The Fear App Study Guide

The Fear App Study Guide

For Individual, Small, or Large Group Discussion

Contents:

Discussion Lesson One --- There’s an “App” for Our Fears

Discussion Lesson Two --- Four Surprises about Fear

Discussion Lesson Three --- The Fear of Serving & Witnessing

Discussion Lesson Four --- Why Jonah Ran from God? What Would You Do?

Discussion Lesson Five --- How Satan Uses the Foreign Language of Fear to Confuse Us?

Discussion Lesson Six --- If God is in Control, Why Do We Fear?

Discussion Lesson Seven --- The Battle in Our Minds between Fear and Faith

INTRODUCTION

When speaking of Fear, the obvious question is “What are you afraid of?” Everyone has some type of a Fear answer. The opposite of Fear is Faith. Where are you at in making critical decisions in life? Do you allow Fear to control those decisions?

I was serving in missions at Richards Bay, South Africa, on September 11, 2001. The world watched as two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers, in one of the most horrific disasters in American history. In an instant, people all over the world were gripped with fear, as they considered the possibility that they could be next. To this day, the government continues to act on this fear while measures are being taken to avoid another such disaster. The attacks of 9/11 and the fear people experienced were real and needed to be dealt with quickly.

This book (along with The Fear App book) addresses a much different fear we face as Christians. This book is about the fears that flow through our minds as God moves us in a particular direction. It gives answers on how to overcome these cycles of needless fears and faithfully follow God.

There are many fears that we allow to keep us from following God’s will for our lives. When we allow these fears to dictate our thinking, they can easily put us in a quandary. A quandary is “a state of perplexity or uncertainty,” especially over what to do in a difficult situation.

I experienced this fear quandary when God called us into missions. In talking to Christians around the globe, they also have experienced the same fear. Many allowed fear to manipulate their decisions, instead of following God’s leading. The result was that they did not get to experience the peace and blessing God had planned for them. In order to live a life that is completely in step with God, we must transform our minds to no longer follow fear; instead, we must learn to faithfully trust God with our lives and all decisions.

This book and Study Guide will show how fear kept godly people in the Bible from doing what God commanded. It will also show how others faithfully followed Him. Through their examples, we will learn how to break out of the needless cycle of fear and learn how to rely totally on God.

We would do well to remember the encouragement found in Isaiah 41:10. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

How to Achieve the Most Out of the Study Guide

It is advised that you first read The Fear App book to achieve the most out of this Study Guide. The Study Guide is quite flexible in it’s use. It’s been developed for use as an individual, or as an additional step to discipleship (or mentoring someone), or for small or large group study. If the Study Guide is used in a large group setting, after a general discussion of the lesson by the Moderator, it is recommended that you break up into small groups of no more than eight to twelve people to discuss key questions and reflect on the topic. The Study Guide works well in all sized settings. Each lesson will include a key verse, a Discussion Time, Key Question Time, and a Closing Time to Reflect and Pray.

The Study Guide is segmented into seven key fear Study Guide topics. Certain critical points in The Fear App book have been integrated into the Study Guide discussion areas. Additional comments have been added to further develop the Study Guide and to create deeper thinking on the subject of fear. The four segments of each lesson are centered on getting every person to consider how fear impacts them in different ways and how it further impacts their decisions. There are key questions in each lesson that challenge and help us to see any weakness in our decision-making processes.

Please start and end each lesson with prayer. If you are the Study Guide Leader/Moderator, please inform attendees what will be discussed at the next lesson. I challenge the person teaching the lessons to pray for God’s leading. Be creative in your teaching and allow the Holy Spirit to provide further discussion as you are led.

Discussion Lesson One

There’s an “App” for Our Fears

Key Verses:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! (Psalm 112:1).

Christian Fear quotes:

“Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.” (Rick Warren)

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure.” (Charles Stanley)

Discussion Time:

What does fear really mean? Satan can deceive us and our thinking about fear, so let’s look at this word fear and define its meaning. To simplify the definition and not to complicate the meaning, I chose The Laymen’s Bible Dictionary to define both types of fear. Our normal fear is an emotion aroused by danger or risk to one’s safety” (see 1 Samuel 21:10). The word is secondly used for respect or reverence toward God. Deuteronomy 10:20 says “You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.”