COURAGE - Keys to Success (Key 8)

INTRODUCTION:

Courage is a vital part of our lives.  Without courage we cannot move forward. I have also discovered that we need courage at every stage in life.  My daughter’s triplets just started school at the beginning of this year. It was a daunting time for them and called for great courage and bravery.  It called for great courage! Having courage is a key to success. I just wish as a youngster I would have hade more courage & trusted God more. I have lost two businesses in my life, but each time got up and started again. You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

DEFINITION:

Courage is the strength to venture, the strength to persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.  It implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty.  Other words are guts, boldness, bravery, fearlessness, backbone, fortitude, and grit.  Opposites of courage are dejection and faintness.

1. CALLED TO BE COURAGEOUS!

We are called to be strong and courageous. Each one of us has a specific purpose and destiny in God.  This destiny will not be achieved without courage and loads of it.  When God told Joshua to take the nation of Israel into the promised land, He constantly had to remind Joshua to have courage. 
Joshua 1:6 Be strong (confident) and of good courage.
Joshua 1:7 Only you be strong and very courageous.
Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:18 Only be strong, vigorous and of good courage.
In the same way we need to have courage to step into what God has for us!

2. COURAGE FAILURE

There are times in our lives when courage fails us.  These are times when we lose courage and get weak.  Courage gives us strength. Courage failure makes us weak.
2 Samuel 4:1 When Saul's son, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his courage failed, and all the Israelites were troubled and dismayed.
It is possible to have times when our courage fails us.  The loss of courage leads to being troubled and dismayed and ultimately weak.  Dismay gives way to discouragement and discouragement to despair.  Despair in turn leads to depression and depression leads to a sense of hopelessness.  'COURAGE FAILURE' is a condition that is terminal if we do not recover, pick up the pieces and go forward again.

3. OBSTACLES TO COURAGE

There are many obstacles to our courage and to a courageous way of life. I want to identify just three.
1. FEAR - Fear is a debilitating condition that robs us of our strength, resolve and courage and keeps us from possessing what God has for us.
2. DOUBT - Doubt is another little thing that has the capacity to constantly undermine and erode our confidence and determination. As a result it leads to lack of confidence in ourselves and especially in God.
3. STAYING IN THE OLD (KNOWN). - This might sound a bit strange to you but let me explain. I have run my own business for many years. Many times in my life I have been told to get out of the old (KNOWN) {box}. It is as though we want everything to be guaranteed. We want guarantees before we will move. I have discovered that in life there are no guarantees. Sometimes we must just go / move and trust God!

4. COURAGE AND BRAVERY

One of the qualities that goes hand in hand with courage is bravery.  Courage for me tends to be a bit of a philosophical concept. Bravery on the other hand makes it real. I recently watched a documentary on David Livingstone. He was a Christian Missionary, who, in the face of tremendous difficulty, went to explore Africa. At times he was sick with malaria and he still went on and was the first European to see The Smoke That Thunders, which he named the Victoria Falls. This gives courage a face and that face is called bravery.
2 Samuel 13:28 Fear not; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and brave.
Psalm 27:14 Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let you heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

5. A PICTURE OF COURAGE

I once saw a demonstration of courage. The illustration involved two chairs. The chairs were placed just far apart enough that you would not touch the one while touching the other. The one chair represented where you are and the other chair represented the future. To get from the current chair to the next, you have to let go of the current chair and move towards the next chair. The current chair may be something you are familiar with, or comfortable with - a comfort zone. The other chair can be the next thing that God has for you! Comfort zones allow us to live life without courage. Have a little bit of faith in yourself, others and God.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
I love the phrase 'LOOSEN AND RELAX OUR COURAGE'. It is something that we have to hold onto!

6. SUMMONS COURAGE!

We need to summons our courage. We need to speak to ourselves and tell ourselves to have courage.
1 Thessalonians 2:2 But though we had already suffered and been outrageously treated at Philippi, as you know, yet [in the strength of] our God we summoned courage to proclaim to you unfalteringly the good news (the Gospel) with earnest contention and much conflict and great opposition.
No matter how much you have been through and no matter how much you have faced, you need to summons, call up, your courage.
When we summons someone we call upon them to take a specified action. We must call upon our courage. It is like a well of water that is of no value if we do not draw it to the surface and use it!

7. COURAGE TO APPROACH GOD!

One of the greatest joys is the knowledge that we can approach God. As we approach God we must do so with boldness. This boldness is a form of courage and at the same time confidence. We must courageously approach God! We must not just try things on our own and only approach God if things go wrong. We must courageously approach God with every aspect of our lives!
Ephesians 3:12 In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear).

8. HOLD ONTO YOUR COURAGE

Having courage is a key to success in our lives. I once heard someone say that life is not for the faint-hearted! In a sense we have got to hold onto our courage and not allow it to slip through our fingers. Sometimes circumstances can erode our courage. We must however recognise when this happens and hold onto our courage.
Acts 27:25 So keep up your courage!
Judges 6:12 The Lord is with you, you might man of [fearless] courage.
Be courageous and go for it!

THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU,

BE BLESSED TODAY

B & C

WRITE TO US AT - P.O. BOX 423, STRAND, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 07139

Email us on: info@worshiphim.co.za

Visit us on http://www.worshiphim.co.za

CLICK HERE : TO BE ADDED TO MY MAILING LIST

CLICK HERE : IF YOU WOULD LIKE PRAYER IN THE AREA OF