Tame Your Thoughts by Max Lucado
Week 9: Chapter 8 — Defeating Doubt and Silencing Fear
Read Chapter 8 of Tame Your Thoughts. Key Scripture: Mark 9:24; Joshua 1:9.
Previewing Week 9 of Tame Your Thoughts
Read 3 of 8 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 12-week guide when you’re ready.
Doubt and fear don't just affect our circumstances — they colonize our minds and shrink our lives. Lucado invites us this week to bring our doubts honestly to God and discover that faith is not the absence of fear but the decision to act despite it.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.The father in Mark 9:24 cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!" Lucado likely holds this up as a model of honest, mixed-faith prayer. Is this kind of honesty with God comfortable for you, or does it feel like it disqualifies you from God's help? Why?
2.What is the difference between doubt that is an honest wrestling with hard questions and doubt that is a settled refusal to trust? Which type tends to describe your experience of doubt?
3.God told Joshua, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). The command to not be afraid appears throughout Scripture — does this feel like an unreasonable demand to you, or more like a promise wrapped in a command? How does God's presence change the equation?