Courage

Well, you may have heard the story about the professor, who's kind of a stern man, and he gave his class what he felt was a difficult assignment. They were to turn in a five-page paper, and the theme was courage. Every student was supposed to describe what they felt was the very best example of courage that they had ever witnessed. So they began to do this, and one student turned in five blank pages. Nothing on it whatsoever. Professor gave her an A. That's right. That's right. Had the courage to turn it in blank. Can you imagine? So would you turn in five blank pages? I don't think I'd have the guts to be able to do that. In fact, I was reading a little article on courage, and it had an interesting quotation in it. Now, imagine someone saying this. This is an actual quotation. It said, you don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by serving difficult times and challenging adversity. You might think that was one of the self-help authors that maybe just got into things in the last few years. Guess who said that? That was a Greek philosopher, Epicurus, said that somewhere around 350 BC. Yeah, you've needed courage for a long, long time in this world. And it's something that the Bible actually focuses a lot on, because we are challenged.

As we heard in the sermonette, there are so many hills that we have to climb.

We've got to have a godly perspective on this, and to face the difficulties, and whether they're job challenges, whether they're relationship issues, whether they're health issues. We've got to have that kind of perspective that God wants us to. One of the examples that we're given, way back, if you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 31, imagine a slave people coming out from Pharaoh, being called to start a new nation. You think that's going to take some daring?

You've got to change the whole mindset of how you've grown up, what your perspective's been. Generally, you've been told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, your entire life.

And now you're called to a whole different lifestyle. And so, as they're going to leave from Pharaoh, come into the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 31. Look at verse 6.

Look what they're told. Be strong and courageous.

Now, it kind of gives us a little indication. It may not come naturally. It might not be something that we automatically have. But they're told, be courageous. Don't be afraid or terrified because of them. There's going to be challenges. There's going to be people that oppose you. There's going to be enemies. But the Lord your God goes with you. He'll never leave you, nor forsake you. And that particular thought is mentioned over and over and over again throughout Scripture. And so, how many examples can you think of? If you had to consider one example in the Bible that maybe stands out to you of an example of someone that had the nerve and the valor and the audacity, you could say the courage to face the challenges and yet, with God's help, overcome them.

Probably too many examples to even mention when you begin to think about it. I mean, here we've got Moses and Pharaoh and all the challenges that came from that. We just go a few years later. Joshua, doing the same thing as the people come into the Promised Land. Fast-forwarded. David. David facing Goliath. Maybe one of the all-time great stories of the Bible. Then there was Abigail, great woman of the Bible, saved her entire household.

Why? She had a crazy fool for a husband, but she had the courage to go before the king and petition his mercy. She looked to God. Others as well. How about Anestra? Another lady who stood up to evil Haman and went before the king who would normally have taken your life for going before the king without the king asking for your presence. They could put you to death. Yet she was brave to be able to take on the will and the needs of her people. Or, fast-forward to the New Testament. The apostles like Peter and John standing before the Supreme Court, you might say, of Israel, the Sanhedrin, and preaching the truth, standing up for God and his way in Jesus Christ the Messiah, and being glad that they were beaten for preaching the truth and standing up.

And so, now we might not have to stand before the Supreme Court. We may not have to go before the king, but we know there are many instances in our life that it's going to take more than what we have personally to be able to overcome. And in a way that is courage. It's going to take courage. It's going to take God's backing in order to deal with the difficult circumstances that life brings.

And maybe it's just having the nerve to go to work tomorrow. You know, maybe it's just the challenges of where's the money going to come from. Maybe it's the difficulties of just getting along with each other. We need godly courage in order to take on life's challenges. And so, let's think about the kind of courage that God wants us to have. The kind of courage God wants us to develop as we face the difficult circumstances on life. In fact, when you think about the aspects of courage, the characteristics that godly courage really takes, as I was considering this, where does it come from?

Where does that come from? Because most of us don't automatically have that kind of bravery, that kind of daring, the nerve that it takes to stand up when we need to. I think one of the things that it begins to, we begin to recognize when we consider this, is that it's got to come from within. It's got to come from within. I think courage begins on the inside. And it's not just my courage, but it's more than that. There's a passage in the Psalms, I think, that begins to paint that picture for us, that I don't naturally have that.

I don't naturally have, especially when you think about godly courage. The courage it takes to even stand up for God's will in his way every day in my life, which may not mean I'm going to tell the boss I'm not working on Saturday. Well, that takes one kind of courage. But what about the courage it takes to live a life of patience?

What about the kind of courage it takes to demonstrate true love in my life? What about the godly patience or the godly courage it takes to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit every single day? You see, that's something that has to come within, which needs the Holy Spirit of God in order to to emanate from us. Psalm 27, I think, talks about that very fact. Notice verse 14 in Psalm 27. Here it talks about the kind of courage that needs to emanate from us on the inside. Psalm 27 verse 14. Because most of us recognize the fact that I don't naturally have this.

I can't just automatically do this. It's got to come from somewhere else and emanate from within me by the power of God's Spirit. I think Psalm 27 speaks to that very fact. Notice verse 14. Here we get to the end of Psalm 27. It says, wait on the Lord. That's where our hope has to be. That's where our courage has to come from. When we do that, it says, be of good courage. Or it can literally mean take encouragement.

We don't have to go down and eject it and discouraged about these things because we can feel overwhelmed with the circumstances of life. But when we wait on the Lord, what's the promise? And He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.

So it's not my courage. It's not my innate ability to be able to take on every situation that faces me in life. If I put it in God's hands, it's not just wishful thinking. It's not just wishful thinking. It's not pull myself up from my bootstraps and face the challenge before me. It's not that at all. It's that by the power of God, I can be strengthened. I can have courage.

I can have the strength it takes to deal with whatever the challenges are. And it says, this isn't something that, well, I wish could happen. Or wouldn't it be nice if I could have good courage? Isn't it amazing that He doesn't say it in that way at all? It's recorded, it will happen. He shall strengthen your heart. And so here's an amazing promise from God that can help us to take it on, whatever it may be. Because with God, we can do it. We can tackle those difficult situations and those trials and tribulations and difficulties that we have to face.

Because it's not about us. It's not about us. It's like God promised back in Deuteronomy. I'm not going anywhere. I'm with you. Even in those most challenging times of life. I am with you. And with God, we wait on Him. We look to Him. What happens to those challenges that we face?

Well, they're not going to automatically go away. But who's going to see us through? Who's going to give us the strength that we need to overcome those things and see beyond them and see God's hand in our life? And I think really that's what it takes. That's what it takes to have that kind of a perspective. And with that, we can take on the the roaring lions that that face us.

In fact, I heard a story about this fella who was bragging. He was bragging and bragging. He said, I cut off the tail of a man-eating lion. Wow, everybody's really impressed with that. That's pretty amazing. Then somebody thought, well, wait a second. Why didn't you cut off the lion's head? The guy said somebody had already done that. Now you think about that. All right, what about that?

Well, in a way, doesn't God take care of the head? God can take care of the lion's head and we can with him, we can't overcome. If he says he's not going to leave us or forsake us, then where does that leave us? In fact, if we stay in the Psalms, if you just go back a little bit to Psalm 89. Look at Psalm 89 verse 21. We can't ever lose this perspective that it's not my strength. It's not my ability. It's not how great I am, not how talented I am, not how gifted I am. That's not what it takes to succeed. If we're going to be Godly people, if we're going to be God's church, his family, if we're going to have a Godly perspective, live his way, it's got to come from somewhere else. It's got to come from within, but it's not my strength or my things. Psalm 89.21 says, With whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen him. Or some translations say God's hand will protect and sustain us. And see, when we recognize that, maybe that brings other scriptures to mind.

I mean, if God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8 tells us that very fact. Who can stand against us when we recognize that's where our backing comes from. It comes from God. So can I take on life's challenges and have the courage it takes in the most difficult situations? Well, I probably have to say, no, I can't do it. But with God's help, with his direction, I can have courage. In fact, he promises to give me the courage to face whatever it may be.

And I think that maybe takes us to a second characteristic, a second aspect of courage, that I think is so powerful. Because sometimes, you know, if you read some of the stories from different battles throughout history, I was reading this thing about the Civil War not too long ago, and how there were so many deserters in that war. They'd come to have a big battle, and there would be all these people that would run away. And they couldn't face it. And there are so many of those that do. Well, rather than face that challenge, they run away. But why don't you begin here with this godly curse that begins and been given to us from God? We take on the challenge.

We don't have to run away. And I think that's an important aspect to consider, that courage takes the challenge. We take the challenge. We don't run away from it. We don't shy away from the pressure or the difficulties that life brings. And it's everybody. It's every one of us. It doesn't matter how young or how old we are. You go to school, even as a little kid, you're going to face peer pressure. You're going to face the challenges. You're going to face ridicule. Everybody gets made fun of. It doesn't matter who you are. Well, can we take that on? Do we run away? Do we run away from that?

Well, we don't want to move down to their level. We've got to rise to God's level. And sometimes that's the challenge of speaking up for what we believe. We don't shy away from those things.

We've got to stand for the truth. And like my mom used to say, she'd say, you know, if a million people believe in a dumb idea, guess what?

It's still a dumb idea. It's still a dumb idea. So we can't fall to that level and run away from the challenges that we're faced. And so if we look at what Paul was trying to encourage the Ephesians, go to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 11. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 11. Once again, we see we need to take the challenge because if we're living life, we can't escape it. We can't escape the challenge. We can't escape the trials. We can't escape the difficulties. They will come. That's the nature of life. And so God says, take that challenge. Ephesians chapter 3. Notice verse 11. We'll kind of jump into the middle of a thought here. But here he's talking about the nature of life. And he says, there is the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In other words, he wants to bring us into his family through Jesus Christ.

And because of that, because we understand God's purpose, we understand his plan, it says verse 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

Therefore, I ask you, do not lose heart of my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Now, that's kind of an interesting situation. Not only a personal thing, but even a collective thing.

Here, the church itself, the congregation was disappointed. They were discouraged. They were upset because Paul had been arrested, had to go to Rome, had to appear before Caesar. What was going to happen to him? Where was God in all this? How could God allow the Apostle to be arrested?

And be carted off to Rome? How could that happen? And that would definitely weigh on you.

They were discouraged. Yet here, Paul is telling them, wait a second, it doesn't matter what we're presented. It doesn't matter if even if Caesar were to put him to death, ultimately, we can still have boldness. Why? Because God is with us. We don't have to lose heart, which is another way of saying, don't lose courage. In fact, sometimes throughout Scripture, that same word for courage is to take heart, to take heart, to be courageous. Why? Because we have a God that's on our side. We have a God that is with us. We can stand up for what's right. Paul could appear before Caesar and preach the truth. In fact, he turned it all around. And rather than being put on trial, how did Paul see that opportunity? He saw it as an opportunity not to have to only defend himself and fight for his life. He saw it as an opportunity to preach the truth. He was going to preach the gospel. That's how he saw it. So he turned it all around because by faith, he could have confidence that God was with him. And he could actually step out in faith. So he could go before the boss and say, listen, I'm not working on Friday night. I can't do it. I keep the Sabbath.

I do what the Bible says. I follow what God says. And that's stepping out in faith. That's having courage because it's not my courage because God says, I'm going to be with you. I'm not going anyway. I'm backing you up. And so God calls us to his way. And that really does require us then to stand up for his way 100%. Whatever that means, maybe that means getting an F on the test because I can't be there on Saturday to take that test. Maybe that's what it means.

But it means standing up for what's right, no matter what the odds. No matter what the odds.

You may have heard the story of the big battles between those ancient warriors of Sparta and then the Persian army that came against it. And Sparta was down to 300 valiant fighting warriors.

And history says, if you read different stories, sometimes it's hard to get the truth from the myths. But we go back way back in time. This is like 500 BC when Persia comes against Sparta.

And Leonidas, the great leader of the Spartans, was told that there were just hordes of Persians that were going to be coming against them. In fact, they told him that the Persian archers were so numerous that as they shoot their arrows, they would darken the sun. And so this was told by his advisor saying, we better run away from the challenge. But you know what he told them?

He supposedly said, all the better! That way we'll fight in the shade!

Now, of course, the rest of the story is that 300 guys all died, but that's a whole other story.

But think about just having that kind of a perspective. Yeah, sometimes it seems we're going to have to fight in the shade. There's some difficult times that we have to face.

But what Paul is saying here, who is on our side? Who's never going to leave us? Who's never going to forsake us? Who's always going to be with us, even in the most discouraging, depressing times of our life? You see, that's the perspective that Paul is trying to help get across. In one of the most discouraging times in the New Testament Church, the Apostle has to go to Rome and may die. What are we going to do? That was their perspective, and Paul's reminding him of that. In fact, if you go back to the book of John, the Gospel of John, here's why he was able to say that, how he was able to have that kind of perspective. This is John 16, 32.

Here, John records something a little bit different than the other Gospels here in John 16.

Verse 32, oftentimes in this section of Scripture, we read this during the Passover season because here's some information that really isn't in the other Gospels.

Christ, if you've got a red letter Bible, you see this whole section of Scripture is all read. Everything is all read. Christ is speaking here throughout these pages, and we'll read big sections of this during the Passover ceremony as well because it's so vital, the truths that are found in this section of Scripture. When we get down to chapter 16 in verse 32, here's where Christ says, indeed the hour is coming, and yes, now has come. He says, you will leave me all alone, that you will be scattered each to his own and will leave me, yet I am not alone. How discouraging would that have been that all your disciples that you've been with for three and a half years, they all run away. They all run away. But Christ says, I'm not alone because the Father is with me. He says, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. There will be struggles and trials and difficulties that want to wipe us out. That roaring lion is against us and wants to defeat our faith. Yet, Christ says, be of good cheer.

Or in other words, take heart, some translations say. Or be courageous. Be courageous. Have boldness, the NIV says. Have boldness. Have boldness of this. Take courage. Be of good cheer. It doesn't really sell it the way that... Be courageous! Be bold! Why? I have overcome the world.

And so, Christ is in us. We have the power of God's Holy Spirit. And so, whatever it takes, we're not standing alone. Paul could go before Caesar because he knew he wasn't by himself, even though Christ had everyone desert him, he wasn't alone. Whenever we feel like we're alone and nobody's standing with us, that's not right. That's not accurate. God is with us.

And he promises to instill that boldness and that courage that it takes so we can take on that challenge. And then we can endure the temptation. We can endure the trial. And ultimately, then we're promised life. We're promised life. And that is such an amazing thing. It is so cool when you think about this characteristic, this trait of boldness and courage and really good heart because it's something that, in a way, it's contagious. This is a contagious thing because imagine Paul saying this then to Ephesus that, wait, I'm not alone. God is with me. Does that help them? Does that change their perspective? Boy, when you read what Scripture actually says, it does. It changes everything. And if you put it in today's terms, courage goes viral. Courage goes viral. And I think that's such an important fact, too. You recognize I've got to have God's Holy Spirit on the inside. Courage has to come out from within. That's got to come through Jesus Christ. We take whatever life hands us, and with His power, we can overcome. And what does that do? It's kind of a viral thing that, if one of us can stand up, does that encourage the rest of us? When we see someone face the difficulties of life and overcome by the power of God, boy, that brings me up. And that courage is almost like these volcanoes over in Hawaii. You can't stop it. It keeps spreading and spreading and spreading, and all these houses are being... you're not going to stop. And it's the same way, in a good way, when it comes to courage.

That all of us, then, can be in heartened. We can take heart, because you can't stop this kind of thing, because it comes from God. In fact, if you look over the book of Acts, this was something that was so evident during the early New Testament church. Acts 15. Notice verse 30. Acts 15.

There were some discouraging things that were going on in the church before this.

Before this, there was a lot of arguing, a lot of bickering, a lot of fighting, because they couldn't agree. Do you have to be circumcised to be a Christian or not? Do you have to be a Jew first before you are a Christian? That was kind of the problem. So they come together in Acts chapter 15 for a big conference, and they basically had it out. They had it out over this. There was great discussion. They came together, and they sorted it all out. So, kind of a discouraging time of what is going to happen to God's church. Are we going to come to any kind of agreement on this? Well, they do come to an agreement. They recognize you don't have to physically be circumcised. You have to be spiritually circumcised. You might have to have a circumcision in the heart. Not a physical thing. And so they come to that decision. They write a letter, and they send it out to the churches. What happens? What happens? Well, by the time we get down to verse 30, it says, they read this letter. They were sent off. They came together in Antioch, and they delivered this letter. They gathered together, and they read this letter. Well, what was the result?

Where things were kind of in a disarray. Kind of wondering what was going to happen. Verse 31, when they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement. They were pleased. They were relieved. And if you read this in the Message translation, you read this little verse here, it says, they were strengthened and had many words of courage and hope. And so we see that in verse 32. Judas and Silas themselves being prophets, also exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words. And so they were able to take heart. And then they were encouraged.

They saw the unity of God's Spirit there. And that act of courageousness, I guess you could say, to come together to discuss a difficult issue, to recognize this was a challenge. And yet they overcame it, and it brought unity to the church. And it moved them through the entire church, not just in Jerusalem, but through all the congregations of the church. And so what a powerful thing. In fact, we skip forward a little bit. If you go to Acts 27, here is Paul's going to Rome in this particular situation. Similar kind of thing happens. Notice where the focus is then. Acts chapter 27, we kind of jump in the middle of the story. We won't get into the story itself. But what happens with Paul? This ship may crash, and they're all going to die. But one thing he says here in Acts 27, 24, don't be afraid. Here he's receiving this information from an angel from God. This angel says, don't be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar. Indeed, God has granted you all those who sail with you. Therefore, take courage, take heart. That's what Paul says then. Take heart, man. For I believe God, that it will be just as it was told me. And of course, what happens? Yeah, Paul makes it. They all live. They all end up living through this terrible situation.

And part of it was because Paul was encouraged by this angel, and that courage went viral.

So that the entire group, all the sailors and all the other prisoners, took courage. That even though the storm was going to engulf that ship and destroy it and sink it, they were going to survive.

They were going to live. And so when we recognize this, I think it brings us to an important aspect of what really I think God wants us to understand. You know, could Paul somehow work up the ability to be able to be bold in this kind of situation? I mean, what would you think? You're on this ship. There's this giant hurricane, basically, that's surrounding them.

Yeah, what would I think? We're going to die! I'm sure that's what they were thinking. We're all going to die! We're all going to die! So it points out the fact this kind of courage comes from following God. I mean, imagine this situation. This angel comes to Paul and says, listen, God's telling you, you're going to live. You're going to survive. The ship's going to be lost, but you're going to make it to Rome. Paul could have said, no way! We're all going to die! He could have continued to have that perspective. But he recognized God is right. And so what was his answer? I believe God! I believe God! So Paul could take courage, not in himself, but I believe God. All right, now we face the challenges. We face the difficulties. Do we rely on our own strength?

Or can we say the same thing? If God's told us, I'm never leaving you. I've never forsaken you. I'm not going anywhere. What should our answer be? I believe God. I believe God. And then that courage, that boldness, really is a byproduct of faith, of believing God and following Him. And Paul was a great example of that. When we do what God wants us to do, when we take His word to heart, He's going to provide for us. I'm sure Paul never thought that this was going to turn out this way. They're going to crash on some island and somehow they'll live and make it ultimately to Rome to appear before Caesar. And so we begin to see that very fact, that when we trust God, no matter what life deals us, we can take it on. And of course that also means I can't do it, because if I have to overcome this situation, how can I deal with this? I can't deal with this situation. It's beyond me. And I think that's an important thing. This was a situation for Paul. There's no way. He's not even a sailor, let alone a scuba diver, that somehow he's going to survive a shipwreck and live. That was beyond him. And I think that's what we see here as well, throughout so many examples throughout the Bible, is that we face these challenges and with godly courage, it's going to take us beyond our limitations. Because humanly speaking, we're all limited. We can only do so much if we rely on our own strength. But when we rely on God, we don't have those same limitations. We don't. And so whether it's the loss of a job or whether it's cancer or whether it's the difficulties that we face of just trying to figure out how to how to have a happy marriage or how to get along with my boss, sometimes that takes us beyond what our limitations are. But with God's help, he gets us to the destination. He gets us there.

Like I was reading a little story about some early test pilots. They were testing these different jet engines and some of those stories that led up to the early space program. I mean, they were just amazing lessons, so many lessons in courage. But there was this one particular one. This goes back to the 1950s. This is when they were first working on breaking the sound barrier and getting those, you know, miles per hour way up there with all these jet pilot tests that they were doing and all those kinds of things. Well, there was this one man. This is a true story. There's one man named George Smith. Most people haven't heard of them. But he was one of these just amazing, confident, gutsy pilots that seemed to just take on whatever they wanted.

And it seemed like he was ready to do it. It's like, well, this thing might not work out. He'd be the guy to get in that thing and get in the cockpit and go. And it seemed like he could take on anything. Well, this one circumstance came about that he had to bail out of a jet that was going over 800 miles an hour. And somehow he survived. But he was beat up. He was just about every bone was broken in his body. And he got him to the hospital. He ends up surviving.

But there was no way he was ever going to do this again. Even though he made it through, he was never going to fly again. Anybody that came in to see him, never doing that again, it's over. It's done. But then this nurse came along and she told him something that he really took her words to heart. And you know what she told him? She told him, courage is knowing the worst.

Courage is facing the worst and discovering that, especially in God's world, the very worst can't really hurt you. You think about that, especially in a spiritual perspective. Think about the worst thing that could possibly happen. Ultimately, in the end, can it really hurt us? Or do we believe God? Like Paul, God says, hey, I'm going to see you through this. Do we really believe that promise in Romans 8, 28, that all things work together for good to those that love God? Well, we can face those things because think of the very worst, knowing the worst, facing the worst. In God's perspective, really can't really hurt us, not in the long run.

And so we can do this. We can face this. And so just a couple of verses before this, if you look back to chapter 23, Acts 23, verse 11, here Paul once again is being discouraged, or encouraged because, yeah, he had been down. So God says, get up, go to Damascus. This is what you need to do.

And then he says, verse 11, this is Acts 23, verse 11, it says, the Lord stood by him.

Be of good cheer, Paul. Take courage, in other words, Paul. For as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must also bear witness in Rome. You think Paul wanted to stand before Caesar? You think he wanted to face these difficulties? No. I was going to stretch him, take him beyond his limitations, which also helps us to recognize I need to depend on God. I must depend on God. I have to. I have to look to him for strength. And that stretches us from far beyond where we are right now to where God would want us to be. And so in a way, we're sacrificing what we are for what we can become. And God wants us to be like him. God wants us to be like him. And so oftentimes we might pray, God, keep me, protect me, help me, take all the difficulties, solve my problems, all the challenges that might face me. But you know, oftentimes that's not the answer we get back. In fact, there was a poem written by a man named Inayat Khan. It's a K-A-H-N.

There's a couple little excerpts I took from this poem that I thought were really interesting ones, because it reflected my perspective sometimes. It may be yours as well. The poem has some different sections, but in one section of the poem it says, I asked for wisdom. Imagine praying for wisdom. I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for blessings. God gave me opportunities.

I asked for strength. God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for courage, and God gave me danger to overcome. The poem concludes, I received nothing I wanted, but I received everything I needed. Nothing I wanted, but everything I needed.

And so we put our life in God's hands. Boy, does that bring us to a whole different level, whole different level, whole different perspective. In fact, if we go back to Ephesians, maybe we can consider this. This kind of summarizes and brings these thoughts together. Ephesians 3, verse 19. Ephesians 3, 19. I think this is the perspective, then, that we can come to when we need to be brave and daring and face life situations. Paul gives these amazing attributes that God gives us. And in verse 19, kind of jumping in the middle of the thought, he says, We can know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, and we can be filled with all the fullness of God, ultimately the purpose of God, to be His children and His family, to be divine beings. We can have that perspective. So verse 20, how is that going to come about? He says, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Boy, what can you think of? I can think of some pretty cool stuff. I can think of pretty amazing things. But that's nothing to God. He can do exceedingly, not just abundantly, but exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, according to God's Holy Spirit. That's working in us. So can we take courage? Can we have a whole different perspective in our life? Can we take on the challenges and difficulties? Not ourselves, but with the power that works in us, we can. And so that should turn our lives around to praise and to worship and honor Him. So verse 21, To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever, Amen. And so taking that godly courage through the power of God's Spirit, it allows us to serve God and allows us with even more than our own abilities to reach the potential that God has in mind for us, what He wants for our life. And so from inside out through the power of God's Spirit, we can take on the challenges. We can take on the difficulties and we can have the courage then that inspires the church, inspires others, takes us beyond our own limitations. And so let's have that kind of determination, because it's not dependent on me. It's not dependent on you. It's dependent on God in us. So let's get ourselves out of the way and let Christ live His life in us and through us and take us beyond our own limitations, which ultimately then can give us that extra motivation that we all need to grow and really ultimately walk courageously by faith.