All tagged Courage

Standing guard over our faith is not an occasional duty, and requires constant attention day and night. It also means that we spend long monotonous hours walking the way, and watching for something out of the ordinary to occur; something good to celebrate, or bad to defend against. If we neglect our watch, we may well find ourselves lost, and many other souls along with us. This is why the military penalty for sleeping on guard duty during wartime is death, or some severe court marshal punishment.  As Christians we are under the constant threat of attack. We are forever at war against sin... be diligent!

We want to do the will of God, and to deliver the gospel message as we have been instructed, but sometimes we are lead to very dangerous places, and told to speak; in those moments are we afraid? Fear can silence us, and yet, Jesus has said we will be protected, so what is it, and who is it, that we are afraid of? Yet even knowing His promise of protection fear can pursue us.

When things get tough regarding your faith how do you go about handling the situation? If challenged or threatened because you are a Christian do you stand by your faith, go to your prayer closet, or run away from it altogether? Not all threats are of bodily violence or death; some are merely the fear of being ostracized, made fun of, or maybe being passed over for promotion at work. Fear of ridicule and failure can be just as effective as bodily harm to the steadfastness of our faith. Are you one of the apostles that ran away, or more like Peter who denied Jesus?

When times are tough for us, or we see someone else who is struggling, how do we approach the situation; who do we turn to for help, or guidance? So often our pride gets in the way, and we cling to self-sufficiency, or we see someone without clothing, hungry, or with anywhere to sleep, and we look away hoping they will get their life in order. We do these things when in fact we should turn to Jesus for our help, and offer assistance to others as He would have us do, but this requires a couple of very basic attributes... faith, and courage. Do you have these in you?

Have you ever healed someone by praying over them? Perhaps not, but if you are a believer then someone certainly prayed with you as the confession, and contrition for your sins were lifted up, and you were healed by the acceptance of your faith... healed of the wretched sin-filled soul you once harbored, and joined with Jesus as a joint heir of God. Sickness comes in all forms, and so does healing.