Fighting Fear with Fear

It’s been a few weeks since my review of Wayne & Joshua Mack’s book, Courage, was published at Books At a Glance, but it came to my mind this morning when I recommended the book to someone who is counseling a young lady battling severe bouts of fear and, therefore, needs to cultivate a deeper fear of God.

The Macks do a very good job of diagnosing the heart issues that feed our sinful fears. As a result of their biblical diagnosis of our hearts, they are then able to present godly solutions. These can be summarized by the following key concepts, which are developed in the first three chapters:

  1. The Holy Spirit and His fruit of love combat fear in the believer: The indwelling spirit empowers believers to fight fear, especially as we learn to love those whom we fear.
  2. Faith is the ultimate solution to fighting against our fears. “If you want to stand strong, to stop being so anxious, to be courageous, you have got to exercise faith. You’ve got to go back to the Scriptures, learn what is true about God, and apply it to your situation.”
  3. Fearing God more than man is a key to fighting sinful fear. The book’s contrast of human fear and holy fear is very helpful as they divide our fears into three categories: natural fear, sinful fear, and holy fear.

Read my full review of Courage: Fighting Fear with Fear.

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