How should a believer respond to fear?

Fear is one of the effects of the Fall — the great power of Satan’s realm, and the inevitable result of refusing to admit guilt and accept forgiveness. But being afraid is not itself failure. Gideon was just as afraid as the 22,000 who left him; “the only difference between his fear and theirs is that their fear caused them to quit and his did not. That is the difference between heroes and cowards. They are all afraid, but heroes do not quit — they never give up.” What is dangerous is living in fear instead of believing: if you have gone through this day in fear, in defeat, battered and blown by the winds of life, then you have not believed in Jesus Christ today — you have doubted Him, and your spiritual thirst was not quenched. When we indulge in fear, as when we are bitter or jealous or sunk in self-pity and will not actively believe that God is in control, we are saying no to the Word of God and living as practical atheists.