My Daily Dose of Courage

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”  (2 Chronicles 20:17) If we will be still and wait on Jesus, He will fight our battles, and no enemy will be too strong for us. We must lay aside our own agenda, get into the posture of prayer and intercession, and let the Lord lead us to victory. When we are fully trusting in Jesus Christ, we will pray,  "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."   That is the prayer of a saint who is surrendered to God and positioned for victory.   There are two types of battles in the Christian life, earthly and heavenly ones. Jesus was taken up with heaven's issues, and so must it be with us. While there are an endless number of things we could be concerned with, the Lord teaches His children to focus on spiritual things ...

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 He...

“ 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; and 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 I know...

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits . . .   (Psalms 103:2) Could it be that the angst we 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 the many 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 wor...

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 live with the sweet assurance that comes from our faith in His love and sovereignty. 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. 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 things.   We should begin every day with an expression of ...

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 a firm foundation! That is a life built on the Rock of ages, and the Word tells us that saint 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 more seriously, because the Word will strengthen and uphold us when we are tested. May we be prepared to pass every test, because we hide God's Word in our hearts.   Let’s Pray...

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 more likely to transgress with our speech than our actions.   . . . 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 spiritual immaturity, and the Lord calls us to a place of deeper 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!   But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:8)   Therefore, it is a futile exercise for a saint to try to control his or her 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 abundance of the heart the mouth ...

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 itself. 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 — the freedom to please God, or license to please people or ourselves. We should choose wisely, because the consequences are real, and they are eternal.   Now that we are free, let us serve others with selfless...

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 looking 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 friends!   We 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 shine t...

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) God builds us 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 pervades 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 remarkable 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 is done  by  us, it must first be done  in  us. That is why we lift our heads to the Lord, so that the King can come in and give us the mind of Christ. Once He does, our lives take on a spiritu...

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 always behave wisely. His reputation and ours depend on it.   Our ministries are of immense 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 blameles...

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 deeds and words that will surely be aimed 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 st...