I’m pretty sure that each and every one of us has a phobia of something. Until recent years, I struggled with spiders and suffered from arachnophobia. However, when I let God into my life, I then had the ability to look at things through a different lens.

All fears and phobias have a raw connection with death; they make us instantly anxious and panic as though something serious is going to happen. But actually, if you take a step back and analyse the situation, nothing remotely like that ever happens.

Take spiders, for instance. What did I actually think a 2 inch insect was actually going to do to me as it ran across the living room floor, minding its own business? Okay, so in the outback of Australia, as we know, there are some spiders that can give you a nasty bite, which can be life threatening, but through research there has only been 1 person in the last 40 years killed by a spider, so the odds are pretty slim.

I guess it's easier for me to think this way now that I have Jesus, because in order to worship the Lord properly, I must trust that he has my back in all of these situations, and if I react differently and return to my anxious ways, my faith in his protection is weak, and it's a good wake-up call that I need to reach out to Him and spend more time in prayer to regain that focus.

I have someone very close to me who is suffering from hypochondria, which is excessive worry about having a serious illness or thinking that every pain they have is going to kill them. It is something he has suffered from intermittently for most of his life. I have been working a lot recently on trying to guide faith into his life so he can be set free from this constant worry. If you are reading this, can I ask you to spare a brief moment to join me in prayer and to help him to find God? Thank you.

'Dear heavenly father, I pray that I stand strong in you as you do in me. Help and guide me to fear nothing in this world other than my constant respect for you. Help me never to fear death and constantly work on my attitude that I am ready to die whenever you need me to. I ask these prayers in the name of your son Jesus Christ, who died for me. Amen'

James Kirk