Finding Wisdom in ProverbsSample

Courage

How to Face Down Your Fears

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28:1

“Men, you were born to play this game.”

If you are a hockey fan, you no doubt recall the events of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980 when the U.S. Men’s Hockey team beat the mighty Russian team.

The Russians were pros. They were destined to win. They were four-time defending Gold Medalists.

No one gave the Americans a chance. In the locker room before the game, Coach Herb Brooks looked at his players, knowing they were overmatched.

His message came down to one sentence: “Men, you were born to play this game.”

Courage has many faces.

It’s a family dealing with terminal cancer. It’s a single mother struggling to raise her family. It’s a widow who faces the last years of her life without her beloved husband by her side. Is a single person who chooses purity over promiscuity. It’s an engaged couple who will wait even though the world says go ahead. It’s former President Reagan telling the nation he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s an entrepreneur who starts a local business to provide jobs in a community known for violent crime. It’s an employee who sees corruption and dares to blow the whistle. It’s a dad facing cancer surgery.

What do these things have in common? I see four qualities that are evident in people with courage:

1. Bravery in the face of danger — “I won’t be afraid.”

2. Steadfastness in the face of opposition — “I won’t give up.”

3. Action in the face of resistance — “I won’t be intimidated.”

4. Optimism in the face of despair — “I won’t lose heart.”

Where does this courage come from? Proverbs 28:1 tells us that “the righteous are as bold as a lion.” The righteous are bold, not the wicked. The wicked are scared to death. If you are a Christian, the first step to courage is remembering who you are in Jesus Christ. You are victorious, accepted, justified, redeemed, saved, and completely forgiven. Your sins are washed away. You are seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly places.

You were born for courage, not for fear.

God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). If you have a controlling spirit of fear, timidity, or anxiety, it didn’t come from God, for He does not give His people a spirit of fear.

An old Italian proverb goes this way: “Better to spend one day as a lion than one hundred years as a sheep.” Better to spend one day with courageous faith in God than a whole lifetime cowering in fear.

You will never win until you confront the thing that is dragging you down. God put courage in you the moment you came to Christ. Use the courage God has given you, and you can face your fears and come out victorious.

You were born for this battle!

Holy Spirit, I ask that You fill me with love, power, and self-discipline so that I can face the future without fear. Amen.

1. Name the three greatest fears in your life.

2. How would your life be different if you began to face your fears?