Courage

"The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me even then will I be confident." Psalm 27:1-3  This month our virtue with the children has been Courage- being brave enough to do what we should even when we're afraid. this was really a challenge for me. I had to think of all the things that bring me fear, and do I believe that God will see me through these things. Am I willing to face these fears knowing that God is going before me in each of these instances. Fear, I believe, plays a big part in why we don't try new things, why we give up on things, and why we don't experience success a lot in our lives. We allow fear to control us, and make our decisions out of fear. Well according to David in these verses, if God is our light and our salvation, then whom shall I fear? What he is saying is that I shouldn't be afraid of anything or anyone if God is with me. I realize that my fear comes from my lack of faith in the One who is in control. If I believe that God is for me, than who can stand against me? I need in my own life to truly believe that God is with me and wants the best for me, and to allow that to control my decisions, not fear. This doesn't mean that bad things can't happen to the people of God, Stephen preached an awesome message and then was stoned to death. But the comfort in even that, is that he saw heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father. Jesus stood to welcome him home. How awesome is that! So I no longer want to make my decisions out of fear, but out of faith in the one who saved my soul, Jesus! So have COURAGE!