The Fear App
Break Out Of the Cycle of Needless Fears
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Part One: How Fear Impacts Our Decisions
Chapter 1 --- There’s an “App” for Our Fears ………………………………3
Chapter 2 --- Four Surprises about Fear …………………………………….10
Chapter 3 --- The Fear of God Not Answering Our Prayers ………..19
Part Two: How Fear Keeps Us from Accepting or Serving God?
Chapter 4 --- The Fear of Being a Christian ……………………………….27
Chapter 5 --- The Fear of Serving ……………………………………………..38
Chapter 6 --- The Fear of Witnessing ………………………………………. 43
Part Three: Biblical Examples of Fear
Chapter 7 --- What Does Fear Have to Do with Creation? …………51
Chapter 8 --- Why Jonah Ran from God? What Would You Do?..56
Chapter 9 --- Why Moses Feared Failure ………………………………….63
Chapter 10 --- What Fear We Experience on Our Road to Damascus………………………………………………………………………………….69
Part 4: Personal Examples of Fear
Chapter 11 --- My Fear Story …………………………………………………….77
Chapter 12 --- How Satan Uses the Foreign Language of Fear to Confuse Us ……………………………………………………………………………….82
Part 5: Applications for Removing Our Fears
Chapter 13 --- If God is in Control, Why Do We Fear? ………………89
Chapter 14 --- The Battle in Our Minds between Fear and Faith.94
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 Study Guide) 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 will show how fear kept godly people in the Holy 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.
As though it were yesterday, I remember the day I left Detroit, Michigan (by myself) on my first mission trip. I was headed to a mission project in Africa. My wife, family, several pastors, and friends waved goodbye as I boarded the plane. I remember not having the fear I had experienced before because I knew I was right where God wanted me. There was a peace God give me, the fear that could have or might have overpowered His leading. Now, years later, I can still attest to experiencing God’s blessings by removing any fear quandaries.
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.”
PART One:
HOW FEAR IMPACTS OUR DECISIONS
Chapter One
There’s an “App” for our Fears!
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.”
It is important to establish right away that fear is a natural occurrence in our lives. Different types of fear pop into our minds all day long for various reasons. This first type of fear is very natural and real. God has built fear into our human natures. It is normal to experience fear as we journey through life. For example, God built into our minds the fear of walking along a ridge so we don’t fall over the cliff, or to be fearful as we cross the road in heavy traffic.
When my wife, Ginny, and I were serving and living in Cape Town, South Africa, we rode a cable car 2,300 feet to the top of Table Top Mountain. The five-minute ascent to the top of the mountain offered a 360-degree view in a glassed cable car. The ocean in the distance and the mountain peaks were amazing. But most people (including my wife and I) were clutching onto built-in grab bars, as we made our way to the top of the mountain.
During the process of seeking God’s will for our lives, it is quite common to have to work through these fear quandaries—including the “what if” and the unknown questions that stream through our minds. The key that opens the door to following God’s will as we analyze these fears is the following statement: When God is leading you to follow Him in a particular direction, do not allow the series of fear quandaries that stream through your mind to overpower God’s leading in your life.
There are sixty-six books in the Holy Bible and almost every book has a “fear not” included in one of the chapters.
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What if you could discover a way to live your life without fear?
What if a new vegetable that was just discovered could keep you from getting a deadly disease? Would you eat it? What if a new exercise developed would extend your life some twenty years? Would you try it? What if the information in The Fear App book would help you to remove those needless fears that run through our minds and keep us from following God’s will in our lives? Would you read it?
The apps we have on our phones were developed to make a function or activity much easier or to assist us in some specific way. The Fear App book and the available study guide are similar dynamic tools. This book will help you identify the fears you may not even be aware of.
The Lord has prepared ministry service for all of us to be involved in (Ephesians 2:10). If you allow fear to control service decisions, you’ll miss God’s best for your life and the blessings that come with following His will.
In summary, this book is written in such a way that it’s an easy read with a very practical approach, and it isn’t too in depth or over the top; however, it gets right to the point of the fears all of us experience in our lives.
About the Author
Bill Hanson and his wife, Ginny, are full-time missionaries. Bill and Ginny have lived in Africa at various times during their ministry service. Bill has traveled overseas on around sixty-five mission trips to twenty-eight different countries since following God’s leading and leaving his secular career. During Bill’s time as a missionary, he has interviewed a number of people around the globe who’ve allowed fear to control their lives. Bill and Ginny Hanson have four children and ten grandkids.