Kicking Fear to the Curb {Week 1}

Week 1 - Victims of Fear

Welcome to Week 1 of Fear study! This is Erin Peters and Sue Molitor, and we have teamed up to write
this study for you. We are so glad you have joined us on this journey of digging deeper into what the Bible has to teach us about fear. This week we are going to look at being a victim of fear and bring
out some Biblical examples of those who were fearful/doubtful.

Fear is the opposite of faith and since God says that without faith it is impossible to please God, we can see how important gaining victory over fear is to God. There are over 300 times in scripture that the command "do not be afraid" appears. I think He's trying to tell us something!

We have a choice to make. We can choose one of two trains of thoughts. The one we choose will
determine our destination. One destination ends in success, the other ends in failure. Hmmm…which
train do you want to choose? Together, let’s choose the one of faith and ride it all the way to freedom
and our destiny in Christ!

The train of thought of faith: belief-faith-courage-action-success.

The train of thought of fear: Unbelief-doubt-fear-inaction-failure.

First, we wanted to share a little about why we wanted to write this study. We have both been
victims of fear in the past, and so we can relate to whatever struggle you have; we knew God would
speak not only through us, but to us as we wrote this study.  We pray that God will speak to you as you go through it.

If you can't see Erin's video above, click here to view it on YouTube

If you cannot view this Sue's video, click here to view it on You Tube

Now that you know a little about us and why we we're eager to do this study with you, get ready to dig
in and conquer fear and kick that bully to the curb!

Assignment 1

Fear. Just that single word can send a list of things running through your head. I don't know what your list
looks like, but I have one in my head, too. Most of my fears boil down to control. I want to control the
situation and I doubt God can really handle the situation. In the light of day, it seems ridiculous, but in
those moments of fear-soaked panic, I hold on pretty tight to being in charge.

Fear is a tool that Satan uses to try and control our lives. And control it he does. How many times have
you thought you heard a noise at night, but did not want to get out of your bed just in case a burglar
might be in your house so you hide under your covers in fear? Okay, maybe that's just me, but the point
is that fear can be something that cripples us. We can become so blind to our fears, that we cannot see
the work of God in our lives or what He wants to do. Just think of how many people suffer from the fear
of public speaking who could be sharing the work of God with others in their lives. Or how many people suffer from
the fear of rejection, so they avoid inviting their neighbor to church because they can't handle being told
no.

Free Tools: (clickable links)

• Bible Gateway (offers tools, as well as various Bible translations)
• Study Light (go to Bible Study Tools tab)
• Online Bible Study Tools (TONS of good study tools like a commentary from Matthew Henry.)
• Blue Letter Bible (More excellent study tools, including commentary from Martin Luther.)

Use the free tools to dig deeper into these key words:
- fear
- faith
- wisdom
- doubt
- courage
 - trust

What connections did you find between these words? Did you discover clarification on these things in your own life? Does this change the way you look at your own fears? Did you feel God speaking to you through these verses in regards to your own fears?

Assignment 2

Use verse mapping to see how God speaks to you in these verses: Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 4:13,
2 Timothy 1:7, Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 41:10, Deuteronomy 31:6, and then share what God showed you in one
of the verses and/or post a picture of your verse mapping!

Assignment 3

Fear is something that goes as far back as the Garden of Eden. In Genesis Chapter 3, we see the first
recorded instance of fear. The first person to experience fear was Eve. What exactly did she fear? In Genesis Chapter 3, we read about Eve being tempted and falling. God told her not to eat of that tree. Instead of trusting God, she chose to believe the lie of the enemy and feared that God was keeping something from her. The second instance of fear was when Adam took the fruit and ate.Maybe he feared losing his wife, so he followed her in sin. Then, in Genesis 3:7, we see the third instance of fear recorded. Because Adam and Eve had sinned, they hid in fear from God. Fear begets sin and sin begets fear.

Pardon my pun, but the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, because just a chapter later in Genesis 4, we
see the story of Cain and Abel. Read Genesis 4. God rejected Cain’s offering and in anger, Cain sinned
and killed his brother.

Was Cain’s sin rooted in fear? What was his motivation for not offering his best to begin with? Did he fear he would be losing his best crops and provision instead of trusting God to provide? Did he then fear further rejection from God? Fear of rejection causes us to take our eyes off of trusting God and loving others and puts them onto ourselves. Fear begets sin.

Now that we have looked at the first family in the Bible and their struggles with fear, let’s jump ahead to
another group of people who oozed with fear--the Israelites. I am fascinated with this group of people
because they saw miracles and signs and wonders that make our mouths hang open. Yet they lived in
fear and doubted God consistently.  Let’s look more closely at the Israelites and see how their lack of faith and unbelief kept them in the wilderness for 40 years and, ultimately, led to their death.

Read Numbers 13 and 14. How did the Israelites choose doubt and fear over trust and faith? What did
it cost them? (Numbers 14: 30-33).

How did Adam and Eve, Cain, and the Israelites use the fear train of thought?
Unbelief-doubt-fear-inaction-failure

What does fear cost us when we choose fear over faith in God and His Word? What is one scripture you found this week that will help you overcome fear?

However tempted I may be to judge our Old Testament friends, I am reminded that we, too, are guilty of the same. God has done so much for me and yet there are times when I find myself in fear instead of trusting God. Sweet friends, we can conquer fear and trust our God. He is good. He is faithful. We can trust in His provision. We can trust in His love and care.

Blog Hop Topics:

Watch for the Blog Hop post on Saturday and add your links there!

1. What fear(s) are you kicking to the curb? What scares you about doing this?

2. What fear do you have? What control does it hold on you? How does it affect your relationship

with God and others?

3. What did you learn from your verse mapping this week?

 

Turning Your Dreams to Goals: Week 3

Hey girls!  It has been a great two weeks here in the Gap.  We’ve spent a lot of time talking about balancing our goals with God’s purpose in our  life.  Jesus and Paul were both great example of that.  Last week we started to get a bit more practical and talked about some do’s and don’ts of setting goals, and we made sure that the advice we were getting lined up with God’s word.

I’ll warn you ahead of time.  This week is going to be a little heavier on the homework.  We are going work on setting God-honoring goals and mapping out a plan to meet them.

I found  this really great devotion by Pastor Rick Warren and he said this:

How do you know if [your goal] is going to bring glory to God?  Any goal that causes you to love God more brings glory to God.  Any goal you set that causes you to trust God more, brings glory to God.  Any goal you set that causes to you obey God, to love God, to serve God, any goal that causes you to want to brag on God and tell unbelievers, ‘Look what he did for me’ -- that's the goal that brings glory to God.   

Wow. That was really powerful for me.  See, earlier this year, I set a goal for myself. It was really a life-long dream that I was intent on meeting. A goal is a dream with a deadline and since I wanted to accomplish this dream by the time I am 50, my deadline is quickly approaching!  A few weeks into working on this goal, I began to have second thoughts.  I began seeking God and asking if this was something He wanted me to do, or was it something I just wanted to do out of a sense of pride, to gain attention or just to do something that most people haven’t done.  It was going to take a lot of work. It was going to take a lot of discipline and consume a lot of time that I could spend doing other things. My family was going to have to make sacrifices during the holiday season in order for me to accomplish this goal.  But then a divine appointment confirmed that God was in this from the beginning.  A phone call from someone I look up to and admire showing me how I could use this process to bring glory to God.  A unique opportunity to brag on God and say “Look what He did for me.”  And now several months later, I am on the verge of bringing this goal to reality!  But…..you’ll have to wait for the Made to Crave study to hear more about that!

So let’s get down to business.  This article by Kevin Nuber, guest columnist for the Christian Broadcasting Network, will be our primary material for this week.  It is long, but it is full of practical information and wisdom.  Read the article and start thinking about what specific goals you might want to set for yourself.

Assignments

Watch for posts from Sue Molitor on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to post your thoughts on the assignments.

Assignment 1

Today is the day!  If you don’t already have one, today you are going to start defining a goal!  Now, you may need to or want to set goals in several areas of your life.  But for this week, you need to come up with one that you can use to work through our exercises.  Here are some thoughts to guide you as you select one:

What dream are you ready to put a deadline on?  In light of the Rick Warren quote about goals that bring glory to God, what would God’s purpose be through that dream in your life or others?  How will it cause you to obey God, love God, serve God or brag on God?

In the CBN article, Mr. Nuber  discusses three verses from Isaiah about God doing a “new thing”.  In what areas of your life does God need to do a new thing?  What “former things” need to be put aside so that God’s purpose in your life can be accomplished?  What one thing in your life needs to be changed in order to increase the effectiveness of your service and witness for Him?

If you are starting to get a picture of where you are headed, share your goals with us!

Assignment 2

In the CBN article, he talks about making your goals SMART:  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.  Here is a graphic from Lisa Allen, Executive Director of Ministry Training for Proverbs 31 Ministries, that illustrates SMART goals.

Look up these verses in your Bible and note how they relate to SMART goals.

John 8:14, Philippians 1:6, Proverbs 16:9, Ephesians, 4:13, Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 29:11, Ecclesiastes 3:1, Proverbs 20:18, Colossians 3:23, Ephesians 5:15-16

Assignment 3

In the CBN article, there is a side bar template for listing goals in several areas of your life.  Use this template to record any goals that have been laid on your heart this week.  Pick one or two goals and put them in the SMART goal format.  


Blog Hop Topics:

Watch for the Blog Hop post on Saturday and add your links there!

1. From the sidebar template of the CBN article by Ken Nuber, share with us two goals you think that God wants you to focus on this year. What is the new thing God wants to accomplish in and through you? What is the former thing you need to leave behind?
2. Share your big dream-turned goal. How will your goal bring God glory? What is it God wants you to learn about Him through the goal-setting process? What is it God wants you to learn about yourself? Has your view of goal-setting changed
3. After verse mapping or chaining some of the verses from our study this week, share what God has spoken to you about goal-setting. What did you discover about the process of moving with purpose toward your dreams? How does goal-setting play a defining role in that process?

Turning Your Dreams Into Goals Week 2

Week 2: Looking at a Secular Goal-setting Article Through a Biblical Lens:

This week, we are going to use our Biblical lenses while reading an article written from a secular point of view. We learned much last week about goal setting from a Christian perspective. Now, let's see if this article matches-up with, or what we can add to, what we have learned so far using the lens of Scripture.

This article is written by Mark Kramer, published on the SPARKPEOPLE website, and is used with permission. We will read through and discuss this. Also, as usual, we will have our blog hop on Saturday!

Before we start, let's pray James 1:5-6 this week and ask God to give us wisdom.

Father, Your word says that you are the giver of all wisdom, That if we lack wisdom, we may ask of you and you will not only give it, but will do so generously for all of us. Your word reminds us to believe when we ask, and not doubt, then you will grant us this wisdom. Lord, we highly adore you and ask you to guide us in our learning not only this week, but throughout our lifetime. Your word says that if we draw near to You, You will draw near to us. Father, it is my prayer that you draw ever so close to each and every sweet lady in this study. May your name be exalted in all that we do or say. In Jesus name, Amen.

Looking forward to a week of study with you again!! ~~Jennifer Newsom

Free Tools: (clickable links)

• Bible Gateway (offers tools, as well as various Bible translations)
• Study Light (go to Bible Study Tools tab)
• Online Bible Study Tools (TONS of good study tools like a commentary from Matthew Henry.)
• Blue Letter Bible (More excellent study tools, including commentary from Martin Luther.)

Assignments:

1. Monday: Click on, and read, this article: Do's and Don'ts of Goal Setting. Respond: In point 2, the author tells us to "boost" our confidence. As Christians, what are some ways we can do that, yet remain humble at the same time? Perhaps share some of your takeaways from our OBS, A Confident Heart. Next, search a Bible Concordance, the back of your Bible, or use some of our free tools. Look for verses on "confidence." Using this excellent explanation from Heather, Verse Map a few of these verses. Share those with us-perhaps even a picture!
2. Wednesday: In point 5, the author speaks of persistence. Using the same technique for searching for Scripture mentioned above, look for verses containing the words: perseverance, endurance, and/or diligence. Using this explanation I wrote, try your hand at Verse Chaining. Share with us--perhaps even a picture if you would like!
3. Friday: In the final point, we see mention of something that we have covered in several of our past Online Bible Studies-negative thoughts. Please read 2 Corinthians 10:5--what does this verse speak to you in light of goal setting? What are some ways you can rid yourself of negative thinking when it comes to setting Christ-honoring goals? Finally, how do you think the article 'lined up' not only with Scripture, but with what we learned last week? Anything seem to stand out, or go together? Please share your responses.

Blog Topics:

Watch for the Blog Hop Post on Saturday from Lauren Bates and post the link to your blog there!

1. This week, we're talking about negativity and how it might hinder the goals which we set. Can you think of a time when your own negativity, or even someone else's, stopped you from making a change or pursuing something new? Or an instance when you overcame negativity? How could you change your reaction if the negativity stopped you? What advice do you have for someone who might be in a similar situation?
2. Share what you learned, either from verse mapping or verse chaining. What is God saying to you through His word?
3. What part of setting goals is hardest for you? Review the points discussed in the article. What can you improve upon? What changes can you make to be more successful? How can you seek God in these changes?
4. In this study, have you seen change differently? If you didn't share last week, what goals do you have for 2014? What dreams do you have? How is God helping you look ahead to reach these?