Tag: Strong and courageous

Wrapping Up: Courage

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Hope everyone has had a week full of opportunities for sharing your courage and strength. Today, let’s look at four sources of courage. To help review and reflect, you are going to match verses with their locations in the Bible and then fill in the blanks to complete the verse. You can write the letter of the correct verse on the line beside the Scripture. All of the Scriptures are from the NIV.

Courage Friday Matching
We looked at many verses this week to teach us about being strong and courageous as we rely on God and His infinite power. Try to sit aside a few minutes over the next few days and reflect on what these verses mean to you and how you can apply them to your daily walk.

Enjoy your weekend and the blessings from God in your life. See you on Monday when we explore our next Strength from the Scriptures topic: Kindness.

Kim_OvalFor those of you that would like to print out the matching activity,  click the link for a downloadable version: Courage Matching Reflections,

 

Strength from the Scriptures: Courage

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How is your week going? Are you feeling strong and courageous after our talk on Monday? Have you noticed displays of courage around you – or with you?  Today we’re going to look at some displays of strength and courage from the Bible. Let’s look at Joshua, David, Daniel, Peter, and Paul and circumstances they faced.

In Joshua 1:6-7, God’s gives Joshua direction to be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the laws my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. God’s plan to give His people the land He has promised them now included Joshua leading them. What a huge task! But Joshua was not alone. God gave instructions to guide him:

Lead the people to the land

Be strong

Be very courageous

Obey all the laws Moses gave

Do not turn to the right or left

Following these instructions from God would insure Joshua’s success – IF Joshua followed them.  Is it always easy to follow God’s instructions? Joshua faced challenges but God gave him the keys to success.

Can you tell who is involved in this situation by reading 1 Samuel 17:32? David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Who was the Philistine that David was talking about? Young David was willing to fight Goliath and confident of victory because of his faith that God would be with him. What an example of faith and courage!

What about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They had the strength and courage to speak to King Nebuchadnezzar and tell him that they would not serve the gods of that land or worship the image of gold he had set up. (Daniel 3:18) Have you ever needed to speak to a supervisor at work or someone in a role of authority? Did you feel a little (or a lot) nervous? To me, this makes what these young men did even more courageous!

When I read Acts 5:29, I am amazed at the courage of the apostles when they are brought before the Sanhedrin and questioned about returning to Jerusalem to teach about Christ after being ordered not to. Peter replies: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” They had already seen what had happened to Jesus, but were still had the courage to stand up and state that they MUST obey God and not man. This makes me think of living in the world today and how difficult it can be to obey God and follow His teachings opening. Christians are so often persecuted in different ways – from social media comments to physical acts of violence. It still takes being strong and very courageous and not turning to the left or right but staying on the straight path God has given us.

Later in Acts, we see Paul that responded to those not wanting him to return to Jerusalem because they feared for his safety. He said: “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13) How many of us are willing to die for the name of the Lord Jesus? Can you think of anyone in your lifetime that has died for Christ?

Let’s revisit our memory verse: Psalm 27:14: Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Think about different situations that you have experienced or witnessed where courage had to be shown. Did faith in God’s power increase after those situations? Could those situations and their resolutions showing strength and courage be used to teach others about God, the Scriptures, and Christ?

I hope to see you on Friday to reflect on these talks about courage and to explore sources of courage in God’s Word. Which verses do you think we’ll focus on?

Kim_Oval

Reflecting on the Scriptures: Courage

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Be strong and courageous. How does reading those words make you feel? Do you know where find the verse in the Bible that includes those words? Yes, that’s a trick question. 🙂 This phrase is actually found in numerous places in the Scriptures – both in the Old and New Testaments. After reading all of these verses, I decided that Psalm 27:14 would be our memory verse for this week: Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Courage MV

Let’s break this verse into four sections:

  1. Wait for the Lord
  2. Be strong
  3. Take heart
  4. Wait for the Lord.

How interesting that the verse begins and ends with the same four words: Wait for the Lord. Do you like to wait? Usually, waiting is not something that I want to do, but sometimes God wants and needs us to wait. Let’s look at three passages from the Scriptures to begin our look at courage.

In Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, Moses shared words from God with the Israelites. We read: “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.” Then Moses spoke to Joshua in front of all of Israel and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.” What a challenge to give to Joshua! I wonder how Joshua felt.

Do you think the Israelites were afraid? Is that why Moses reminded them that God would never leave them or abandon them. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been terrified? What caused the fear you felt? These words from Deuteronomy should encourage us in times that we are afraid. If we have faith that God is always with us, doesn’t it make it easier to feel courageous in times of fear? Remember what Psalm 23:4 says? Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Shouldn’t we be able to say:

I will fear no evil.
I will have courage.
I will be strong.
I can do this because God is always with me.

In 2 Chronicles 32: 7-8, King Hezekiah told the Israelites to be strong and courageous even though they were in the midst of a war with Assyria. Assyria had a great army, but the Israelites were reminded that there was a greater power with them than with Assyria. Assyria only had a human army but Israel had God to help them and to fight their battles. We are told that the people gained confidence from these words. God is always with us as we fight our battles today. Do we always show the confidence we should knowing that God is with us?  How can we build that feeling of confidence? Studying God’s Word? Walking our daily walk with God? Surrounding ourselves with others that are walking in God’s Light?

Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight. (2 Samuel 10:12) David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men and sent some against the Ammonites and the others against the Arameans. Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans and put the rest of the men under the command of his brother, Abishai, to fight against the Ammonites. Joab told Abishai to be strong and to fight bravely, and most importantly, that God will do what is good in His sight. God has a plan and is in control. How often do we think that we know what is best for us and expect God to take care of it? God will take care of us – in His way and in His time. We must learn to wait. (Yes, there’s that “wait” word again!)

We may not want to wait or delay our expectations. Immediate gratification is not always in God’s plan. What we must always remember is that God is always with us. Knowing that, we can be strong and courageous in all challenges that we face – big and small. My challenge for you this week is to examine the challenges in your life. Hod did you show courage and strength? How did you lean on God? Then look around you and see the challenges that others are facing. How can you help them be strong and courageous and to have confidence in God’s power?

See you on Wednesday when we will discuss circumstances that require courage – in Bible times and today. Remember to work on our memory verse!

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Kim