My Daily Dose of Courage

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  ( James 1:4)   Before the Lord can use us as change agents, He must first change us. God is doing a new thing in you, and “new” means something that has  never  been done before. The life of this new creature is not learned overnight. It is a beautiful and demanding work that only the Lord can carry out, and He does that work according to His will, His Spirit, and His timing. So, be still and trust Him. Let Him have His way with you. He knows what He is doing, and He knows when to do it. The saint who  "lacks nothing"  is one who is filled with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom that prepares him or her for every situation and conversation. This preparation is a sovereign work of God that is not done according to human efforts or desire; but the Lord employs times and seasons to do His work as He sees fit.   We suppose God will move according to...

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.  (James 3:1) We live in a day where many Christians have taken it upon themselves to speak in the name of the Lord. Some even call themselves apostles and prophets.  Many follow these voices, and far too often end up damaged and shipwrecked due to their lack of discernment and discipline.   The Bible warns us to be careful and to judge these men and women by their fruit. If we are filled with the Word, we will recognize the presence or absence of the Word in their teaching. If we are full of good works, we will recognize and rightly discern theirs. Every Christian must be able to wisely discern what we see and hear. Thank God for His Holy Spirit!   "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me,...

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  (Romans 14:10) Are your words kind and gracious, or are they harsh and judgmental?   The first thing God must change in us is a judgmental attitude. Are we more interested in being right than glorifying God? We can easily convince ourselves we  are  glorifying Him when we are grieving Him by demanding our rights and defending our point of view.   Truthfully, we only hear God clearly when we humble ourselves and stop insisting on winning the argument and having things our way.   Forgive us, Lord, and teach us to show others the grace You have shown us.   Let's Pray  -  Dear Lord, please forgive me for judging others and misrepresenting You. Give me Your heart for my fellow man and help me to see them as You see them. Amen.

So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead . . . (Genesis 31:25) Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. (Genesis 32:6-7)   Have you ever felt like Jacob, trapped between a rock and a hard place? And when you looked honestly at the situation, did you realize this was a bed of your own making? You cannot go back, because you have burned that bridge — and you cannot go forward, because you burned that bridge, too. This is the time when God’s man or woman finally comes to realize the folly of meddling with the steps ordained for him or her, and that our agenda has brought so much more difficulty into our lives than there had to be. ...

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”  (Isaiah 6:8)   This is the holy pattern for God’s ministers. We must not simply go but be sent – for we cannot reveal the true and living God to others until we ourselves have seen Him and receive His approval. We must not send ourselves, for it is not our interest we are standing for, but His. Isaiah understood this, and he responded with a sincere purpose to go and to glorify the God he had just seen. May it be the same for every one of us who wish to be known as servants of God. May we wait until we have seen, heard, and commissioned by the Lord before we go.   There are three witnesses of every man or woman called to the ministry — the Lord Himself, the minster himself or herself, and the elders of the church. This is the pattern in the New Testament, and it is the third requirement that is most likely to be neglected. Many are convinced th...

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.  (James 5:9-11)   Certainly, we live in tough times. But times have always been difficult, and they always will be, for we are truly pilgrims and strangers on earth. The Lord would have us to be examples and instruments of His grace and mercy amid our circumstances, whatever they are. That is what it means to be His witnesses.   Can He trust you to stand with Him well in the hard and dry season?   Endurance and perseverance are very precious attributes for the believer. They are so much more than the will to outlast our difficult seasons; they are a display of God's grace and ...