Courage: The Strength We Don't Have

            Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

            What is courage? Courage can be defined as The strength that God gives to us, so that we can endure any trouble or difficulty that we encounter. Courage is such an under-appreciated concept. Many would consider courage a character trait, I would rather think of it as a gift from our loving God.

            Whether you're a believer in Jesus Christ, or not, no one can deny that, in short, this life is hard. Thousands of discouragements come up daily, we have the constant temptation to just give into the weakness that is inevitable. We, as humans, don't like weakness; we want to be strong and noticed by all. But when the issues of life leave us weak, how do we react? Do we turn to the pleasures of this world? Or, do we throw ourselves into the arms of our loving God?

            When difficulty arises we need strength to fight, not only the difficulty, but the weakness that ensues. We need a strength that we don't have. Well, if we don't have that strength we might as well just give in because we can't fight it anyways, right? Wrong, we must call upon our merciful and loving God to help us. The way He helps us is by giving us courage; courage being, the strength that He has, which He gives to us.

            So what do we have to do to gain this courage? Become empty. Christ is strongest in our greatest weakness. When we allow Him to mold and use us for His purposes we become like a rock it the rain, never faltering, never frightened.

            Jeremiah 50:34 "Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon." Let God fight the battle through you. We often would like to imagine God as our weapon against the enemy. Rather, we are God's tools to build His kingdom.

            Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”   If we are patient and truly trusting in God, he will help us. He will give courage to those that need it. But not only courage, He gives Himself to us. A. W. Tozer, a famous theologian once said, "An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others."

            Nehemiah 4:20 “Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!" Our God is our strength. He will fight for us because we are His children and He loves us. What courage we should have with that knowledge! An all-powerful, all knowing, ever present God, fighting for us! That knowledge is courage enough for the difficulties that we encounter. 
            So, the courageous mindset is not, "I can endure anything." Rather, the courageous mindset is just like the title of this blog, “This situation is too big for me. Just give me Jesus. With His strength I can endure this trial.” Our prayers, in difficulty or not, need to be Just Give Me Jesus. If He is all that we desire then the courage that we need will not be necessary, because if Jesus is all we desire, then He is strong enough to fight the fight for us, and through us.








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