My Daily Dose of Courage

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) A man is not defined by his circumstance, but how he responds to that circumstance. We don’t always get to choose where we find ourselves, but we do get to choose what we do once we get there. Left or right, back or forward, up or down, in or out, etc., are the choices ever before us. But for the saint, the choice is far simpler — will we come to God, will we come now, will we come on His terms? Spiritual maturity is determined entirely by how quickly and consistently we come to Jesus. When we are mature, we come not just to tell Him our troubles, but to truly surrender our will. That is the ultimate test of devotion — will I surrender? He is not my Lord until I do. All my hard work and sincere efforts may well be the sign that I’ll do anything but simply humble myself and come to Jesus. Children come when they are called, and God is calling. Are you His child? Then come. Let's...

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.  (Isaiah 40:31) If we will be still, God will show us what He sees. To  “mount up”  means we get a heavenly perspective, then we are refreshed and encouraged by the things He reveals. It is certain the Lord has the whole world in His hands, and nothing escapes His notice and interest. The saint who understands this goes about life with the energy of the Spirit, the Lord’s vitality, and joy. That is the blessed assurance that marks those who have learned to wait on God. Waiting on God is not putting our feet up until the Lord makes His next move. It is the choice to believe He will bring all good things to pass in their time; and in the meantime, we serve Him with vigor. Waiting on God is not like waiting on anyone or anything else. It means carefully and patiently working out our salvation while ...

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."  (Exodus 20:12) Before we ever learn to honor our Heavenly Father, we must first make the decision to honor our earthly parents; and it is a  decision . Honor is an action word, and it must display solemn reverence, godly fear, and heartfelt affection. Regardless of how you feel about your upbringing or your relationship with your parents, the decision to honor them is as beneficial as any you will ever make. Long life and blessing are promised to you, as you honor them. God always keeps His word, so be sure to take the Lord up on His commandment and His promise. We should honor our parents' memory, even if they are no longer living. If they are still with us, we should show them respect as the Lord commands. We must be sure to model this type of behavior for our children, for they will follow our example, and we will reap what we sow. Everyone ...

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits . . .   (Psalms 103:2) Could it be that the angst we too often experience is related to being ungrateful? It is a good practice to recount the things and people for whom we are thankful, and to do so often. When we express heartfelt thanks, we will always find it to be a relief to our souls. I defy you to be worried and unhappy after you spend just a few minutes remembering all the ways the Lord is blessing you. Start with the fact that your heart is beating today without interruption and go from there. Read Psalm 103 and begin to count all His benefits in your life. Lift your hands and bless the Lord right now. I encourage you! A grateful heart is a healthy one, and it is keenly aware of God's goodness, no matter the circumstance. We all could afford to say,  "Thank You, Jesus,"  more often. It shows that we recognize the Lord's exquisite care and His loving attention to every detail of our lives...

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  (1 Corinthians 6:19) Solomon’s temple was an architectural, artistic, engineering wonder, and the Lord blessed it with His glorious presence. Yet, one Spirit-filled saint is more magnificent and significant than Solomon's ancient temple. When we are saved,  we  become the temple of the Holy Spirit; and we, likewise, are blessed with God’s glorious presence in a way a building could never be. If the ancient temple was set apart for worship and praise to God, how much more your body and mine? Since we have freely received the Holy Spirit, let Him freely use us to glorify our Father for all to see. Once we are saved, we no longer belong to ourselves, but to God. We are saved to glorify Him by living according to the Spirit given to us when we believed. The Spirit of God is after one thing only, and that is the life of Jesus Christ working i...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  (Proverbs 9:10)  When we truly fear the Lord, it is impossible to fear anyone or anything else. As our faith grows, we find peace and safety through a strict and unwavering respect, reverence, and obedience to every word He speaks to our hearts. Once we receive God on those terms, we will live our lives with the sweet assurance that comes from our faith in His love and His sovereignty over all things. Now we can begin to live wisely; and the wise saint fears God, and God alone. So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  (Hebrews 13:6) To know God is to trust Him in every circumstance. Once we draw close to Him, our confidence will increase, as His peace pervades the atmosphere around us. He pours out spiritual wisdom when we seek Him and ask for it, and we begin to receive and share His perspective on...

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.   (Psalm 119:11) The Psalmist tells us he has hidden the scriptures in the deepest recesses of his heart and mind. Therefore, when he reaches into the essence of his being, he will find grace and faith in God and His Word, and that is the foundation of his life. His life is built on the Rock of ages, and the Word tells us he can never be moved.  What is your life built on?  Have you hidden God’s Word in your heart?  The life founded on God's Word is one that will withstand the storms that are sure to come. Every temptation and trick of the devil will fail miserably when our response is scripture -- chapter and verse! It is imperative that we take the work of reading, memorizing, and obeying God's Word  seriously ; because the Word will strengthen and uphold us when we are tested. May we be prepared to pass every test, because we are sure to hide God's Word in our hearts. ...

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.  (Psalm 141:3) The tongue possesses tremendous power; so much so, that we are much more liable to transgress with our speech than our actions. James instructs us,  “. . . let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”  (James 1:19) Rash speech in a saint is an indication of an undisciplined spirit, and the Lord calls us to a place of greater understanding regarding our words. He is looking for those He can trust to speak with wisdom and grace, and He is looking for that wisdom and grace in you! James 3:8 says,  But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  Therefore, it is a futile exercise for a saint to try to control his speech. Our speech is not simply a matter of words, or it would be easy to alter the things we say. No, our speech is a matter of the heart, and it clearly reveals our heart's condition;  "For out of the abu...

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  (Galatians 5:13) There is a difference between liberty and license. Liberty is freedom to live in a way that pleases the Lord, while license uses that freedom to satisfy oneself. Liberty is ours because Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin and death, and He has given us the power to live righteously --  "Go and sin no more."  License, on the other hand, is the exercise of our right to set our own standard and pursue our own end. Yet, the scriptures warn the licentious man --  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death  (Proverbs 14:12).  The choice is ours, freedom or license. We should choose wisely, because the consequences are real, and they are eternal. Now that we are free, let us serve others with selfless joy! Jesus has made us free to bear the peaceable fr...

Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart;  (Psalm 15:1-2) We must first be honest with ourselves before we can be so with God or anyone else. Integrity and good works are the clearest signs that we are being truthful, and that is what the Lord looks for and expects from anyone seeking to draw near. Any dishonesty in our hearts whatsoever will keep us distant from the Lord, and our relationship to Him will remain shallow and impotent. On the other hand, when we are honest and truthful, we stand before God as children in whom He finds no fault, and He calls us His friends! Each of us must remain open to the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit, if we are to walk closely with the Lord. God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all -- and so must it be with us. Our outward life should match the inner workings of God; and if He is working inside us, His light will...

Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.  (Psalms 24:7) We are built by God to look up, to lift our heads and look to Him for our blessings and provision. We are to keep our eyes on heaven, where He dwells and rules supreme. When we lift our cares to the King of glory, He invades our world with His peace and power. So be lifted up today, and the King shall come in! We most likely think God wants us to accomplish great things, but that is not true. He prefers to pour His power and grace through us in the most ordinary ways. If He cannot trust us to sweep the floor well, how can He trust us with weightier matters? How can He trust us with souls? Before any work of spiritual significance can be done  by  us, it must first be done  in  us. That is why we lift up our heads to the Lord, so that the King can come in and sit on the throne of our hearts. And once He does, our lives take on ...

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.  (2 Corinthians 6:3) The Christian worker must avoid any speech or action that interferes with preaching the Gospel. The Good News travels best when the messenger is one of godly and unassailable character, for that saint provides a clean vessel for the the Holy Spirit to do the work of the ministry. Jesus trusts His servants to behave wisely at all times. His reputation and ours depend on it. Our ministries are of great importance to God, and we must be sure not hinder it with fleshly behavior. When we draw attention to ourselves, we stand in the way of the Lord's free-flowing grace, and we divert His glory to ourselves. Therefore, the Lord gives us His Holy Spirit to gently correct every deed and word that might cause someone to stumble. As careful and watchful as we may be, only the Spirit can cleanse our hearts and open our eyes to these things. When we are one with Him, we will walk blamelessly be...

Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him. It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day.”  (2 Samuel 16:11b-12) How we handle unfair and harsh treatment says everything about our faith in God. Do we trust that He sees and knows all, and He will reconcile all things in due time? If so, we will be able to withstand the fierce words that will surely be hurled our way if we walk with Christ. The world hated Him, and it will also hate us, if we are in Him. We can be certain that God is good, and He will vindicate us in time. But for now, let it be. There is grace for every difficulty we face, if we put it all in God's hands. The world is full of injustice, and if we say,  "I will never put up with that!"  we rob God of the opportunity to teach us and purify our faith. Jesus tells us to bless those who curse us, feed our enemy when he's hungry, and to overcome evi...

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1) The Lord has given us sound minds and faculties; and most importantly, He has given us His Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are responsible for what we believe and who we receive. The Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom and discernment to know what is and what is not from the Father, and we can never be fooled if we harken to the Spirit and the Word of God. If we test them, every spirit that is not of God will fail that test -- every time. Far too often, we harken to voices that entertain us and appeal to us, that tell us what we want to hear, that agree with us and our sense of right and wrong. Yet, the Spirit of the Lord will never witness of anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ. The men and women God speaks through will never draw attention to themselves or their cause, but to Jesus and Him crucified. That is the...

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.  (Psalms 37:23) Does the Lord delight in you and the life you live? Do your speech and behavior glorify Him? Would the people who know you best call you godly and Christ-like? Your steps (character) must be shaped and ordered by God, and if He is ordering your steps, you are a picture of what it means to live a life pleasing to God. If anyone wants to know what God’s will is, they should be able to look at you and your “steps.” Think and pray about this for a moment. I often hear teachers speaking about God's plan, the will of God, or the purpose of God. They sometimes speak this way as it pertains to some destiny or preferred outcome in our earthly lives. The Bible never speaks that way. God is not preparing us for anything to come on earth -- He's preparing us for heaven! If we are prepared for heaven, we need not be overly concerned about anything else. The Lord will care for those t...

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.  (Romans 13:1-2) The very concept of law is God’s idea, not man’s. Our Lord saw the need for governance and order, and He created the entire universe with that in mind. His desire is for us to obey His commands  and  the laws of the society in which He places us, so that we might be a blessing and a godly witness to everyone who observes the way we live. When God’s perfect law of liberty is in our hearts, we will have no problem submitting to the laws of the land. God is not asking us to ignore or partner with unrighteousness in civil government. However, He expects us to respect those same authorities and to pray for them, while being healthy and productive members of our communities. His rig...

Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.  (Psalm 63:4) The lifting of our hands is an act of acknowledging someone greater than ourselves. It is a surrender to a superior person or power, and a sign that we offer our very selves to that person as an act of worship and surrender. Witness the scenes of worship to God in the Book of Revelation -- the numerous references of lifted hands and voices praising the King. True worshipers are a people with their hands lifted up to God, and we too, must be sure to lift our hands -- today. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  (James 1:17) It is clear that everything good on earth comes down to us from God. Therefore, the only good thing that rises up to God from us is our praise and our worship -- our lifted hands. We will find that every time we lift our hands and glorify our Lo...

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”  (John 11:40) The glory of God is all around us, but it can only be seen with the eyes of faith -- eyes fixed on Jesus. God's glory works on a level beyond our natural senses, and we will never truly appreciate all He is and all He does until we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This belief is far beyond some intellectual assent to the historical or religious Jesus presented by men, but a complete surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords presented by the Father. Then, and only then, will we see the glory of God! We can only see God's glory if we believe fully in the one He sent, and when we believe, He establishes His rule in our hearts. When we come to Him with every care, fear and doubt will be as far from us as east from west. The Lord is glorified when we take Him at His Word, and He rewards every step we take toward Him in faith. Her...

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  (Mark 9:23) Never divorce Jesus’ words from His person. He is not saying all things are possible if we believe they are, but all things are possible if we believe in  Him ! We are not to believe in the power of our faith, our words, or our most sincere convictions (as some erroneously teach), but in the power of our God. The meaning of the Christian life is found in our relationship to God in Christ and nowhere else. When our faith is rooted and grounded in Him, we will ask, expect, and receive according to that faith. Then, Jesus says,  “All things are possible.” The saint placing all his cares on Jesus is the rarest thing, but the most precious thing to God -- and Jesus would have us put everything aside but faith! That is the work we are called to do -- to believe, especially when believing is difficult. We sometimes find believing hard, because we are seeking thing...

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  (1 Peter 4:12-14) We tend to think we are doing well when things are going well, but that may not be true at all. God often employs hard lessons to get what He's after in us. Trouble has a way of bringing our attention to things lying just beneath the surface of our complacency, so He uses them to get our attention and retrain our focus. Blessings never draw us closer to God; but we learn to walk with Christ through the hardships He allows, and we enter into true fellowship with Him through the things we suffer. Even Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8), and if we desire t...

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  (Galatians 6:9. KJV) It takes a tremendous amount of spiritual vigor to live victoriously in Christ. To be sure, our most noble deeds will go unnoticed by men, because God works mostly in the realm of the hidden things of the heart, not the showy things of the world. God determines the “due season” when we will reap the reward coming to the faithful. Until then, we must possess our souls with patience and perseverance, refusing to give up, give out, or give in to our flesh, the world, or Satan. We shall surely reap, if we don’t faint. Stay the course, beloved. Your reward awaits. Our faith must develop to the point where we refuse to capitulate to the doubts and fears that once defeated us. We are not to be overwhelmed by our present hardships, but our focus is on the eternal weight of glory that is ours when we endure. We may not understand all God is doing at the moment, but ...

Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go . . .   (Proverbs 22:24) An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.  (Proverbs 29:22) Experiencing anger and being an angry person are two different things. We all get angry at times, and that is natural. On the other hand, the demonic spirit of anger seeks to take up residence in our hearts and looks to distort our thoughts and actions in hurtful and destructive ways. Ask God to reveal the places anger has taken root in you; and when He does, uproot it with confession and repentance. Then ask Him to reveal and remove the influence of angry folks and spirits in your life. The Lord wants to set you free from the power of anger, angry people, and angry spirits -- today. Nothing good or redemptive comes from our anger, and we must not allow our testimony to be affected by the bitterness that consumes so many. Our Lord invites us to bring Him those angry feelings...

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  (James 4:4) A friend of God will never submit to the authority of any other spirit, nor will he bow down at the shrine of success, popularity, or acceptance. Those things are an affront to the Lord and worthless to His disciples. God's friend fears Him only, while refusing to cower before men or adhere to world's standards. The victorious saint knows the kingdom, and the power, and the glory are the Lord's; and that triumphant saint is, first and foremost, a friend of God. God will never compete with anything or anyone for our love and worship, for no one or nothing compares to Him. He is searching for those who have turned away from earthly cares and pleasures. He is searching for those who have responded to the Good News by believing and receiving the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. He...

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus Christ is the only Man who can afford to remain the same. Only in Him do we find human perfection, for He alone is without sin. Jesus was, Jesus is, and Jesus is coming soon -- and accordingly, it behooves us to give Him our past, present, and future. Let us be changed and conformed to the image of Him who will never change. That is the challenge and standard for every child of God. Jesus is the blessed assurance of God. He will never forsake us, never grow weary, never cease being who He is. " I AM!"  Everything we are and everything we believe as Christians stands on the fact that  HE IS , and the realm of the seen and unseen is founded on that truth. His "is-ness" is the solid rock upon which we stand, and He is the only one we can depend on in these turbulent times. So, look to Jesus, for He is consistently and relentlessly holy and true. That is what Hebrews 13:8 means, an...

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  (Colossians 1:9, KJV) It is doubtful that God will fill us when our lives are already full and our minds already made up, nor will He lift up a life we won't lay down. The Lord searches for saints who will gladly empty themselves, that He might fill them with His Spirit. Once we put our agenda away, our ideas of ministry and church, our viewpoint, and our need to promote and protect anything of ourselves, God can fill us with His wisdom and understanding. Are you empty enough to be filled? There are liable to be a host of things we believe about God which are not true, because they are not found in His Word. Our systems, doctrines, and convictions about God often have nothing to do with who He really is. The knowledge of His will never rises from our efforts or studies, but it co...

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.   (James 5:16) There is remarkable healing power in talking to a trustworthy friend about our sins, faults, and failures. Confession brings us the freedom that enables us to move forward with our lives, because it brings the hidden things of darkness to light, where they lose their power. Remember, Jesus died for our sins, and if we believe, we are forgiven and set free from every one of them. Therefore, it’s not the sins we commit that are the most grievous, but the sins we hide! So, tell someone. Today. Churches are filled with Christians who remain burdened with unconfessed sins. They do not realize their silence is their prison, and they can never be free to lift their hands in victory until they lay their sin-burden down at the feet of Christ. Once we come to realize the power of confession and intercession, we will ...

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  (John 15:7-8) The abiding presence of Jesus Christ must be clear and evident in the life of a saint. We are no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of thought and emotion, but we are planted and grafted into the vine which springs from the heart of God. We are called beyond a casual acquaintance and into the confidence of our Lord, Who is willing and able to make us holy, because He is holy. This is the hope every child of God clings to -- the Father’s abiding love. Where Christ abides, there is peace -- and we never truly know if we possess that peace within until there is trouble all around us. Our response in those seasons tell us everything about our relationship with the Lord. When we are abiding in Him, we will glorify God through it all by the power of our faith. We wil...

But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' for whatever is more than these is from the evil one.  (Matthew 5:37) Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.  (Colossians 4:6) Your words should be spoken more and more carefully, for the Lord will judge you by them. Jesus is saying,  “If you say it, you must do it . . .”  If we do as we say, we are honest. If not, we are liars and hypocrites, and no Spirit-filled saint is either of those things. Be careful, because your speech affirms or betrays you! Our words possess more power than we think. Therefore, a mature Christian is a careful talker, who displays that maturity by speaking wisely. There are no frivolous conversations for saints, because others may live or die spiritually by the fruit of our lips. We have been given the profound privilege of speaking in a manner pleasing to the Lord, and we have been given the ...

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  (1 John 4:18) In the Bible, the term “perfect” always refers to the Lord. It speaks of completeness, wholeness, health, preparedness, and holiness. None of these things can be accomplished in a saint without the Lord, for He is the only One who can do a "perfect" work in us. When we are abiding in a loving relationship with Him, His abiding presence makes fear impossible. His strength fills and comforts us, and our faith grows in the face of all opposition. We can laugh at the taunts of Satan, because the heart filled with love has no space for fear! Where there is fear, there is an absence of love. Where there is love, there is God, for He  is  love; and where He is, there can be no fear. The Lord will not share His place in our hearts with the devil, so we either walk with God in the fullness of faith, or we don't wal...