I haven’t seen the movie “We Bought a Zoo” but the other say I was shown a clip of what I assume is a father and son having a conversation. I was caught by this comment:
“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage… just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery, and I promise you, something great will come of it.”
God’s been teaching me a lot about courage and confidence lately, and as I look around in my life, it seems that this quote is pretty accurate. Our lifegroup right now is doing a study called “Connect the Dots” and it’s about discovering God’s ongoing will for our lives in each and every day. This past Wednesday we got talking about how knowledge of God’s Will doesn’t always equal obedience. The author explained:
“Many of us have the delusion that if we knew with certainty what God wanted us to do, then we would do it without question, no matter the cost. Not true–our personal history bears witness to it. There are commands in Scripture that you and I disobey every day. … Each of us can remember a time when we knew God wanted us to do something and we refused. … Maybe it was a prompt to share your faith with a new friend or to shut your mouth when everyone else was bashing your boss. Whatever the instance, you ignored the prompting.”
Knowing God’s will doesn’t offer a guarantee that we’ll obey. As we talked about why this is and how we overcome these obstacles we realized that fear was our greatest enemy. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of what others will think. Fear of how it will impact our lives.
Fear traps us… and we need some courage… some God-courage… and often just 20 seconds will suffice.
2 Timothy 1:7 ” For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
Where could you use 20 seconds of insane courage in your life right now? What has God been asking you to do that you find yourself hesitating from? Ask God to give you the strength you need to take the courage He’s offering and act in faith. He promises us… something great will come of it! Now do it!
Hebrews 10:35-39 “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”
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