Thursday, October 7, 2010

Message from Renee Trapp, Business Manager

COURAGE

9 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." Joshua 1:9 (New International Version)


During a particularly long stretch of bad news, a well-known television news anchorman began ending his evening broadcast with one word: Courage. After a while, his television executives told him to stop using that word. It was too discouraging.

I have heard it said that courage is not the absence of fear; it is the strength of heart to act in spite of fear. With God, courage means doing what needs to be done, believing He is alive and acting with us in all of life’s situations.

Courage is a gift from God held out to all people in Jesus Christ. Jesus tells His disciples not to be afraid when they see Him walking on the lake in the dead of night. Terrified, they think they are seeing a ghost. “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). The important words here are “It is I.” In faith, with eyes fixed on Jesus, fear is replaced by courage.

Whatever we are afraid of, whatever weighs heavy on our minds and keeps us from living confidently in the face of this world’s terrors, the words of Jesus still apply. “Take heart; it is I.”

Lord God, give me Your Spirit to do Your will all my days. Amen.

(from Portals of Prayer, October-December 2010, by Edward Arle)

2 comments:

  1. The instruction that God gives in the Bible with the GREATEST FREQUENCY is "fear not" or "do not be afraid". Maybe God is trying to tell us something?

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  2. Gotta agree. He does not intend us to fear.

    Thanks for those words, Renee.

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