Category Archives: Courage

Low On Courage? Try These Six Ways Back To Confidence

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football-1005498_640I like those old football movies where the coach fires up his down-trodden players at halftime. The other team is up 73-0 but the coach, who resembles Ronald Reagan, restores their courage with a passionate speech.

“Win one for the Gipper!” (And everyone under 40 says, “Who is the Gipper?”)

Supercharged with energy from the speech the team explodes from the locker room and goes on to win the game 74-73.  (When you are Hollywood you can make it come out  however you want).

But, how do real-life people who love the Lord, get a refill of courage when they find themselves in a corner, trembling like a bucket of jelly?

Here are six more courage-givers.

1.         You tell yourself God’s truth over and over. Sometimes it seems all your enemies have united against you. Sickness, financial problems, relationship problems and depression cause you to want to run and hide.

But there is no place to hide. What to do?

Don’t be paralyzed by fear, Pray! Remind yourself of God’s promises, then act! You latch on to God’s word and hold on like the swordsman who grasps his sword and swings it until his hand is stuck to it.

2.         Praise God in the face of your enemies. It looked like old king Jehoshaphat was getting ready to bite the dust. His enemies united to attack him. These powerful armies threatened to destroy him. Continue reading →

Hide Your Veins When There’s a Nurse Around—Courage #2

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The other day my wife and I were at a restaurant with my daughter Christi, who is a nurse. I noticed she was looking at the veins in my arms.

“You’ve got good veins daddy.”

Kind of makes me nervous when a nurse looks at my veins like that. But, it also encourages me to think that if doctors and nurses have to get life-giving medicine into my body, they won’t have to dig around a long time.

So get your veins popping out and I’ll inject the medicine you need to get into your spirit so that you can get healed from paralyzing fear. Why is it important? Think about this story.

One of my friends told me about an experience his father had when the father was a little boy. The youngster climbed a tree and was afraid to come down. He yelled for his mother.

She came out on the porch of the house, saw him, and with a disgusted looked turned and went back into the house.

The family lived in the country and undoubtedly the little one had been impressed by hunters shooting game out of trees. For some reason he thought his mother was going into the house to get the hunting gun in order to shoot him out of the tree. (She wasn’t).

The little fellow was so scared he turned loose of the tree and endured a tooth-jarring collision when he hit the ground.

Sometimes fear makes you do irrational things. That’s one of the reasons why you need to be en-couraged.

So David, let’s continue the conversation we started last week. Tell me. How do you get courage when your courage tank is empty? Continue reading →

God’s Powerful Source of Courage When You’re Afraid

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Sometimes we’re all lacking courage

When I’m facing something I dread, I don’t like to go to bed. Why is it that a courageous lion goes to sleep and a shivering puppy wakes up at 2:30 am? 

I’m not at my best in the middle of the night. Reason leaves and fear or anger or whatever my reaction du jour is, against whatever I’m facing, takes over.

My problem swells from a small stream to an uncrossable river.

Once I had to do something I dreaded. I don’t know why it bothered me so much because I had done similar things many times. This one scared me, though.

I began to wake up in the middle of the night with anguish attacks. I fought it. I prayed and cried out to God for help.

One night I woke up with a snatch of a song I didn’t know, running over and over in my spirit. I honestly believe the Holy Spirit was singing it inside me.

“You are faithful, God you are faithful.” Night after night when I woke up to the taunting of fear, this phrase from my song  repeated itself over and over. “You are faithful, God you are faithful.”

God took care of the situation and I lived (evidently). But what stuck with me was the fact that God gave me a song to replace my dread. 

I suspect I’m not the only one who ever dealt with night fears. Listen to the this testimony written over 2500 years ago.

“The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life.”  (Psalm 42:8)

Courage. So often I lose it. God is the fear fighter in my life, though. He gives me the promises of His Word. He strengthens my heart when I buck up to face my fear. He sings for me: “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah (Ps. 32:7, NKJV)  Continue reading →