We often think of prayer as preparation for the battle, but Christ has showed us that it is the battle itself! Prayer was the heart of His work.
Where was it that Jesus’s sweat was like drops of blood? Not in Pilate’s hall, not on his way to Golgotha. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He “offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death” (Hebrews 5:7).
If we had witnessed His struggle that night, we might have misinterpreted the situation and said, “If He is so broken up when all He is doing is praying, what will He do when He faces a real crisis? Why can’t He approach this ordeal with the calm confidence of His three sleeping buddies?” Yet when the test came, Jesus walked to the cross with courage, and His three disciples fell apart and ran away.
How’s your prayer life?
Tags: battles, courage, prayer
In his book One Crowded Hour, Tim Bowden describes an incident in Borneo in 1964. Nepalese fighters known as Gurkhas were asked if they would be willing to jump from airplanes into combat against the Indonesians. The Gurkhas didn’t clearly understand what was involved, but they bravely said they would do it, asking only that the plane fly slowly over a swampy area and no higher than 100 feet. When they were told that the parachutes would not have time to open at that height, the Gurkhas replied, “Oh, you didn’t mention parachutes before!”
They were willing to jump out of an airplane at 100′ into a swamp! What commitment. Jesus calls us to follow Him with a similar kind of commitment and courage, willing to risk all for His sake.
What big sacrifice has He asked of you?
Tags: commitment, courage
Al Mazerolle was fighting for the Allies in Normandy in France on D-day, the historic turning point in World War II that led to the defeat of the Nazis. A little girl, Edith Bodin, had been shot by the fleeing Nazis and dropped in a ditch for dead. The bullet, perilously close to her heart, likely would have killed her had it not been for Mazerolle. He made a daring dash through bullets and exploding shells to rescue Edith. Doctors operated on her. She survived.
Decades later, when a D-day anniversary was being observed in Normandy, Mazerolle went to France from his home in British Columbia. Edith Bodin, now middle-aged and having never seen him since she was a girl, had tears streaming down her cheeks when she saw Mazerolle. Throwing her arms around the old man, she exclaimed, “Savior!”
Who was teh person instrumental in telling you about Jesus? They were a part of your salvation. Perhaps today would be a good day to send them a thank you.
Tags: courage, risk, salvation, World War II
Are you careful or fearful? Sometimes they are hard to tell apart. Here are some differences:
1) Careful is thoughtful; fearful is emotional.
2) Careful is fueled by information; fearful is fueled by imagination.
3) Careful calculates risk; fearful avoids risk.
4) Careful wants to achieve success; fearful wants to avoid failure.
5) Careful is concerned about progress; fearful is concerned about protection.
Thinking these differences through can help us to be careful, but not fearful. Remember, “God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Tags: courage, fear