Amanda Pelser… Ramblings of a Communications Director …

Who hasn’t found themselves fearful in our current economy and state of world affairs?  These things should push us towards faith rather than fear.  Max Lucado’s new book Fearless is a great reminder of the damage that fear can do to us and what we should do when we face fear.

To be honest, I’ve not been a fan of Max Lucado’s writing in the past.  His books have tended to be a little too “fluffy” and simplistic, in my opinion.  It was Michael Hyatt’s review of this book on his blog that drew me to this book.  Something made me think that this book would be different…  Something in me hoped that this book would be different.

I’m so glad I gave this book a chance!  It was a wonderful, scripture-supported, example-filled book of hope and faith.  Max has also given a well-written study guide at the end of the book making it a great book for use in a small group study.

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*** I have reviewed this book as a part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program.

If you’re interested in more details, keep reading for some of my favorite quotes and passages along with some thoughts and reactions of mine.  My thoughts are in italics.

• He used the word (seismos) on only two other occasions: once at Jesus’ death when Calvary shook (Matt. 27:51–54) and again at Jesus’ resurrection when the graveyard tremored (28:2). Apparently, the stilled storm shares equal billing in the trilogy of Jesus’ great shake-ups: defeating sin on the cross, death at the tomb, and here silencing fear on the sea.
• This story sends the not-so-subtle and not-too-popular reminder: getting on board with Christ can mean getting soaked with Christ.
• Christ-followers contract malaria, bury children, and battle addictions, and, as a result, face fears. It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It’s whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ.
• Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness.
• Fear unleashes a swarm of doubts, anger-stirring doubts.
• It (fear) also deadens our recall.
• It (fear) makes us forget what Jesus has done and how good God is.
• His most common command emerges from the “fear not” genre.  21 times Jesus urges us to “not be afraid” or “not fear” or “have courage” or “take heart” or “be of good cheer.” …  The one statement he made more than any other was this: don’t be afraid.
• Fear itself is not a sin. But it can lead to sin.
• Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts.
• We fear coming and going and no one knowing. … Fear of insignificance creates the result it dreads, arrives at the destination it tries to avoid, facilitates the scenario it disdains.
• Memories of dropped passes fade slowly. They stir a lonely fear, a fear that we have disappointed people, that we have let down the team, that we’ve come up short. A fear that, when needed, we didn’t do our part, that others suffered from our fumbles and bumbles.
• Fear, mismanaged, leads to sin. Sin leads to hiding. Since we’ve all sinned, we all hide, not in bushes, but in eighty-hour workweeks, temper tantrums, and religious busyness. We avoid contact with God.
• Yes, we have disappointed God. But, no, God has not abandoned us.
• Jesus doesn’t condemn legitimate concern for responsibilities but rather the continuous mind-set that dismisses God’s presence.
• Destructive anxiety subtracts God from the future, faces uncertainties with no faith, tallies up the challenges of the day without entering God into the equation.
• P-E-A-C-E-F-U-L | Pray, first. Easy, now.  Act on it.  Compile a worry list.  Evaluate your worry categories.  Focus on today.  Unleash a worry army.  Let God be enough.
• Our kids were his kids first.
• We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention.
• His call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We’re to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments.
• How many people spend life on the edge of the pool? Consulting caution. Ignoring faith. Never taking the plunge. Happy to experience life vicariously through others. Preferring to take no risk rather than any risk. For fear of the worst, they never enjoy life at its best.
• A healthy church is where our fears go to die.
• Contrary to what we’d hope, good people aren’t exempt from violence.
• Fear has never been famous for its logic.
• Everything Jesus did for his followers, his Spirit does for you.
• God never sends you out alone.
• … when everything else changes, God’s presence never does.
• (Speaking of change…) Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments.  –I’m not a big fan of change, especially change that I don’t have control over…  this really gave me a different perspective on change and God’s will.
• Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries . . . When we mix, mingle, confess, and pray, Christ speaks.  –Reminds me that we are all a part of the body and each have roles to play that cannot be carried out apart from the whole.
• Could it be this simple? Could the chasm between doubt and faith be spanned with Scripture and fellowship?
• Trust in ultimate victory gives ultimate courage.
• Make sure the hull of your convictions can withstand the stress of collisions.
• There’s a stampede of fear out there. Let’s not get caught in it. Let’s be among those who stay calm. Let’s recognize danger but not be overwhelmed. Acknowledge threats but refuse to be defined by them.