Personal Development

“The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!” 1 Sam.17:37

Courage can be developed. But how do you develop courage? Simple.  You develop courage by acting courageous. You may be afraid but you shake it off and act as if you are courageous. That is how you develop courage. I am telling you for a fact – everyone that appears courageous knows fear. The more you act courageous, the more courageous you become. Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “Make a habit throughout your life of doing the things you fear; if you do the things you fear, the death of fear is certain”. You are a young man who is afraid to talk to women. Just do it because when you do it, you will gain confidence. In your business, you are afraid of knocking on doors. God says knock; so knock on it often.

In the first church I Pastored, we came to a season where we were to acquire land and the cost of the land ran into hundreds of millions. So we went for a meeting with the family that owned the land, to put the terms of purchase in place. And the first question was, “People have been asking to buy this land; the church is asking for a corner piece and in a prime location, what are you offering?” I said, “We have five million and we are going to start having service there in two weeks”. Our lawyer at the time later told me that when I said that, he was certain that we were going to lose the transaction. But he held himself back and stuck with me. I just thank God for people like that; like the armor bearer of Jonathan that said to him whatever is in your heart do it; I am with you [1 Samuel 14].

The family got upset and some people wanted to walk out of the meeting. I was afraid but I sat there praying in tongues under my breath. They put up their own offer and even gave me time to go and borrow money. But I said, “…five million and we are having service there in two weeks!” The meeting was about to go south. I was about to cave in. I was just holding on to God to make a way. Then suddenly the head of the family spoke up and told everyone to keep quiet. She said, “Pastor what did you say?” I summoned up courage and repeated my offer. She looked at all of them and said that that is what is going to happen. A hero is merely a coward who is brave five minutes longer and it is so true.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to keep my eyes on You alone and have courage no matter what I am faced with, in Jesus Name.