COURAGEOUS
LIVES
BREAD
21 “See,
the Lord your God has given you
the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 1:21
(NIV)
7 Then
Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong
and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give
them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will
never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:7-8 (NIV)
5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the
days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never
leave you nor forsake you. 6 “Be
strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I
swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be
strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses
gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be
successful wherever you go. 8 Do not
let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be
prosperous and successful. 9 Have I
not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be
discouraged, for the Lord your God
will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua
1:5-9 (NIV)
20 David
also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do
not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord
God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the
work for the service of the temple of the Lord
is finished.” 1 Chronicles 28:20 (NIV)
8 Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the
people! 9 If we
are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and
are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It
is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God
raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is ‘the stone you builders
rejected, which has become the capstone’. 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the courage of
Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were
astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:8-13 (NIV)
BUTTER
“In an age bereft of courageous
leadership, declining biblical literacy, and rising cultural accommodation, a
faithful voice from the gospel center is needed - a voice that prophetically
speaks the ancient text to our contemporary context.” The National
Gospel Coalition
“Show the
world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee…..Be strong and very
courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the
heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might
in the midst of thy distress. The
grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a
single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on
anything discernible by the carnal eye.”
Charles H. Spurgeon
“Courage does not
always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet
voice at the end of the day saying …..‘I will try again tomorrow.’” Mary
Anne Radmacher
“Courage for
the Christian is simply doing the next right thing through the indwelling power
of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results in God’s able and loving hands. He is always faithful to give the grace sufficient
to meet each need as we need it. Courage
is faith in action – not faith in ourselves but faith in Him.” BHY
“What we need in our public officials is
not genius, not even brilliancy, so much as the exercise of the ordinary,
rather commonplace qualities of honesty, courage, and common sense -- the
qualities that make a man a good husband, a good father, a good neighbor.” Teddy Roosevelt
“The most oft repeated command in the Bible is ‘fear
not’…’do not be afraid’. Probably
because for most us we lack courage.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear. In fact, fear might be a constant
companion for the rest of your life. But
courage is an essential ingredient for those following Jesus. It is a moral value—an operating quality of
someone with a radically changed heart.
How do we get courage in the midst of all that frightens us—when the Dr.
says there isn’t anymore that can be done?
When you get a pink slip at work?
When your spouse says ‘I found someone new’? When you spend one more night in the lonely
dark? You won’t get it by your own will
power. But, by faith in the One, Jesus,
Who when faced with the most frightening of all experiences, death for our sin,
abandonment from the Father, did not run. He stayed and offered up His life for
you. When you see his courage and
believe his promise, “I will never leave you or abandon you”…you will face your
fear with courage.” Tom
Wood
“Take
courage. We walk in the wilderness today
and in the Promised Land tomorrow.” D.L. Moody
“Let us arm
ourselves against our spiritual enemies with courage. They think twice about engaging with one who
fights boldly.” John
Climacus
HEART SAVOR
· I am not to be fearful rather courageous – Jesus is on
my side. It is He Who fights the battles
for me. He himself being created, Satan’s
underlings bluff, boast and bully – they have no power against the
all-powerful, Almighty God. Jesus says
to go in His power: 18 Then
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.” Matthew
28:18-20 (NIV)
· Courage demonstrates my faith in the One Who goes
before me.
· Lord teach me to lean upon You as my Strong Fortress
and my Mighty Tower. Nothing is too hard
for You – nothing.
