Be Courageous

Courage as defined in the dictionary is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain etc., without fear. This definition will give you a better understanding of why Courage with all his courage was known as Courage the Cowardly Dog (for those that watched cartoons in the same time period as I did).

As Christians, courage and faith go hand in hand. Courage is what will make you act outwardly on what you see inwardly (Bishop T.D. Jakes); sounds like one of the key ingredients for faith, right? In the book of Joshua, the first chapter, God told Joshua to be courageous four different times. Why? The things God wanted to achieve through Joshua were great and mighty things and in order to achieve those things, Joshua needed courage. Courage to go where he had never been before. Courage to go from a P.A. to the CEO. Courage to take over the mantle of leadership from a man as great as Moses and take his people where they had never been before. As such, God needed to admonish him, not once, not twice but four times; and that was just in Joshua 1. Flip back to Deut. 31, Moses admonished the children of Israel to be strong and of good courage, then he turned to Joshua and admonished him to be strong and of good courage. In the space of two chapters, the phrase was repeated six times. Once to the children of Israel and five times to Joshua. But why was it so important to repeat the same phrase six different times?

If you read the history of the children of Israel, as they journeyed to the Promised Land, they faced many obstacles. One of the obstacles they faced was that of the Canaanites who were so big, the spies saw themselves as grasshoppers. Another was of a city so fortified it required a miracle to conquer. They needed to have the courage to stand and say they had come too far to turn around. As children of God, we are called to constantly act in faith and to do so, we need to have courage. It takes courage to step out and take territories. It takes courage to get back up after every setback, after every disappointment and chase your dream. It takes courage to keep applying for jobs over and over again, despite the numerous rejection emails (if you even get feedback). It takes courage to trust in God that your story will be different when the doctor gives you a bad report.

All I will ask you, like Bishop T.D Jakes asked is: do you have the courage to act outwardly on what you see inwardly? Or will you die a dreamer on the verge of almost (like the children of Israel almost did when they saw the Canaanites)? It takes nothing to be mediocre, to fit into normalcy, but if you want to be extraordinary, to win…. you need to have the courage! If you want to take territories like God commanded us to do in Deut. 1:8, you need to have the courage. If you want to take back all that the enemy has stolen from you, you need to have the courage (before David went after his enemies, he needed to encourage himself in the Lord (I Sam. 30:6)). Courage is key!

Ask yourself, do you have the courage?

P.S. Remember, real failure is when you fail to try. Be strong and of good courage!

Photo cred.: YouVersion Bible App

Additional resource: Courage by Bishop T.D. Jakes

Give Thanks

I recently got an answer to a major prayer that I had been waiting on God for; when the answer came through, all I could think of was the fact that I had to give thanks to God for an answered prayer. Hence this post, as it was laid in my spirit to write an article on giving thanks. This is actually an old post that has been updated and as if God wanted to give me further proof that I was to write on this topic, I had a need to go through my old sent mails for a file; I found this post while searching for what I needed. Those days, as a young child I doubt I ever saw any of my friends say thanks to their parents for making them eat something they didn’t like, in my case fish; but when they brought home food from Mr. Biggs or gala or chupa chups, we would be overflowing with thanks for the gifts. But God doesn’t want us to only give thanks when He gives us gifts but also when we’re going through situations that make it seem like the world is collapsing around us. One person that definitely practiced this, regardless of the circumstance, was Jesus. He gave thanks when He fed the 5000 and He gave thanks when He was preparing for His death.

Why is it important to give thanks to God in all situations? I Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that it is the will of God. He wants us to thank Him even when we don’t feel like it. Are you going through a heartbreak? Thank Him. Are you going through a job loss? Thank Him. Are you going through a sickness like cancer? Thank Him. Why? Because He is good and His love endures forever (Ps. 107:1)! In thanking Him, even when it isn’t going your way, it shows you trust and love Him.

But as we all know, it isn’t exactly easy to say God I thank you just after losing that pregnancy or after losing a job you’ve worked so hard to get and to maintain. So how then do we go about doing what the bible says is the will of God?

Practical Steps to Give Thanks

Thank Him for the little things: remember that time you woke up and your lungs filled with oxygen? No? For those of us in Nigeria or places similar, remember that time you walked into your house and turned the light switch and the light came on? No? Or that morning you woke up and the beautiful rays of the sun greeted you? These are little things that happen in our daily life. Thank God for them. I still thank God each time my cash/POS transactions go through. If you haven’t had to chase a bank to refund your money or raced to the bank first thing in the morning so they don’t destroy the card, you won’t understand the stress levels. The point is, thank God, no matter how little the situation.

Thank Him in faith: are you expecting a miracle or a door to open in your life? Thank Him. Why? Because you’re letting God know that you have absolute trust in His ability to deliver as He promised in Phil. 4:19; that verse says all your needs, keyword ALL. Remember the incident of the five loaves of bread and two fishes? Jesus didn’t call down fire and brimstone. He didn’t summon the angels in the higher places. He simply said: Father thanks and that was it.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. -Mark 6:41 (NIV)

There’s a lot of power in giving thanks to God, do not let any situation no matter how tough or discouraging stop you from giving thanks.

The charge to each and every one of us is to give thanks with a grateful heart; start with the little things. Thank God for the gift of breath. When you see the sun rise, thank God for the ability to see such a beautiful scene. Little by little, you will be able to cultivate the habit of giving thanks and before you know it, you’ll be thanking Him for walking or like I do for withdrawal from the ATM.

Why Didn’t You Say Something?

Every once in a while, we find ourselves facing a situation or an obstacle and expect it to magically resolved without us saying something to God about it. I know the bible says He knows the innermost depths of our heart but God desires a relationship with us and in order to have that relationship, He gave us Matt. 7:7 and Heb. 4:16. Telling us to approach Him and ask. I have being facing some challenges recently in life and realized I hadn't said anything to God about it. I was thinking about it and worrying about it but I was barely, if at all, saying anything. Then I read my devotional and it asked me the question "Why Didn't You Say Something?" It stopped me in my tracks and reminded me to always say something about what I was thinking about. I hope it blesses you as much as it blesses me. It is from the daily devotional From Faith to Faith by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. This particular devotional was written by Gloria Copeland.

“I believed...therefore have I spoken.” 2 Corinthians 4:13

Consider the following scenario:

“Where do you want to go eat, honey?” the husband asks.“Oh, I don’t care. Anywhere you want to go is fine with me,” she’ll answer.

Taking his wife at her word, the husband will go to his favorite restaurant. The problem is, the wife doesn’t really like that one. Once they get there and start to order, she’ll be acting a little aggravated.

“What’s wrong?”“Oh nothing,” snaps the wife.“Something is bothering you. What is it?”“I didn’t want to eat here. I want to eat somewhere else.”“Well, why didn’t you say something?” he’ll ask in exasperation.

Now, that’s just a small example, but it illustrates a very solemn truth. Someday, when our earthly lives are finished, when we stand before Jesus, someone might say, “Lord, I really needed clothes for my children when I was on earth...I really needed healing for my body...I really needed deliverance from my circumstances.” And I can just hear Jesus saying to us just what the husband said to his wife, “Well, why didn’t you say something?!” Those words may shock you. You may be sitting around in the midst of a crisis waiting for God to act—when all the time, He’s waiting for you. Jesus is waiting for each one of us to take the power and dominion He gave us and use it to put those devil-generated crises where they belong—under our feet! Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore [you] go!...” (Matthew 28:18-19, New International Version). You lay hands on the sick and they’ll recover. You cast out the devil. In other words, Jesus was saying, I’m giving you My authority, so use it!
Whatever crises you’re facing right now, stand up, take authority over the devil and say something! Say, “Satan, in the Name of Jesus, I take authority over you and your assignment against me and my family. I take authority over you in this situation, and I declare deliverance and victory in the Name of Jesus! You take your hands off me. I am a child of the living God. I am covered by the blood of Jesus. And I am delivered! Amen.” Now the challenge is to leave that place where you made your stand of faith and keep saying what you believed—what you want to come to pass (Mark 11:23).

If you want a change, why don’t you say what you want? Jesus said you can have what you say!