I have been reading through II Timothy.  Paul writes to his disciple, Timothy, a younger man with a tendency to fear and anxiety.   Paul seeks to encourage him as he carries on in a ministry fraught with opposition and conflict.  He reminds Timothy,
“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control” (1:5)
 The dynamic of Paul and Timothy reminds me of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon.  The fiery Reformer loved the younger Melanchton, and ends his letter with the promise that he would “not restrain himself from flying to (his) side if things go badly”.  But, he writes the letter to strengthen  his younger colleague’s faith in a time  when the opposition and dangers were hot for him.
I am heartily opposed to your great anxiety, which, as you write, is weakening you. That it is conquering you completely, is due not to the importance of the affair, but the extent of your unbelief….. What more can the Devil do than throttle us? I beseech you, who are so efficient in combat in all other things, fight against    yourself; for you are your own worst enemy, because you give Satan so many weapons against yourself.  Christ died once for sins; but for justice and truth he will not die,—rather he lives and reigns…………. God can raise the dead; he can also preserve his cause, even if it falls; when it is fallen, he can raise it up again, and when it stands fast, he can prosper it.
 Putting Shoes to it:
Sometimes you will be the Luther or Paul, your mind and heart so full of truth and God that you can spill it over to others…. sometimes you will be Timothy or Melanchthon, struggling with fears and trepidations.
We learn from these men what we all need in seasons when we, or others, “fight against ourselves” with fears and doubts:
  1. to measure your circumstances by God…. who has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control.  He is stronger than anything we will face.
  2. to rest in truth – He has planned good for us TODAY.  We can trust Him. Whatever is going on in your life is exactly what you would pray for, if you knew everything He knows.
  3. to realize that as you trust in God yourself,  God will let you speak HIM into conversations that may help others to do the same.