Courage

A pastor and author that I’ve come to dearly love, announced it is time for him to step down from his role. He’s in his 70s and physically things aren’t going well. Tears sprang to my eyes. I’ve learned so much from him. Through the last couple of hard years his love for God and ability to teach the Bible have encouraged me more than he’ll ever know.

Courage is a scary word. To need courage implies that something is frightening or difficult or painful. In your life and mine multiple times we will need courage. Whether it’s when we’re 5 and afraid of bugs or 65 and afraid of losing a loved one – and all the in betweens – to take the next step requires courage.

The world would tell us we must find it in ourselves, or in a bottle, or in money, or in power. As I’ve read the Old Testament, I’ve seen that in Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and all the prophets the common thread was where their courage came from. As David faced Goliath he shouted: the battle is the Lord’s! The writers of the New Testament daily faced persecution – and it was ugly. Being flogged, imprisoned, tortured – still they persevered, but not in their strength.

So where does that kind of courage come from? There’s a word I love and daily try to give: encouragement. A little word that sounds like a nice thing to say. But ‘en’ means to put ‘in to’ or ‘on to’. And ‘ment’ means to put into action.

God encourages us through His Word. The Holy Spirit, residing in us, encourages us as He lives in us. And we in turn are to encourage those around us. When I’m at a low point, my friends speak truths to me. My husband assures me. And God tells me over and over He is my strength, my ever-present help in trouble, the One who goes before me – beside me – behind me.

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 NIV)

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” (2Thessalonians 16-17 NIV)

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1Thessalonians 5:11 NIV)

Whatever you’re facing today, I want to encourage you: you are dearly loved by your Creator; nothing is too hard for your Heavenly Father; the best is yet to come. For we have an eternal hope not in this world but in the One who helps up defeat lions, walk into promised lands, stand firm in our faith, and reminds us the promise of forever is the courage we need for this moment.