MRC | Strong & Courageous

I had an opportunity to lead a group of men in a Bible Study. I spoke on the need for Christians to “be strong and courageous”, Joshua 1. You see if we are to obey God and His instructions/commands in the Bible then we will need strength and courage. It doesn’t take strength or courage to go along with the flow exchanging insult with insult, attack with attack, hatred with hatred. Nope, that’s easy, even second nature for all of us. A default position we all may find ourselves quickly retreating to when we find ourselves in the crosshairs of our critics, haters and enemies. But God says, “No! You must love your enemy. Be kind to your hater. Extend the hand of grace to your critic. For it is the visible act of your love, kindness and grace that will allow your critic, your hater, your enemy to SEE the invisible God! It is this act of love, kindness and grace that opens the spiritual eyes of the spiritually blind.” Friend, to respond in such a way takes STRENGTH and COURAGE!

Following our study we gathered in a circle and spent time in prayer. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that the Bible Study took place in the city jail and the men attending were inmates. I found out later that one of the attendees was a gentleman I had arrested a couple of times a few years earlier. I didn’t recognize him but he recognized me. As we gathered in prayer he happened to be standing next to me. As I held out my hand he, initially was a little hesitant before taking hold of it. At the time I didn’t know why. You see God immediately gave this man an opportunity to be strong and courageous by taking hold of the hand of a man that had arrested him not once but a few times. The easy thing, the cowardly thing to do would have been to move but he stood his ground and took my hand. He would say a couple of days later that the Lord had blessed him since that Bible Study. Why? Because he choose the way of strength and courage over the way of bitterness and hate.

Friend today choose the way of strength and courage. You just might be surprised at what The Lord does.

See you at the finish line!