Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God, He\u00a0is<\/em> the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The world can be a scary place, no matter what stage of life you\u2019re in. We\u2019re all afraid of different things, and we all have our own ways of dealing with that fear.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One thing we all have in common, though, is a need for courage. Courage is the character trait that allows us to take on things that are bigger than we are. It comes from knowing that we have access to a power that is stronger than whatever it is we are facing. For this reason, the key to being of good courage is making sure that we know and rely upon that power.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It is one thing to believe that God can<\/em> fight the battles that are beyond our strength. But do you trust that He will<\/em>? Do you trust Him enough to keep moving forward even when it seems like a risky thing to do?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The answer to that question depends on the answer to this one. Do you believe that God wants you to succeed? I\u2019m not talking about the Joel Osteen \u201cI\u2019m-believing-God-for-a-new-Mercedes\u201d kind of success. I mean do you really believe that God DOESN\u2019T want you to fail at life? Do you believe that He knows what\u2019s best for you and has a plan to help you stay on track for that?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you do, then you have either learned or are in the process of learning that obedience is the quickest path to success.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 This means that you pray about major decisions, and even the minor ones.\u00a0 Now I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s necessary to ask God if I should order Sprite or root beer at the local diner, but I wouldn\u2019t, for example, buy a car without praying for a green light from above.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you have established and cultivated this kind of a relationship with God, then you have also learned that fear and faith can not occupy the same mind at the same time.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 So when we say we \u201clack courage\u201d or that \u201cour courage has failed us,\u201d what we really mean is that we have not been putting our faith to good use.\u00a0 Here is one way to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen (or at least happens less often).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ask Him questions about things you could typically handle by yourself and see if He leads you in a different direction. Maybe start with \u201cWhich route should I take to work today?\u201d or \u201cShould I get gas now or wait to fill up later?\u201d\u00a0 Simple routine stuff that you do all the time that doesn\u2019t really require \u201cdivine intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The point of this exercise is not for the Holy Spirit to save you 3 cents a gallon. It is to form the habit of trusting by essentially turning your life into a big game of follow the leader.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 If you trust that God won\u2019t lead you where His grace and power won\u2019t keep you, then you\u2019ll keep following until it becomes second nature.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This is particularly important for parents. Not only do our kids look to us as an example when they\u2019re young, but someday they\u2019ll be grown and won\u2019t look to us for leadership anymore. We need to do our part to make sure they have courage of their own to lean upon when they run into their own problems. So what can we do now, those of us that still have kids at home?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Fear of failure happens a lot. Please don\u2019t beat yourself up when it happens to you, as though the fear of failure were a failure in itself. Don\u2019t worry about what other people are going to think of you if you screw up. Anyone who would think badly of you for making a mistake isn\u2019t somebody you ought to be concerned about impressing anyway.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Be strong and courageous. Follow God even if nobody is following you. Acknowledge that your hands are sweaty and that you feel sick to your stomach and move forward anyway. Not everything in life is easy or fun, but with God on your team, ALL things are possible.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n God, create a pure heart in me, and renew a right attitude within me. Do not cast me from your presence; do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and let a willing attitude control me. <\/em><\/strong>Psalm 51:10-12 (ISV)<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The goal of the Christian life is not to be better than anyone else, but to be better people today than we were yesterday. When people interact with us, all they see of our lives is a snapshot. So if they have repeated interactions with us, they expect to see actions that are consistent with what we profess to believe.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, being human, we have our bad days, just like anybody else. So what\u2019s the trick to maintaining consistency? What can we do to help our spiritual progression stay on track?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Luke 6:45 reminds us:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em>(CEV)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By our words and our actions, we show the world what is really in our hearts. Therefore, it follows that if our words and actions are causing problems in our relationships, then we need to focus on the internal.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Look at the excerpt from Psalm 51 above. King David wrote this after having been busted for committing adultery with Bathsheba. If you know the rest of that story, there was a lot more than illicit sex going on there. David actually had her husband KILLED so he could get with her.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Chances are good that no one reading this is guilty of a crime that heinous (at least I HOPE not!). The point, however, is that God allows us to approach Him for forgiveness no matter how dark our sins are.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Even more importantly, notice that David is asking God to create a pure heart in him. This is not something we can do ourselves. The word \u201cpure\u201d is frequently translated \u201cclean\u201d in this passage. This is a reference to ceremonial cleanliness according to Jewish law. They had numerous rituals for making their bodies ceremonially clean, but there is nothing they, or we, could do to clean up a filthy heart.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n How great is the news, then, that God actually WANTS to clean us up from the inside out, rather than just throw us out with the trash. He knows that we need pure hearts to make our words and actions pure so that we can be useful to the world in which He has placed us.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Do you remember what it felt like when you first reported for duty in God\u2019s work? Did it feel like you were totally on fire to live out your mission? Do you still feel that way today? Maybe, but probably not.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Life has a way of dragging us down. We get distracted and weighed down by the cares of this world, and we lose our single-mindedness of purpose. If we aren\u2019t careful, we can spiral downward into depression because of our ineffectiveness in bringing change to the world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But we know that there is work that God has planned for us specifically to do. We also know that we need to finish what we start.\u00a0 What we forget is that God never intended for us to do all these things on our own.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n IF we remember to ask Him, God will straighten us out, give us the right attitude and give us the strength we need each day for the work ahead of us. As we train ourselves to rely on God to guide us internally, the world will notice the difference in our words and actions. As Jesus taught, when asked what the greatest commandment was:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jesus replied, <\/em><\/strong>\u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind.\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>This is the first and most important commandment.\u00a0And the second is like it. <\/em><\/strong>\u2018Love your neighbor as you love yourself.\u2019 Everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets is based on these two commandments.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Matthew 22:37-40 (NIRV)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When we love God with a pure heart, He gives us the courage to love our neighbors as ourselves\u00a0 . If we focus on those two things, everything else takes care of itself.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nTrust<\/h3>\n
Practice trusting God with the little things.<\/h3>\n
Making courage a habit<\/h3>\n
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Fear happens.<\/h3>\n
A Pure Heart<\/h2>\n
Psalm 51<\/h3>\n
We Finish What We Start<\/h3>\n