An Encouraging word on Courage!

COURAGE!
 
When do we need courage? When do we not?

There are times (actually daily circumstances), which may require us to say what we really feel about something: tell our spouse that we have never really liked the beef pot pie recipe handed down from her mother’s side of the family, so let’s not have that for Sunday dinner, or when we have to tell our boss that we put the order in wrong for our new client and now we can’t charge them for the last three months.

Standing up and telling the truth takes courage.

As difficult as those kinds of situations might be, they are nothing compared to some of the decisions, life and death decisions, people have faced throughout history and throughout the bible.

Here are a couple that stand out to me:
Daniel: 3:16-18 “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you O king that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up"..... So the king lit them up and came back later to find out they were unharmed.
Boy, that’s courage. Courage is defined as “the ability to do something that frightens one”. The word comes from Middle English, Old French, and before that, Latin for the word heart. So courage is being motivated from the heart to do something brave.     Don’t we invite God into our hearts, to help us make the right decision, to stand up for what is right, to tell the truth when no one wants to listen?

In Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

What about the shepherd boy David, who saw the giant threatening the Israelites? He talked Saul into letting him fight Goliath. And he wouldn’t even take the kings armor- just his staff and his sling; a boy. We know how that turned out!  He had the courage from God to stand up and fight for his people.
Sometimes we don’t need to get up and act right away but rather:
“Wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord”, as it says in Psalms 27:14.
 
 Romans 15:13 says “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

And can we not encourage one another as we go through this journey? Give someone help, hope? Show them God’s work around us?
 Isaiah 41:6 tells us “Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, Be strong.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 states,  “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously; defend the rights of the poor and the needy.”
It takes courage to stand up for ourselves, to stand up for what its right, to stand up for others less fortunate, but with God in our hearts we can.

Here are a couple more verses   to illustrate that God is with us and gives us courage: 
Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Ephesians 6: 10-18 “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of evil.”
 
Stay close to God, study His word and  be intentionally about   walking in courage as you operate in the Love of God.

Dan Smith
General Manager for KWHS-Colorado Springs
Rocky Mountain  CTN
Enjoy Life. Consider Eternity.