, and I welcome You, Holy Spirit to have control of my life, my thoughts, my hopes, my dreams, and every step I take.  I will not live in fear.  I will trust in You, the Lord of all creation.  In the wonderful name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Copyright David Shelton 2026.  All rights reserved.