When you study the lives of New Testament people, there is an obvious connection between faith and courage. We do not read of cowardly people being people of great faith in the Lord. People controlled by terror lost their strength to believe.
Jesus often told his followers, "Fear not," "Be of good courage," or, "Do not be afraid." There is an excellent reason for such instructions from Jesus. People controlled by terror are void of courage. People who have no courage have lost the ability to act by faith.
We need to carefully, properly understand the relationship between faith and courage. On occasions, people of faith in the New Testament were also afraid. The fact that people of faith have fears or know fear is not the issue. Faith is demonstrated in their courage (1) to face their fear and (2) to refuse to be controlled by their fear.
Being a person of courage does not mean being a person of exaggerated self-confidence with a huge ego. It does not mean one is a person who loves to talk about "my" accomplishments, "my" abilities, and "my" boldness. If that is a person's concept of courage, the person has a significantly flawed concept. The shy, the quiet, the unassuming, the disadvantaged, and the abused are capable of great courage and great faith. Courage that allows faith to exist is the courage to trust God when confronting real threats.
Great courage is not found in enormous trust in self. Great courage is found in trusting God when the forces around you declare, "If you trust God, you will have increased trouble!" In a real way, our faith is not demonstrated until we are in a situation that tests the courage of our conviction.
PamzSpamz
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