Morning by Morning, July 30 - Courage -- Not What to Do, but Who to Become
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your heart, as I draw near to You and You draw near to me -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
The word “courage” comes to my heart this morning. Courage of conviction. Courage to refuse to compromise. Courage to stand up and be counted, to speak up and be heard. Courage to act instead of passively waiting for someone else to act or some better time to act. Courage to quit cowering in the shadows, to quit hiding under a bushel -- covered up, shut up, and told to put up with whatever I’m told even when I know what’s wrong.
For some reason, that’s what’s on my heart this morning and it really makes me wonder, “Wow, what am I about to get into today!” Maybe it’s for today. Maybe it’s for this time. Maybe it’s for me. Or maybe it’s for all who are feeling the pressure of intimidation or control or pressure to conform regardless of what we believe or know to be right and true. No doubt those days will come and are maybe already entering into our world in ever-increasing measures (Mark 10:16-26; Matthew 24:1-51; 1 John 2:18).
But as I ponder the questions of “What do I?” and “What can I do?” You’re turning my thoughts from the questions of “What?” to the question of “Who?” and to the answer of “You.”
The most courageous thing I can do is fully surrender my heart and my mind to You. Apart from You, I can do nothing (John 15:5). Apart from You, even my most righteous deeds and courageous acts are as “filthy rags” in Your sight (Isaiah 64:6).
But I’m not apart from You. Your Spirit abides in me. Your Spirit empowers me to be courageous because Your Spirit is conforming me into the image of the Courageous One. My part is to surrender to Your part. My way is to be yielded to Your ways.
That’s why I don’t have to worry about what to say, because You’ll fill my mouth with Your words as I allow You to keep forming Your thoughts in my thoughts and Your desires in my heart, to make me more like You each day (Romans 8:29; 1 John 4:17).
Like Joshua, that’s how I can “be strong and very courageous” because the One who is “strong and very courageous” abides in me as I abide in You (Joshua 1:6: John 15:4). The same Spirit who overcame the intimidation of hell, the control of death, and the silence of the grave to raise Jesus from the dead lives in me! (Romans 8:11)
So by the power of Your grace at work within me, I will be courageous today in whatever I face. I will be “strong and very courageous” as I seek to trust and obey “the Commander of the Army of the Lord” who is rising up in my spirit to lead me and all those entrusted to me into the fullness of our inheritance in You (Joshua 5:14). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be strong and very courageous with the One who is strong and very courageous abiding in you, making you more like Him every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy & Rocio Hays
Messiah Ministries
412 S. Adams Street #148
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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