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?
General Joshua found himself before a challenge he’d never faced.
His neck must have ached from looking up at the high walls of Jericho. He knew that if he lost this battle his army would be afflicted with self-doubt and a difficult task would become nearly impossible.
That’s when God shows up with an encouragement injection.
Jos 5:13-15 “And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, “Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies’?”
He said, “Neither. I’m commander of God’s army. I’ve just arrived.” Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, “What orders does my Master have for his servant?”
God’s army commander ordered Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy.”
Joshua did it.” (The Message)
Like Joshua we must get before God until the Captain of the Lord’s army shows up. Come to Him in prayer. Pester Him. Tell Him, “Lord, if you want to have any peace in heaven, you’re going to have to listen to me. I need your help. I need your courage.”
(God already wants to help you, but He also wants to know if you really want His help).
You can count on God’s presence because He’s promised that He is for you, on your side (Joshua 1:9; Romans 8:31, 32).
We’ve got to keep our Captain before us. Remember Him (Joshua 1:8, “meditate” think about what He said over and over. Put down your cell phone a minute, get offline and think for yourself. Spend time with Him, listen to His counsel in the Word).
Some of my grandsons want to be world-shaking soccer players. They have a giant poster of Lionel Messi hanging in their room. He’s the best and it reminds them they want to be like him.
And we keep the Lord Jesus before us.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 cor. 4:16, KJV)
Act. Not knowing what to do terrifies us. Like a deer paralyzed by the headlights of a car, we freeze. When we come to God, creative ideas flood into us but we’ve got to act on them (Seven times around Jericho? C’mon.)
God told Joshua three times to “Be strong and courageous.” His people picked up the refrain and sang it to him at the end of that chapter.
Joshua listened, got a fill up of courage and acted. The enemy’s defenses toppled. He led his warriors on lightning attacks against powerful armies. They put their feet on the necks of seemingly invincible kings.
If you’re afraid, don’t turn loose. And don’t stand there paralyzed either. Hold on tight to God. Let Him strengthen you, then climb down and give the enemy a whipping.
But wait! There’s more … next week. I see your glazed eyes and I have pity on you. But think about what we’re talking about. Meditate.
Hmmm …
Courage: “My son made his mother cry, but saved hundreds of mothers from crying for their children,” Mujahid Ali, Aitzaz’s father is quoted as saying. The fifteen-year old was killed when he tackled a suicide bomber targeting his school in the Hangu area of Pakistan.
Prayer Team
The spotlight isn’t on refugees in Europe as it was but the needs are still tremendous. Pray for those Christian “first responders” who are doing an incredible job of meeting needs and showing Christ to those who desperately need to see Him.
Pray for Convoy of Hope, and organization in the vangard of helping.
I told you to pray for the church in Calais which was burnt in a criminal act. They had been involved in helping the refugees in the “jungle” of Calais, France so there would be hostility from those who hated refugees and on the other side hostility from those who hated Christians and saw the great work this church was doing.
Well, God has provided them a new meeting place and they’ve received help from the city of Calais and a lot of good publicity from the local paper. God is changing the bad to good.
Pray that God will help us get the funding we need in the new job we’re starting with Network 211. Join us in praying that thousands of French speakers in the world will come to the Lord and be integrated into local churches.
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image: pixabay.com, keijj44, Alexas_Fotos