About the Author

ALIZA LATTA is a writer, artist, and pastor who is a huge fan of telling stories. She creates content for Canada’s largest youth conference, Change Conference, and is a church planter in Ontario, Canada. Her artwork and writing have been featured in publications for LifeWay, Dayspring, and (in)courage. She is...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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  1. Aliza,
    You said it so well…we WILL be afraid, but the good news is that God is greater than our biggest fear. I used to think that I was sinning when I was afraid, but now I realize that I was being human. We all fear, but it’s that taking it one step further and laying our fears at the foot of the cross that really challenges us. As I’ve gotten older, I can now look back and realize that many of the things I feared never came to pass. I spent a lot of time being anxious and afraid about nothing. I realized that I, in God’s power, needed to take back my life from Satan’s ugly schemes that kept me wrapped in a ball of fear. It’s been a process, but I feel like I have grown significantly out of fear and into freedom. If we ask God for this gift…He is faithful to answer. Absolutely beautiful post!
    Blessings,
    Bev

  2. My “word of the year” this past year was “courage”. It didn’t mean I wasn’t afraid, but when I was afraid I trusted that God was in control and I pushed through with courage that he had given to me. I love this campaign!

    • Yes! I love that. I have felt God whispering “trust” to my heart lately, and I’m starting to understand that trust is the opposite of fear. How confirming to read this post today and these comments. It sounds like God is whispering similar things to you. A year without fear sounds so peaceful and liberating.

      • I know, and that’s what we want, isn’t it? Peace and liberation? He’s the Prince of Peace after all… I’m so glad he’s whispering “trust” to you. Praying that over you right now.

  3. Choosing a word for the year in 2014 (gentle) had such a significant impact that I decided to do it again for 2015, and also choose a verse. My word is peace (as opposed to troubled), and my verse is John 14:27. I’ve been seeing a lot of “do not fear” posts this morning, so I think I might be in good company! 🙂

  4. Hi Aliza,
    I have been praying for a Perfect Word for 2015…. The Lord struck me with two through yours FEAR NOT!
    I don’t really know what that will mean for this year for me … But I am willing to explore it with God on my side. Thank You!

  5. Love this!!! Going into my third year of cancer treatments,I choose to not fear,I know too well He is with me all the way!! My word this year is “Burst”,, because I just want to Burst with a Joy for The Lord, and all he has done for me,and brought me through. He has given me a chance to shine for Him like never before, and I want everyone to know he is in control. Happy new year gals!!!

    • Prayers for you as you go through treatments. May God give you His peace and contentment~! Know that we are praying for a miracle of complete healing!

      Blessings!

    • Happy new year, Beth! I am praying for you right now for full healing and absolute peace and no fear. You are so loved, so loved, so loved.

  6. Aliza,

    I watched the video after reading your post and it was amazing, well done and thank-you .

    Yesterday I was faced with a situation that at first left me fearful but then I began to feel reassured and I knew that I did n’t need to be. So even if fear is our automatic reaction we can overcome it by leaving it with the Lord.
    So yes I will try and make my best effort in 2015 to not be fearful knowing that all will be well with trust and faith.

    In hope that you all have a blessed New Year,

    Penny

  7. Too many things bothered me and I am so fragile and fearful…but Yes, God is greater than any obstacles…and He is a Faithful God! Asking for prayers for my bro-in-law Aaron who is suffering now with his kidney ailment…God bless us!

  8. Yes, I touch and agree with you…no fear. I left fear behind in 2014 and look forward to courageously running the race set before me in 2015.

  9. 2014 was a year filled with fear for me! My aging dad had many health issues, hubby almost lost his job, my job changed drastically, etc. Through it all I was fearful–but also very prayerful! We prayed over each situation.

    In 2015 I plan to be super courageous and less fearful! Each sticky situation I encounter I will pray about-let go and let God lead!!

    Blessings and Happy New year to all!

  10. I’m with you Aliza. A year of no fear. When planes fall and terrorists take a cafe captive. When sickness strikes. And when something threatens my children. Especially when something threatens my children. I will trust. God is bigger.

  11. Love this! I’ve been walking a path with the Lord over the last few years that has led me deep into this challenge of trust vs. fear. It started with a terrible trial and that verse from Isaiah! As I ended 2014 I read a Christian classic that I’d previously never heard of called “Hinds Feet on High Places”. If you haven’t read it I highly recommend it given your 2015 focus 🙂 My word this year is “joy”!

  12. Awesome and so fitting for my word of the year “EXPOSED”. Its hoing to be a great year!!!

  13. Thank you for this post. I feel that my word for 2015 is Fearlessness and honestly, I was afraid to even accept it. I need to trust God is all things in my life. I look forward to your blogs and posts that will encourage me as I embark in this journey. Be Blessed!

  14. I love this too! I immediately thought, “I want to be a part of this year of no fear!” but then I paused. My first instinct told me that it would be too hard, how many times had I tried to break this anxiety, this worry only to have it come back again? Wasn’t I setting myself up for another failure? I don’t know what this year will hold, and saying that I’m going to approach it with no fear…..well that’s crazy. And then I realized-THAT was fear talking. I have let it run my life because it’s comfortable, because it’s familiar (sounds crazy, but some of you may know what I’m talking about!). But that’s not what God says. God has been calling me to step out into my identity that can only be found in Him. And it doesn’t include fear, just love. So 2015 being the year of no fear? I’m ready for it.

  15. I had already decided on a word for the year and it is TRUST. In another group of Christian art journalist we did something similar. I know when I pray and it’s not getting much easier, not at all. I feel like there is no one there and if He hears me and I do turn it over to Him in a short period of time it’s not happening soon enough so I take it back and wear myself out trying to do it on my own. I need to put my trust totally in the Lord and receive the peace from leaving it in His hands. That would be the most wonderful thing to me, I love the Lord and I KNOW he can handle all and this year working on my word by study and journaling, I WILL improve!

  16. Fear is the ultimate bondage, satan encourages fear as a lifestyle, because your life become ineffective and tormented, when you are jailed by fear, joy and peace become a distant memory and guilt about your fear, then defines you relationship with your Father, who waits patiently to give us all
    we need to live free in His love. My word for 2015 is trust, cancer check ups post chemo in His hands!

  17. So cool that I found this post because “no fear” is my word (words) for 2015. God-thing, right? I think YES! 🙂

    This is an excellent post, and you are a great writer…so insightful for one so young, but wisdom doesn’t know age. I love how you use your words to bring glory to God and encouragement to others. Keep it up! You are a blessing to many…I’m just sure of it!

  18. Thank you for your video . How true, He is the root to being brave in a world and out of control fear based life He makes the difference. Our challenge this year is to allow and lean into Christ , whatever our #oneword is we need Him . Than you Aliza my word is brave .

  19. I would go along with that whole idea of a year with no fear. My one word for 2014 was Courage and now for 2015 God has led me to the word Trust. I can see how these go hand in hand. I was looking over my last years writings and I could see how God was growing me in the area of courage and stepping out and with each step taken of courage I needed to trust Him that He was with me in it and I was trusting Him to bringing me through it.

    We’ll see what God does in this year. I’m looking forward to the adventure! Here we go!

  20. Happy New Year, Aliza! I am sooo happy I read this post right now. Over the past few days, I’ve been asking God about my word for 2015. Last year, it was all about letting go, giving up control and waiting. God is taking me through a season of waiting and He has been teaching me what it truly means to wait. Waiting isn’t passive, it is active. While we wait for whatever it may be, we need to remember that God is working. Waiting doesn’t mean sitting on our butts and doing nothing, it means staying focused on Him through prayer and faith, giving our whole heart to Him and trusting that He has a plan for our lives; a plan so perfect, our minds wouldn’t be able to wrap around it.

    So my words for 2015 are: “Keep waiting, pray without ceasing and let God take over.”

    Sounds simple enough. Patience has never been my strong suit. But I know that God is working on me and through me.

    Blessings,

    Donna

  21. God indeed is watching. I am in so much in distress this morning with my present circumstance of dealing with family issues. I feel so hopeless and most of all with fear and full of anxiety asking myself will I make it to the end. But then God reminded me of this promises “Fear not for He is with us” My husband just recently passed away and taking the full responsibilities of my 3 girls is not easy. It seems my own love ones are my own enemies. God help me…

    • I am so deeply sorry, Hayley. I am praying for you right now, that you would tangibly feel the love and strength of Jesus surround you. He is holding you, Hayley. He sees you.

  22. Great post Aliza:),
    Trust continues to be a word for 2015 and when i choose place my trust in Jesus the fruit is a life lived free from fear.
    Trust and No Fear are my words for 2015.
    Thank you Holy Spirit for your enabling to live free in Jesus.

  23. I would love to participate in your 2015 No Fear Journey and have attempted numerous times to send email invite to some friends but the site will not send – it keeps saying ERROR, image verification not valid , the only image present is small * and I have used it over & over.
    Also, not user friendly at all, had to input names many times because it kept telling me name wasn’t there or didn’t equal email input.

    All to no avail- came up short- nothing.

  24. Wow! You don’t know how much this blessed me so and how timely it is to read this. Such an encouraging word! Thank you for sharing.

    • Yen, I am praying for you. May the Lord give you comfort and encouragement as He gives you the desires of your heart. Blessings !!

  25. I want to share an insight the Lord gave me concerning fear. It was one of those early morning revelations, you know the ones I am talking about. He said, fear comes as a result of not feeling safe. Feeling safe is a human necessity. 1 John 4:18 says perfect love casts out fear. God’s love is the only perfect love. When you know how much you are loved by God you will feel safe and the fear will go away. He showed me the scripture in Psalms 91: 1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;He is my God, and I trust Him.
    Notice how is says when I find rest in the shadow of the Almighty, I am safe. That place of rest is knowing how much you are loved by Him. It is believing that He is good and wants to good to you. He wants to keep you safe. In the book of Hebrews chapter 4 He says that the Israelites were unable to enter into His rest because of unbelief. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe He was God, their unbelief resulted because of what they believed *about* Him. They didn’t believe He was a good God. Otherwise they never would have told Moses, “where there not enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here in the wilderness to die.” They didn’t believe God was good and they didn’t believe He desired to keep them safe. These are just a few of the insights I received from the Lord. Hope they bless you as much as they did me. <3

  26. Little did I know when I clicked on today’s email from DaySpring Devotions, subject- 2015: A year of Prayer and No Fear, it would bring me to this inspirational blog post. In the past I had not considered a word for the year. However, after reading this post and the comments attached, I have come to realize a word for the year is something I need in my life and the words Fear Not could not be more appropriate. So as I face each day of 2015, Fear Not will be on my lips and in my heart. Thank you, Aliza and commenters, for sharing your thoughts and feelings.

  27. I am just coming out of a very oppressive marriage.

    This has been a very hard time, with lots of bad confrontations. Lots of fear!!! And I thought it would never end. But God has held me close! And I have had lots of friends, ladies I barely knew, praying for me!

    In 2 days I can say, “It is finished” and I feel the fear leaving me!

    Thank you for this blog – it is, of course, God’s perfect timing. I will claim 2015 as the year of NO FEAR. And I will try to remember, when fear raises it’s head to oppress me, that God has not given me a spirit of fear!

    Blessings to you and all the ladies you will impact. Thank you.

  28. This is the answer to my prayers about my word for 2015. I live some days immobilized by my unspoken fears. They are from all areas of my life. As I write these words I realize I have never said any of this outside my heart before, not even to myself. My God is real and I believe He can do anything. I don’t know why I have never allowed myself to open this HUGE part of me to Him. My words for this year……FEAR NOT!!!!!! Thanks for this post. God Bless.

  29. Aliza, I was pleased to see your message today, for I got the word ‘Fearless’ for the New Year. I knew it was from the Lord because I have never thought of myself in such a term. I know I am courageous at times, but I can only be fearless by trusting the Lord as I accept the unknown. This year in my late sixties, I’ll be moving 7,000 miles away. It is good to know He will always be with me!

  30. YES, PRAISE YOU LORD GOD EVERLOVING HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU JESUS, AMEN!!!!

    Thank you Aliza, for sharing GOD’S WORD AND REVELATION TO us; PRAISE GOD FOR HE ALONE IS MORE THAN WORTHY OF MORE THAN All Of our HIGHEST PRAISES, IN JESUS’ MOST PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN!!!

    PRAISE GOD FOR I TRULY NEEDED THIS, IN JESUS’ MOST PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN!!!!

    MAY GOD BLESS!!!
    IN JESUS’ LOVE,
    With Prayers and heartfelt gratitude, Rebecca.

  31. THANK YOU FOR THOSE WORDS TODAY. FEAR HAS ENCOMPASSED ME BUT THIS YEAR WILL TAKE THIS AWAY AS I TURN IT OVER GO GOD.

  32. I read somewhere that the words “Fear not” appear in the Bible 365 times. One for each day in our year. A reminder that He is with us every second of every day, that He is our shelter, our strength, our advocate, our provider, our deliverer – whatever we need in our lives, HE IS.

    thanks for this reminder

  33. It’s amazing that this is the exact passage God gave me for the year 2015. He just confirmed His words to me. Thanks a lot. God bless you

  34. What a blessing you are, Aliza. You were an encouragement to me and I am going to share your blog with my daughter & daughter-in-law and on my FB wall if that’s OK with you. 🙂

  35. This is so encouraging, Aliza! I recently discovered that I have Lyme Disease and I am starting treatment for it. I don’t know what my future holds but I know God will get me through it! A friend sent me the link to your page, and I have now adopted “The Year of No Fear” as my motto for 2015. I shared your link on my blog in hopes of reaching others. Thanks for sharing!