Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Fearless - Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Fearless – Imagine your life without fear
By Max Lucado
Published at Thomas Nelson
About the book
Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, where you could trust more and fear less.

Can you imagine your life without fear?

Who is Max Lucado?
Max Lucado, Minister of Writing and Preaching for the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, is the husband of Denalyn and father of Jenna, Andrea, and Sara. On a good week he reads a good book, has a few dinners with his wife, and breaks 90 on the golf course. He usually settles for the first two.

My thoughts
We are surrounded by events that might cause fear in our lives. But is it worth it. Fear can indeed severe our trust and faith if we are not careful. Do you have worries that take control on your life? Then the latest book from Max Lucado, Fearless – Imagine Your Life Without Fear, is for you.

This book approaches many fears that people could sense in their lives – fear of not mattering, fear of disappointing God, fear of running out, fear of not protecting my kids, fear of overwhelming challenges, fear of worst-case scenarios, fear of violence, fear of the coming winter, fear of life’s final moments, fear of what’s next, fear that God is not real, fear of global calamity, and fear of God getting out of my box. Really, by fearing so much I wonder how people live sometimes!

Some chapters talked to me more than other ones in this book. You can easily see it from the notes I took in the margins and the underlining you will find on the pages. But I was able to take something out from each chapter no matter what. Even when we think God is not there – He is. He cares for us and He is ever present in good times and bad times. Fear the Lord not what is surrounding you.

Max brings hypothetic situations and writes about the fear related to them. He brings up scriptures in each chapter to make us realize that fear should not stop us in any shape or form. Yes we will experience hard times and scary times but then it’s time to fully trust our Father in Heaven who cares deeply for us. When we persevere then we grow in our relationship with Him.

In these days, a lot is going on from recession, markets going down, loosing a job, terrorism, pandemic that is threatening us… But we need to keep our eyes on the One who knows everything. He knows which means we should trust Him and pursue without fear what He wants us to do – whatever that is.

I remember when in 2001 the planes hit the World Trade Centre. My son, Alexandre, was 2 ½ months old. You know what someone told me? Maybe it wasn’t the right time for having children. I disagreed with this. An event like this sometimes flip people so much that they make drastic decision because of fear. From what I know of history – every once in a while a drastic event comes and shake the world… think about the Black Plague or the wars especially the 2nd World War with the concentration camps and so on. Ouch!

We can learn from past events and persevere. The Bible does tell us that a reward is there for those of you who will persevere. Will you trust God or die in fear?

Check out what a little boy of 7 years old, whose missionary family was posted in Africa, has written while his house was burning to the ground… http://www.pioneerbible.org/cms/tiki-view_blog_post.php/?blogld=2&postId=9 . Honestly if a little boy can see God in a tragic event, we can surely do the same don’t you think? We should learn from the kids when they exemplify a strong faith and trust in the Lord.

Finally, the reader will find a wonderful discussion guide at the end of the book. This book can be used in a book club setting or as a small group study.

Want to see what the book is all about? Check out the youtube video about it…



Today, September 8th 2009, is the official release date for Fearless. So hurry up and go grab your copy at the bookstore!
Fearless is available for purchase in every bookstore even on amazon.ca and indigo.ca.

1 comment:

  1. This book sounds really good. I really enjoyed Lucado's book and study called It's Not About Me.

    ReplyDelete