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Topic: Choosing Courage May 18th, 2015
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Rose Cowen
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Joined: 09/28/2014
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Posted: 05/19/2015 at 11:28pm
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Choosing Courage
May 18th, 2015
By Lonnie Crowe
Several years ago, I was ministering in the Philippines. Part of our ministry took us on a catamaran to a nearby island. When we left, the tide was in, and we easily stepped from the dock onto the boat and sailed away. When we returned in the evening, the tide was out, and our boat sat about ten feet below the dock. Our only egress was a rickety ladder sitting precariously in the rocking boat. I don’t normally like to climb short, firmly grounded ladders, so I definitely was not comfortable with the thought of climbing this ladder.
Discouragement settled over me. Suddenly, through my spirit and out of my mouth came “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). One of the men holding the ladder gave me a hand, and I went up that ladder like a seasoned sailor. Courage came when I knew that I didn’t have to do it in my own strength.
In our difficult world, we are surrounded, bombarded and often overwhelmed with discouragement. Negativity fills the airwaves, the newspapers and the coffee klatches. A spirit of discouragement has attached itself to many people, even believers.
The spirit of discouragement can be so oppressive that we may neglect to cry out to the Lord for encouragement. We may also be so distraught that we do not recognize the encouragement when it comes.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines encourage as:
to make (someone) more determined, hopeful, or confident; to make (something) more appealing or more likely to happen; to make (someone) more likely to do something : to tell or advise (someone) to do something.
These definitions are all about doing something. They miss the mark by not telling us what we need in our lives in order to do something. In order to chop down the tree of discouragement, we need to lay the axe to the root.
The root word of “encourage” is “courage.” In other words, if we want to be encouraged, we must be filled with courage. The Lord spoke to Joshua as he was stepping into the role of leadership after the death of Moses: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).
God does not want us to be afraid. Fear tries to rob us of courage, and it is the fear that we need to lay the axe to. We fear tomorrow. We fear the unknown. We fear because we lack understanding. We fear because we perceive that God has distanced Himself from us.
Believers, however, are called to be Joshuas in this world. God has commanded us to be strong and of good courage. The word translated as courage has many synonyms. In the Hebrew, to be courageous is to be strengthened, established, strong, fortified, and obstinate.
Courage is the strength to overcome in spite of fear. Courage is being established in the truth of the Word of God. Courage produces strength and fortification. Courage enables us to stand firmly for the Lord. We need encouragement.
I find that cliche expressions like “Remember, God is in control,” “Everything will be alright,” “Everything happens for a purpose,” or “It will all work out in the end” feel frustrating and trite. I know that the speaker's intent is to encourage, but the intent does not bring forth the desired fruit.
When people are discouraged, instead of all the conventional expressions, can we say, “I’ll go with you,” “What can I do that will help,” or “How can I pray for you?” That’s what God has promised us—that He will never leave us or forsake us. We must stand and not forsake either ourselves or others around us.
In the Word of God, we will find words that dispel fear and fill us with courage. Speaking forth the Word causes courage to resonate on the air waves. Declaring the Word allows us to anoint ourselves and others with courage. Meditating on the Word—allowing that truth to become part of our spiritual DNA—enables us to move forward in boldness.
Make a list of encouraging scriptures and hide them in your heart through memorization and meditation. The Holy Spirit will call them to your remembrance in the midst of discouragement.
Consider these words: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Encouragement comes in realizing that the spirit of fear, the discouragement that we feel, has not come from God. Instead, God has given us the strength in Him to overcome that fear. We don’t have to face it alone. We face it in the power and love of God. Our relationship with Him brings us into a sound mind.
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Encouragement is actually a choice. Let’s open our hearts to the encouragement of the Lord, so that we may encourage ourselves and others.
Lonnie Crowe
Lonnie Crowe
Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe is a native Wyomingite and a veteran high school English teacher and college writing instructor. She now pastors Rhema Fellowship Church in Torrington, Wyoming. You can follow her blog at pastorlonnie70.blogspot.com.
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Kimberly Fowler
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Joined: 11/09/2012
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Posted: 05/20/2015 at 10:21am
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Something that God has really placed strongly in my heart lately as a rhema word is the scripture Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
God has been putting in my spirit the "finality" of His Word. When He speaks something, He establishes it, He brings it to pass! And so when He showed me Romans 8:38 in a deeper way, He impressed so strongly on my heart that it did not matter what the devil tried to do or even seemed to get away with for a time, God would turn it around and use it for my good, for my best purposes in God. So I saw something bad that was happening and I was able to tell my mother that I understand why we thank God for everything (even the bad stuff), we are not glad for the bad things, but we are already looking forward in faith to what God is going to bring out of it and thanking Him for THAT! God put that scripture so strong in me recently that it is reverberating inside of me. It does not matter WHAT happens, God's Word says that God will make it good and He will! There is a faith that is rising in God's Word and in what He says. And so I am looking at even "negative" things that happen to me and thinking, "Glory to God, He is going to use this for my good in Him. The outcome to how He will work it is a mystery, but there is the confidence in my spirit, that because HE SAID SO, HE WILL DO IT!
And that has become an encouragement in the midst of negative things, knowing that God will use those very things in a positive way to bring something good out of it!
We see that even in nature where God has given men wisdom to take bad things and bring something good even through those things...polio vaccines and immune serums being an example, using where one person has gotten sick but turning it around and through it bringing healing to a lot of others!
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