Courageous: Living the Fearless Life God Intended

By Whitney L. Wagner

God never called us to be afraid. While we are born with innate biological fears that protect us, we often find ourselves frozen when it comes to tackling the most important aspects of our lives. Courageous is the book that will inspire you to reflect on your past and present experiences while also examining your fears to find out where they come from and how they are affecting your ability to follow God’s calling on your life.

This book will walk you step by step through the process of overcoming your deepest fears so that you can live the fearless life God intended for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512737394

Whitney L. Wagner

Whitney L. Wagner is, first and foremost, an imperfect child of God who daily strives to understand God’s grace and who seeks to share that grace with others. She does this by encouraging women across the globe on her faith-focused lifestyle blog, Making the Most (www.makingthemostblog.com), where she writes regularly. Whitney also enjoys speaking publicly about her knowledge and experiences in hopes that she might share with others the hope that comes with the light of Christ. Whitney and her husband, Jeremy, make their home with four daughters (ages 6 to 17), a dog, a cat, and two fish. Apart from typical busy family activities, Whitney enjoys church functions and attending weekly Bible studies, as well as all things books, music, and art.

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Copyright © 2016 Whitney L. Wagner

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.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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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.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-3740-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3741-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3739-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016905715

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/29/2016

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Defining Fear

Chapter 2 What Does the Bible Say about Fear?

Chapter 3 Exposed

Chapter 4 Ouch

Chapter 5 Gone

Chapter 6 Enough

Chapter 7 Failure

Chapter 8 Alone

Chapter 9 Unknown

Chapter 10 Awe

Chapter 11 Trust: The Ultimate Solution

Chapter 12 Know Your Enemy

Chapter 13 Wear Your Armor

Chapter 14 The Belt of Truth

Chapter 15 The Breastplate of Righteousness

Chapter 16 Shoes of Peace

Chapter 17 The Shield of Faith

Chapter 18 Helmet of Salvation

Chapter 19 Sword of the Spirit

Chapter 20 Cast Your Cares

Chapter 21 Step Out

In Closing

Resources

Additional Scripture Passages

Acknowledgments

Notes

For Grandma and Grandpa Drake, who never stopped believing in me and whose influence sparked my relationship with Christ.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

—Nelson Mandela

INTRODUCTION

Honestly

Let me be honest. I’m scared. Just like you. In fact, I’m writing this book because I need to read it. Comforting, right? We’re on this journey—the journey to becoming courageous—together. We can’t get past our fear alone. Both of us have decided that to overcome this fear, we need someone else. That someone else just happens to be someone we don’t know. And that’s okay.

So what are you afraid of? Let’s begin by getting that out in the open. Write down a list of your fears, no matter how small, no matter how huge. Write them down. The first step to overcoming your fear is revealing them whether by voice or on a page. While you’re thinking about that, I’ll tell you mine.

If we were to start small, I’d tell you I’m afraid of spiders. I don’t care how small they are. Those little suckers can be dangerous, and they’re gross and creepy-crawly. Ugh! You wouldn’t catch me near one of those things. For me, the scariest part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the giant spider. And The Hobbit? Same thing. I’ll admit that Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web is pretty nice, but that will be the first and the last spider I’ll ever like.

But if we were to start big and honest and deep: I must admit that although I’m officially an author, I’m afraid to be writing this book. Yes, you read that right. I’m afraid to write this book. I’ve wanted to write books since I was young. In fact, I used to write stories on my dad’s old electric typewriter and sell them for fifty cents. (I hope most of you reading this know what an electric typewriter is!) But my problem goes deeper than being afraid to write.

I’m afraid you won’t like what I write. I’m afraid it will be a flop. What if I heard God’s calling wrong? What if He doesn’t provide? What if I lead you astray? My writing doesn’t flow quite as well as the works of well-known female authors. What if I don’t quite measure up? I guess it all boils down to the fear of failure, the fear of being unable to provide.

I’m afraid my daughters will turn out like me or that my oldest daughter will turn out like her biological father. I’m afraid that I’ll mess up my kids, that I won’t be a good Christian, a good wife, a good mom, a good daughter, or a good friend, or that depression will get the best of me or of my children. I’m afraid I’m not good enough. I’m afraid that I’ll lose my kids, my husband, my parents, or my sister, that I’ll be alone, or that I’ll do something terrible and not make it into heaven.

And those are just the fears at the top of my list. Some of them are incredibly irrational. But many of them are normal, and I’m sure you share some of them.

When I was involved in a twelve-step recovery program, my sponsor always told me, Fear is just a lack of trust in God. At first, I wasn’t sure how to take this statement. How dare she accuse me of not trusting in God? But now, ten years later, her statement makes so much more sense to me.

I have a hard time giving up control in some areas of my life. The longer I hold on to these things, the longer I’ll continue to fear the outcomes. What happens when we give these things to God? Peace. Provision. Trust. God wants us to let go so that His power can be revealed. Let go. Stop being afraid. Trust.

But even if your fears are completely different from mine, even if you think I’m crazy, read on. We’ll still stick with each other throughout this journey, and we’ll get through it. We’ll conquer these fears once and for all. We’ll become courageous. Won’t you join me?

CHAPTER 1

Defining Fear

If you were facing your enemy in a fight (whatever he, she, or it is), you would need to know a little bit about this opponent to be fully prepared for battle. Chances are, before you begin an argument, you understand the situation to some extent. Professional athletes study opposing teams’ tactics to prepare for a game. To decide how best to defend itself or how to carry out an attack, one country will evaluate the weapons another country uses.

Likewise, before we can learn how to overcome fear and to be courageous, we must understand what fear is and how it affects us emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Fear vs. anxiety

Some may argue that fear and anxiety are two different emotions. Both signal danger, threat, or motivational conflict, which trigger physical responses. The word fear is primarily associated with external conflicts that cause defensive behavior or an