This is Part Two of a two-part series on overcoming a phobia. In the first part, we learned that germaphobia, which has been in the spotlight since the pandemic began, is one of thousands of phobias.

A phobia, a word that comes from the Greek “phobos,” is the irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger. Part One considered the prevalence and types of phobias, as well as their signs and symptoms. This part looks at biblical solutions to overcoming a phobia.

The original article appeared here at the Biblical Counseling Coalition. It was been updated.

An Invitation

Are you sick of fear? If so please contact me for a complimentary phone consult to see how biblical counseling through Telehealth would help you. I’ve counseled thousands of women and their families via Telehealth and Skype since 2008 worldwide. Biblical counseling by video is effective, affordable, and convenient.

Steps Toward Victory

Christian speaker and author Patty Clairmont battled agoraphobia for 17 years, beginning in her teens. Her fear became so overwhelming that she was afraid to leave her bed. A professing Christian, she prayed to Jesus and was led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:18) to take small steps toward victory over her fear habit, beginning with reading and memorizing Scripture.

Repeatedly giving in to fear reinforces and intensifies the fear, resulting in habits that have become an ingrained manner of life. Conversely, loving God and others by replacing fear with love leads to victory over a phobia.

Sometimes, a phobia is short-lived; sometimes, it may afflict a person for decades. In either case, the lasting, biblical solution is to renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word and to learn to trust Him with our anxiety, even with a phobia.

Here are some steps that will help in overcoming an irrational fear, whether germaphobia or another specific phobia, the fear of public speaking (a type of social phobia), or agoraphobia (the fear of fear).

1. Be Realistic

The fear habit is ingrained in the way we think, feel, and act. It takes time to change this habit. So be persistent. Also, make an action plan in which the counselee renews his or her mind through Scripture and commits to exposure to the feared object or situation, a bit at a time.

2. Do the Basics

Get adequate sleep (about 7-9 hours daily for most of us), eat nutritious foods, drink ample water, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and exercise regularly. A medical checkup may be wise, too.

3. Renew Your Mind

Reduce the intake of all negative and anxiety-producing inputs from music, television (including news programs), the internet, video games, and reading materials, and replace them with God-honoring alternatives, especially the Bible and hymns.

4. Pray

The apostle Paul provides a prayer prescription for freedom from anxiety: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6). When we respond to the intense fear of a phobia with thankful prayer, peace replaces anxiety.

Remember, God promises to be with every believer (Heb. 13:5-6) and to provide what we need to endure the temptation to succumb to irrational fear (1 Cor. 10:13).

5. Replace Lies with Truth (Further Mind Renewal)

How you feel and act is a product of your thinking. When you think godly thoughts, godly emotions and behavior follow. “As (a person) thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov. 23:7, NAS).

To this end, I encourage my counselees to use a Thought-Emotion-Action journal in which they identify a lie, such as “I just cannot take any more” with the truth: “Whatever I am facing, God’s grace is sufficient for me.” As the truth replaces lies, they experience a welcome change in their emotions (from fear to calm) and in their behavior (from avoidance to constructive action).

6. Act On What You Know To Be True

At Biblical Counseling Center, where I am a counselor of women and families via online video, we often say “faith is believing the Word of God and acting upon it, no matter how I feel, knowing that God promises a good result.”

When I finally faced my phobia of highway driving head-on, I had to make a choice to believe God’s promises regarding His care for me even if I had a panic attack. You can read about it in my mini-book Help! I Get Panic Attacks. I also intentionally concentrated on the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, Scripture memorization, prayer, listening to and singing hymns, and having fellowship with other believers. I made an action plan of progressively tackling more difficult highway driving over time.

7. Practice Biblical Meditation

As Paul Tautges describes in Anxiety: Knowing God’s Peace, biblical meditation involves talking to ourselves—doing what the psalmist does in Psalm 116:7: Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with me. When we remember God’s kindness toward us, our faith strengthens.

Tautges advises that we call on the Lord when we are in distress. Our battle with the irrational fear of a phobia cannot be passive. To overcome a phobia, you must intentionally “lean into God as your trustworthy caregiver and cultivate a heart of thanksgiving.” In so doing, fear fades “in comparison to the peace that is found in Jesus.

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