Courage, a gift from God

by Lucy Britten

'Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway.'

What an incredible thing courage is! I totally believe courage goes hand in hand with obedience to God, and God calls us to be obedient over and again in the Bible,

"If you will only obey me and let me help you, then you will have plenty to eat" Isiah 1:19 (New Living Translation)

"If you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs" Rom. 2:8 (Message Bible)

"See to it that you obey God" Heb. 12:25 (New Living Translation)

So, we can see just from these few verses that God needs us to be obedient, and hand in hand with this often comes fear and hopefully the courage to overcome it.

Where does courage come from? If courage is an ability to overcome or ignore fear, then it must come from God, as He promises... "...perfect love expels all fear" 1 John 4:18

But how do we become courageous? Well, the first step is to ask God. God promises we can... "...do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need" Phil. 4:13 So, now we've asked God for courage we need to use it! Is there something you've been fearful of, singing in church, reading aloud in classes at school, approaching someone to make a friendship? The work I do often means I have to daily ask for courage. There are times when the last thing I want to do is walk onto that stage, but I know beyond doubt that "...greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world"

I know that the little voice in my head telling me to run away from a frightening situation, is much quieter than Gods voice, telling me that He will give me the strength I need, telling me He'll stand beside me, and the most exciting bit-telling me that if I'm obedient He'll give me a standing ovation whatever the outcome is. Of all the promises God makes, the promise of courage to be able to do His will, is one of the most amazing. Ask God today for an extra dose of courage, and an opportunity to use it. Then just go for it and see how capable you are of changing the world bit by bit for Christ!!!