Think about the first Easter evening nearly 2,000 years ago. The disciples hadn’t seen Jesus, but they heard he had risen from the dead. They didn’t know if they could believe the news or not. They were scared to death!

The Bible describes it like this: “That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! ‘Peace be with you,’ he said” (John 20:19 NLT).

Notice that they locked the doors because they were afraid. That’s what fear does. It locks you out of all the doors God wants you to go through.

Maybe you’ve had your heart broken, and you’re telling yourself you’ll never let anyone get close to you again.

Maybe you took a risk on a new job, and you bombed. Now you never want to try a new career path again.

Maybe you’ve been hurt by a church, and you’ve locked God out of your life because of it.

You can’t protect yourself from pain. It’s foolish to even try, because we live on a planet broken by sin.

My friend Rick Muchow had every reason to be afraid when he discovered he had inoperable brain cancer. But instead of fear, Rick consistently chooses faith.

He gets asked all the time how he has dealt with the fear since the diagnosis. I love his response. He mentions six specific resources that have helped him that can help you, too:

1. God’s presence. Rick knows God as a personal and close friend and not some distant deity.
2. A history of watching God at work. Rick has seen miracles before, and he knows he’ll see them again.
3. The promises of God in the Bible. For years Rick has written songs based on the promises of God. Now they come back to him and strengthen his faith.
4. He’s learned that if you’re going through a tough time, you need more worship in your life.
5. He has leaned on his church family for support.
6. The goodness of God’s plan. Rick claims the promise of Romans 8:28: “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose” (GNT).

What would you do if tomorrow you discovered you had inoperable brain cancer? Would you lock yourself up in a prison of fear? Or would you choose faith?

You don’t get the kind of confidence you need in situations like that from a self-help book. You get it from knowing God.