Faith over Fear

Jeremy McGarity

Description

If you are struggling with doubts, anxiety, depression or fear and your wondering where will my help come from, this book is for you!

Life can get overwhelming. Fear, anxiety, and depression sneak up on us at any moment and suddenly we’re drowning. Fear comes into play when we anticipate or become aware of something dangerous that poses a threat to our well-being. In some ways, fear can be a good thing, as it’s the built-in survival mechanism that keeps us from entering potentially life-threatening situations.



For Christians, fear can also be detrimental to the ways we experience and manifest faith if we let it linger unaddressed. Fear can also be the thing holding you back from giving your life to Jesus. Dr. Jeremy McGarity, lead pastor of Skyline Church in San Diego, is a devoted follower of Christ who presents the truth of God’s Word in clear and immediately applicable ways.



He asks questions like how do we walk every day in faith over fear? How do we calm the storms all around us, and what happens when we doubt? Each chapter concludes with application-focused questions, a journal prompt, and an action step so you can allow the truth to impact you in a personal and powerful way. Friends, we were made for more than just wrestling, striving, and struggling. We were made for hope, faith, and freedom from fear.

Sujets

• Christian Living
• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664274259
• Langue: English

Extrait

FAITH OVER FEAR
 
HOW TO APPLY FAITH TO ANY FEARFUL SITUATION.
 
 
 
 
 
JEREMY MCGARITY
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Jeremy McGarity.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7423-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7424-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7425-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914091
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 09/30/2022
 
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
 
Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.
 
Scripture quotations marked MEV are taken from the Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
To the Skyline Church staff,
Thank you for walking through this season of coronavirus and lockdowns and mandates with such strong faith. When so many people were cowering in fear, you stood up and said, “We’re going to walk in faith over fear.”
I am honored to serve with such a faith-filled team!
CONTENTS
Preface
 
Chapter 1     Walking in Faith over Fear
Chapter 2     Increasing Your Faith
Chapter 3     Jesus Calms the Storm
Chapter 4     A Bout with the Virus of Doubt
Chapter 5     The Cure
Chapter 6     Made for More
 
Conclusion
Notes
PREFACE
Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1 is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NLT). And if you’re reading this and you’re a longtime Christian, or you grew up in the church, you’ve probably heard this definition before.
Or maybe you’ve picked up this book today, and you’ve walked away from the idea of the church and organized religion, but you’ve heard the word faith .
Or maybe you’ve picked up this book today, and you’ve never been to church and never known Jesus as anything more than a curse word or Jewish teacher or some guy Christians talk about all the time, but you’ve heard the word faith .
Regardless of where you come from or the ways in which you have or haven’t experienced God, the definition Hebrews gives is a great definition, especially when everything in our lives is going well.
When we’re healthy, when we’re successful, when we’re happy, and when our lives are free from struggle, pain, doubts, storms, or fear.
Fear comes into play when we anticipate or become aware of something dangerous that poses a threat to our well-being. 1 And in some ways, fear can be a really good thing. It’s the built-in survival mechanism that keeps us from entering potentially life-threatening situations, and it helps us escape from places our bodies and minds believe to be dangerous.
But for Christians, fear can also be detrimental to the ways we experience and manifest faith if we let it linger unaddressed. If you don’t profess to being a believer, fear can also be the thing holding you back from giving your life to Jesus.
If you’re struggling to grow in your faith, this book is for you.
If you’re struggling with doubts, this book is for you.
If you’re staring down the eye of a storm, this book is for you.
If you’re struggling with fear, this book is for you.
Friends, we were made for more than just wrestling and striving and struggling.
We were made for hope and connection and faith.
And I want to help you find it. Let’s walk in faith over fear, together.
CHAPTER 1
WALKING IN FAITH OVER FEAR
You need to shut down the church! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. COVID was in full swing, and everything from governmental buildings and services to the local gym were closing. Now, concern was growing that any gathering could increase the spread of this unknown virus that was so deadly that the entire country of Italy was shut down with stay-at-home orders and travel lockdowns.
In the beginning of the pandemic, we wanted to make sure we helped people navigate this phenomenon. After gathering as much information as possible, we closed the church buildings but kept church going online. Over the course of the next several weeks, I did a deep dive into the science behind all these closures and soon realized it was fear, not scientific or statistical data, which was driving these closures.
After taking time to meet with our leadership teams and pray through what we were about to do, we knew there was only one way to respond to rampant fear in our community. It was time to live in faith over fear .
We opened Skyline Church to thousands of people who were so hungry for a sense of normalcy in their lives. Over the course of the next several weeks, we saw Skyline Church reach attendance numbers never experienced in the rich history of the church. We experienced more decisions for Christ, more baptisms, more people becoming members than ever before. We were witnessing a revival right in front of our eyes.
When we decided to walk in faith over fear, everything changed.
NUMBERS 13–14
Have you ever heard the expression about having nothing to fear but fear itself and wondered where it came from while thinking, “What kind of person isn’t afraid of sharks?” Or spiders. Or heights. Or whatever it is that you’re deathly afraid of.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (affectionately known as FDR), the thirty-second president of the United States, used the phrase (that he paraphrased from Henry David Thoreau, an American transcendentalist writer) in his presidential inauguration speech some eight decades ago, right smack-dab in the middle of one of the largest and most devastating economic downturns in modern history: the Great Depression. 1
Talk about having something to fear. Stock market crash. Massive unemployment.
The Dust Bowl.
How does humanity weather circumstances like these?
The Bible is chock-full of men and women who came up against difficult and sometimes even impossible circumstances and situations. We’re talking giants of faith here: Moses, Esther, Abraham, David, and Paul, among many, many others.
Passing through the Red Sea with the Egyptian army on your heels, praying the walls of water hold?
Calling for an audience on behalf of your people with your husband-king when you know it’s illegal to come before him without first being summoned?
Knowing you’re the anointed king of Israel while your best friend’s father hunts you down like an animal?
Being struck blind, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and finally martyred for a faith you initially persecuted?
How about crossing the Jordan into the long-awaited, long- anticipated Promised Land after four hundred years of Egyptian slavery?

I really love the book of Numbers. And not just because I’m a pastor. I love the book of Numbers because in between all the genealogies and numbered lists in this incredible book, there’s some powerful wisdom. Like, really good wisdom about the effects of fear and faith as we live out the Christian life.
So, let me catch you up:
Moses has led the nation of Israel out of Egypt to freedom. They’re heading toward the land that God has promised them.
Fun fact: God is always faithful to His promises (Joshua 21:45; 1 Kings 8:56; 2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT).
They’ve crossed the Red Sea with God holding the walls of water up only until His people are safely on the other side. Then he tears them down, drowning the Egyptian army that’s right on their heels. They’ve been journeying through the desert for about two years when they come to the edge of the Jordan River. The children of Israel are about to cross over into the Promised Land at a place called Kadesh. They are