Courage

Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” 
Matthew 14:27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 
Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 
Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 
1 Corinthians 6:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 

In the days ahead, Christians will need to know more about courage. The times ahead will be very challenging and the evil one will use fear and intimidation to bind up the body of Christ. Circumstances and events in families, individual lives and society will appear to be more and more overwhelming. The existing structures that keep in check the power of fear and intimidation will crumble more and more. 

Confusion will be more evident and anxieties will increase as the pressure from Satan increases. Solutions will be less obvious and issues will appear more complicated. Ideas and groups will become more polarized as the difference between light and darkness grows greater. However, every time sin increases, God’s grace will abound even more. 

The life of Jesus Christ was filled with courage. This courage is His gift to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. I will define courage as the ability to live the gospel out in the manner that makes Jesus come alive and known. In this way we become living pictures and sound bites of the gospel that Jesus presented and preached. 

Jesus had great courage because He had a clear vision of what He was called to do. We lack courage because we lack vision of what we want from our lives. Courage helps us to reach the goals and or vision that we have set for ourselves. In the coming times, our goals and visions will be tested for their worthiness. 

We will be challenged and our goals will be tested. We will remain strong when we reach for our goals because of Christ and in the power of Christ. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit that we will have the determination and the perseverance to continue despite the tests of fear and intimidation. 

The easiest way to proceed for us will be to live our lives for and with Jesus. Jesus is the vision and the goal that our Father has given us to pursue. It is in this pursuit that all of our goals will be reviewed and achieved. However, we can take some steps which will help us to grow in courage in our daily lives. 

The first way we can develop courage is to love God in all that we do. It is in loving Him that we receive the courage to do what we must do to succeed. When we love God in what we do, we can proceed with confidence that the Lord will put us on the right path and keep us moving toward our destination. 

Courage does not come because we make no mistakes, but courage comes because we have a loving Father who wants us to do the things that He has given us to do for Him. Courage is not found in perfection but in the confidence that God loves us and cares for us. His promises and protection are sure for those who seek Him with all their heart and all their strength. 

The second way that we can build courage is to ask God to give us the goals that He wants for us. The Lord uses the goals He gives us to draw us closer to Him and make us more like Him. As we move towards our goals, God will provide us with the affirmation and the courage to meet them. Goals are important because they give us opportunities for victories in our lives. Courage is the way to the goal, but it is not an end in itself. 

The greatest wisdom is to find more of Christ in every goal that we have. Courage is a necessary part of success but it can be foolishness without wisdom. 

Asking for and seeking encouragement is an important part of growing in courage. The art of growing in courage comes when we give courage away to others. We can do this by telling others about their positive qualities and encouraging them to go to Jesus when they feel needy. An important part of encouragement is to offer our own assistance when we can. It is something special when we offer a personal part of ourselves and our time to make the lives of others easier. 

Encouragement requires surrendering our thoughts, time, and a commitment of our energies. God will give us the encouragement to reach our goals, and this seems to occur more readily when we make a habit of encouraging others. We can develop courage by putting our actions behind our words. 

In many cases, actions speak louder than words. Words are cheap but actions are expensive. Actions require time and effort that reflect our commitment to others. They require an investment of our resources. 

We can grow in courage by giving courage to others. When we are willing to fight for our relationships and help others dreams come true, we are putting our words into actions. When words are actions, courage becomes real. Many people can talk a good talk, but they cannot walk a good walk. Courage is not just spoken; it is expressed in concrete actions that require an investment in others and not just us. 

Courage grows when we become focused on an objective. A focused person is more likely to be a courageous person. When we are focused, we use our time talents and energies more effectively. It also helps everyone else involved to work towards the same goal. The best way to get focused is to ask the Lord to give us His focus. This will almost always involve building the Kingdom of God in a person or an event. 

We think that focusing only involves us to be focused, but we often find the most success when we are focused on the needs of others. We often accomplish more when we are not burdened by our own expectations of ourselves. It is the Lord who gives success to us and we will find both courage and success when we keep our eyes on Him. 

Courage comes through prayer. We often do not have courage because we do not ask for it in prayer. We can build faith by doing little acts that require courage first. When we continue to pray, the Lord will give us opportunities for our faith to grow. Embrace them! As we move towards Jesus, we will have more courage. God is for us when we want to move people closer to Jesus. 

We pray not to change the mind of Christ but to have the mind of Christ for ourselves. When we learn that God is for us, we can find the courage to embrace the gift of desperation. Many great things are accomplished because we are desperate first, which leads us to Jesus, who leads us to courage, ways to express courage and then to victory. 

It opens up our minds, spirits and hearts to many things that we might not ordinarily do. Desperation is God’s mechanism to keep us out of the ruts. It is His way of inspiring us with new creativity and determination. When we are desperate, we also discover the greatness of God’s mercy toward us. In this way, desperation leads us to courage and greater opportunities for fulfillment and success. 

The enemies of courage are many. We often lack courage because we do not take the time to build courage in our lives. We wander from one goal to the next, hoping we will strike it big with little or no effort. We fail to build relationships that will help us to have courage because we are too busy thinking about ourselves. We are lacking in courage because we do not consider the will of God in our lives and we do not ask Him to help us. We lose our courage when jealousy and competition take the place of focus and commitment. We fear because we do not seek a deep and personal relationship to our Father in heaven who is author of every victory and King over all. 

We do not grow in courage because we are not vulnerable to others or to God. We have our own definitions of success and intimacy, which we do not allow to be changed. Courage falters and successes fade when we insist on putting impossible and inflexible expectations on building our own kingdoms. Courage lives and prospers when it is found in the pleasures of God rather than in the pleasures of men.