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Fear not (Kevin J. Worthen)

"[A]s President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, 'Fear is the antithesis [the complete opposite] of faith.' This is evident from the scriptures themselves. The scriptures define faith as 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,' 'which are true.' Faith is a real manifestation of what is really true. The polar opposite of that would seem to be the lack of substance or evidence of things that are false—or false evidence appearing real: fear.

We need to recognize that the feeling of despair and hopelessness that characterizes irrational fear is a tool of the adversary. Indeed, it is one of his primary tools. I am convinced that just as we have articles of faith, Satan and his minions must have articles of fear to aid them in their work. They might read something like this: 'We believe that the first principles of despair and damnation are doubt God, doubt yourself, doubt others, and, most of all, be afraid—be very afraid of the future.'

I am certain the adversary fully understands that fear and faith cannot coexist. If we fail to understand that truth, we are at a comparative disadvantage. On the other hand, if we remember that simple fact in the moments when we are gripped by irrational fear, we not only will be able to recognize the true source of what President Hinckley called the 'gnawing, destructive element' of fear but also will understand the cure for those debilitating feelings. As President Russell M. Nelson has reminded us, 'Faith is the antidote for fear.' If we want to decrease the amount of fear in our lives, we need to increase the amount of faith in our lives.

But it is not faith in the abstract that is the antidote to such fear. It is, as the fourth article of faith makes clear, 'faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.' If we want to decrease the amount of irrational fear in our lives, we need to increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when fear threatens to overwhelm us, we should focus less on those fears and more on increasing our faith in Him who admonishes us to “look unto [Him] in every thought; doubt not, fear not.'"  Kevin J. Worthen

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