Living Courageously: You Can Face Anything, Just Do It Afraid (7 page)

Are you wearing yourself out trying to take care of yourself? If so, you can also retire from self-care and start truly enjoying
life. God wants us to totally depend on Him because He is the only one who can be totally depended on to take care of us and give us what we need. We are all quite independent, but the Holy Spirit works in us until we are totally dependent on God. I suggest that you begin each day by remembering that you need God in all that you do, and that without Him you will not be truly successful. Tell God that you need Him and that you are choosing to put your trust in Him rather than in yourself or anything else. This will help you position yourself properly before you even begin the day.

Paul spoke of times when their troubles were so intense that they felt they had received the very sentence of death, but that it was to keep them from trusting in themselves instead of on God (see 2 Corinthians 1:8–9). At times God must allow our troubles to be more than we can possibly handle on our own so we will ultimately realize our need for Him. If you feel right now that what is going on in your life is more than you can bear, you don’t see a way out, and you absolutely don’t know what to do, then you are in a good place. You now know that the only thing you can do is trust God, and that is exactly what He wants. God wants us to be totally dependent on Him. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NIV). It takes us a long time to fully realize that, and in order to, we often have to go through many difficult and disappointing things on our journey from independence to total dependence on God.

We see a good example in Job’s life. Job was a godly man, but he had self-righteousness issues. He thought so highly of himself that he even dared to find fault with God. God allowed enough difficulty to come into his life that he finally realized only God is truly righteous at all times. Job came to the end of his own wisdom and righteousness and finally said in reply to God’s
confrontation, “Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand upon my mouth” (Job 40:4). We must fully realize that God is everything and we are nothing without Him, and only then can we receive Him in the full measure of all He desires to give to us. God certainly didn’t want Job to feel bad about himself, but it was necessary for him to come to the realization that he was nothing apart from God, and certainly not wiser than God in any way.

When we enter a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are offered an exchanged life. We give Him everything we are and everything we are not, and He gives us everything He is. We give Him our sin and He gives us His righteousness; we give Him our fears and insecurities and He gives us His faith and security. Being a Christian is much more than having our sins forgiven and trying to be good so we can go to Heaven when we die. It is a glorious life of freedom, love, faith, righteousness, hope, joy, and peace. It is a life of accomplishment and bearing good fruit through Jesus that glorifies Him.

When we are insecure we try to do good things so we can feel good about ourselves and be admired by people, but when our security is in Christ, we do what we do through Him and for Him alone. A life in Christ is an entirely new way of living!

When our security is found in Christ and we no longer feel that we have to perform in order to have value, we are set free from many fears. As long as we have deep-rooted fears about ourselves and
our worth and value, we will have fear in most areas of life. Knowing who we are in Christ and accepting and loving ourselves only because God accepts and loves us is amazingly wonderful. When we know that we are weak in ourselves, then we don’t expect something from ourselves that we are not able to do. I know that I will make mistakes, that I need help from other people and from God, and nothing I can do will make me a success in life unless God gives me His undeserved favor. We must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that without Christ we are nothing, and that in us (our flesh) dwells no good thing. We are useless without God! But with Jesus, we can do all things—we are strong in Him, accepted in Him, made right with God through Him, justified in Him, and forgiven through Him. It feels so good not to feel pressured to impress anyone! Our worth is in Christ, not in what other people think of us.

Insecurity produces fear, worry, and anxiety, but security produces boldness and courage. Insecurity produces frustration, struggle, restlessness, and fatigue, but security produces rest, peace, and joy. Insecurity produces an inability to make decisions, but the person who is secure is decisive. Insecurity produces avoidance of others and isolation, but security produces love, confidence, and good relationships.

Insecurity is very hard on relationships. When one person feels that they must constantly try to make the other person feel good about themselves, it steals their freedom. They cannot be honest, and eventually, they get so weary that they may feel that keeping the relationship is not worth the work it takes. When we are in relationship with an insecure person we find that their needs are abnormal. They need an unusual amount of encouragement, and we have to constantly be careful not to hurt their
feelings. Although we all like to be made to feel valuable, when we are secure in Christ, we get what we need from Him. His love and acceptance make us feel special and valuable even when people don’t.

Most of our unhappiness and frustration in all areas of life can be traced back to our own insecurities, but thankfully we have an answer in Jesus.

Choose an area in your life in which you experience insecurity and pray about it. Make a decision to give your fears to God and receive His grace to enable you to be full of faith in that area. Be sure to remember that we don’t usually overcome a problem overnight, but rather little by little. The Lord told the Israelites that He would defeat their enemies little by little so that the beast of the field would not increase among them. My personal belief is that “the beast” is pride. As we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, we receive His grace and experience His freedom.

Read, study, and meditate on God’s Word about being free from fear and secure in Him. His Word will renew your mind, and fear will turn to faith and courage. Take the steps of faith that God leads you to take even though you might still feel some fear, and
as you go forward you will begin to sense more and more freedom. For example, if you would love to apply for a position that would be a promotion for you in your company, but have been too insecure and fearful to do so, step out and try it. Even if you don’t get the position, you will have been successful in stepping out in faith, and that is the most important thing.

One of the keys to success is to never give up. Even though we may not sense any change after we have prayed, it is vitally important that we continue believing in God’s promise to deliver us from a life of fear. When the Holy Spirit is walking me out of bondage into freedom in any area, I often say that I am free from a thing even while I am still experiencing no freedom at all. By doing this, I am declaring my belief that God and His promise are greater than my problem and that it is only a matter of time before I experience the fullness of His freedom. He has never failed me and He will never fail you either. Believe in your heart and, at the right time, you will see with your eyes! Joy is released in our lives through believing. Once we choose to believe God’s Word, we receive joy and peace, and that helps us enjoy life while we are waiting for the fullness of God’s promise to manifest.

I am sure that the idea of believing what you cannot see or feel may be a bit foreign to you unless you have already learned this powerful biblical principle. If it is, I totally understand. We live in a world where everything is based on seeing and feeling. God’s kingdom operates on an entirely different principle, and as citizens of His domain, we are required to believe first and see later. You may be thinking,
Joyce, I just can’t do that
, but I know from experience that you can decide to believe what you want to if you stop letting your thoughts and emotions rule you. Doubt may
attack you, but you can be like Abraham of whom it was said, “No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God…” (Romans 4:20). You can doubt your doubts instead of believing them!

Choose to believe right now that you are on your way to enjoying complete freedom from all insecurity. You are making a journey. I cannot tell you exactly how long it will be, but I do know that God is faithful and His promises are for all who will choose to believe them. You do not have to live in the agony of the fear that you are not able or acceptable, because the truth is that you can do all that God wants you to do through Jesus Christ. His strength is yours if you will humble yourself and receive it.

I am a very goal-oriented person and I have learned that there are several very important things that I need to do in order to reach my goal. If you have goals or dreams for your life, they won’t merely happen because you want them to; you will need to do certain things. If we compare reaching our goals to a runner running a race to win, the first thing I believe we need to do is understand that each runner has a running style all his own. To me, that means we must be ourselves and not try to copy someone else. David wanted to kill Goliath and, after a time of being against the idea, King Saul finally told David that he could try, but he wanted David to wear his armor. David tried to go in Saul’s armor, but he was uncomfortable and realized that it wasn’t going to work for him.

In order to reach our goals, you and I must follow God’s leading. People will offer us a lot of advice, and some of it may be good, but some of it may not. Or it may be good advice, but simply not what will work for us. God has created us as unique individuals, and He does not lead all of us in the same way. So, if you want to win your race, you will need to find your own running style or your own way of doing things. Of course we can learn from other people, but we dare not try to copy them at the cost of losing our own individuality.

The next thing we must do to reach our goals is keep our eyes on the prize. After God told Joshua that he was to finish leading the Israelites into the Promised Land after the death of Moses, He said several very important things to Joshua. In the first nine verses of Joshua chapter 1, we find these instructions: Be strong (confident) and of good courage; turn not to the right hand or the left so that you may prosper wherever you go; and keep speaking and meditating on the Word of God.

And then—once again—Joshua is told to be strong, vigorous, and very courageous, be not afraid, neither be dismayed. God was obviously warning him that fear would come to him, but his reaction should be to “fear not.” He may have felt fear, but he couldn’t give in to it. He had to keep pressing forward no matter how he felt.

If this is the formula for success, then we should pay very close attention. God had already laid out the plans for the Israelites’
successful entry into the Promised Land. He said, “Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given to you, as I promised Moses” (Joshua 1:3). All Joshua needed to do was to begin walking toward the goal in faith and not quit until he had succeeded. Of course he needed to be courageous, bold, confident, and fearless if he was to do that, but he was also told to keep his eyes on the prize and not look to the right or the left. That statement indicates that he had to maintain strong focus on the goal in order to reach it.

We all have circumstances in our lives that can derail us and prevent us from reaching our goals if we pay excessive attention to them. Do what the crisis demands, but don’t give it undue attention. Keep your conversation full of your goals, not your problems.

Scripture teaches us to look away from everything that will distract us unto Jesus who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith (see Hebrews 12:2). I believe that it is God who plants goals, dreams, and visions into our heart, and we need to follow His guidance in order to see them brought to completion. Our enemy, the devil, seeks to prevent our progress by providing trials and problems that will distract us if we let them. I realize that we cannot completely ignore our problems. There are things that demand our attention and we need to take care of them. Let’s learn to do our responsibility and cast our care upon the Lord. Most problems can be handled rather quickly if we do what we can do and choose not to worry about the rest. We are to do what the crisis demands and cast our care on God (see 1 Peter 5:7; Ephesians 6:13).

I encourage you to have the heart of a finisher. Make a decision from the beginning of your goal that you will finish no matter how difficult it is or how long it takes. Keeping our eyes on the prize makes the difficult times easier. We need to believe that the reward will come if we don’t give up. Jesus endured the cross for
the joy of the prize that was set before Him (see Hebrews 12:2). To “endure” means to outlast the problem. Whatever problem you might be facing right now will eventually pass, so while the problem is still screaming at you, keep your eyes on your goal and look forward to winning your race and the prize of victory.

Even when I get very tired of going to the gym three times a week to lift weights and push my body in order to build muscle, I think about how much better I look and feel and how much better my clothes fit me when I am diligent in going. Keeping my eyes on the prize helps me reach my goal.

When I get weary from always being responsible for something, traveling and staying in hotels, and having jetlag, I keep my eyes on the prize of eventually standing before God and hearing Him say,
“Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
I also remember there are lots of people who still need to know the Lord, and that helps me to be determined to finish my race.

The same principle applies in your life. If you are in debt and your goal is to be debt-free, then you should keep the prize in mind of how wonderful it will be to have no debt when you get tired of disciplining yourself not to make purchases you can do without. When you get tired of going to work every day, think about the prize of your paycheck and being able to pay your bills and have food to eat.

If you’re on a diet and tired of not being able to eat everything you want, keep your eyes on the prize of being able to fit into the clothes that you hid in the back of your closet, hoping that someday you would be able to wear them again.

Don’t throw away your dreams in a moment of discouragement or weariness. Keep your eyes on the prize!

God’s Word tells us not to look to the right or the left, and that means don’t look around you. The prophet Isaiah instructed people not to look around them in terror.

If we look around at our circumstances excessively, we may end up terrified and dismayed, which means that we feel there is no way out of our problems or no way to reach our goals. With God there is always a way, because He is the Way!

God’s Word tells us to look up, for redemption is drawing close (see Luke 21:28). If we are to look up, then that means we should not look down. God told Lot and his wife not to look back at Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 19:17). The apostle Paul states that the one thing most important to him was to look away from what was behind to what was ahead (see Philippians 3:13). Look forward to the good things ahead—this will keep you encouraged.

We look at things in our thinking. We can look any direction we choose to, so why wouldn’t we choose to look at something that will keep us encouraged? We can imagine and see the good things that we are working toward even before we can see them with our natural eyes.

God also told Abraham to look up. Abraham and Sarah had no children, yet God had told him that He would make of him a great nation. How could that be? While they were waiting, Abraham complained to God about having no children. The Lord told Abraham to go outside his tent and to look at the stars, and if he could count them, that would be how many descendants he would eventually have (see Genesis 15:3–5). Wow! Abraham didn’t even have a child, so how could he have descendants? He and Sarah needed a miracle, because without one there was no hope of them having a child. I am sure that Abraham’s faith was tested and he felt afraid when he looked at his own body that was impotent, and Sarah’s, which was also too old to have children. He was in his tent, probably weary of looking at his circumstances, and God brought him out of his tent and told him to look up instead of around at his circumstances.

I think there is an important lesson in this example. Sometimes we can just get out of the house and go for a short walk and things will seem better. When you are weary and losing sight of your goals, go and have a cup of coffee with a friend—and make it someone who is encouraging. Quite often little things can make a big difference. Don’t discourage yourself by staring at your problems. Let’s merely glance at our problems, but fix our gaze on Jesus!

Sometimes we need to get away from circumstances and get a fresh vision. Looking at the stars often reminds us of the greatness of God. Do whatever you need to do to keep a fresh vision of your goals. Run your race to win and keep your eyes on the prize.

It is easy to begin a new thing. When something is new, it is exciting, and at the beginning, we have no idea how long it will take or how difficult it might be to see it all the way through to the finish. I don’t get excited anymore just because people tell me about a new thing they are beginning. I encourage them, but I don’t assume that they will finish just because they have begun. Sadly, my experience has been that there are lots of people who get a great idea, a goal, or a dream, and they begin, but somewhere along the way they turn back. The way becomes difficult and it is taking too long, so they quit and wait for something easier in life to come along. I believe you can be a finisher, but you will have to be determined! I want to encourage you to set your mind and keep it set on finishing your race and obtaining the prize.

Now, I don’t want to sound discouraging or negative by what I am about to say, but most things take longer than we thought they would, are more difficult than we had imagined, and cost us more than we planned. Even if we are dreamers, we must look at things realistically. Jesus told those who were planning to build a building to take time first to count the cost to see if they had what was required to finish.

It is important for everyone to have the heart of a finisher, but I believe it is especially important for God’s children. After all, we represent Him, and He always finishes what He starts. Is there anything in your life that you are tempted to give up on? If there is, I am asking you to reconsider. Pray and ask if God wants you to give up, and unless you are sure that He does, I recommend that you press on. The only reason we should ever give up is if we realize somewhere along the way that we are not doing what God wants us to do.

Don’t let the fear of circumstances or the weariness of passing time cause you to give up. You might be tired of waiting, but I want to suggest that pressing forward is much better than going back. The Israelites frequently wanted to return to Egypt because the things they encountered frightened them and were not easy, but eventually some of them did make it to the Promised Land. Some of them finished their race and won the prize. They didn’t all make it, but those who had the heart of a finisher did.

Jesus said that He found satisfaction in doing the will of His Father and finishing His work (see John 4:34). I wonder how many people in the world are dissatisfied simply because they gave up on their dreams. We should not be people who are easily defeated. I really believe that if we stay close to God we can press
through things that oppose us. He gives us the grace (power of the Holy Spirit) to do whatever we need to do in life. Don’t merely try to push through difficulties in the strength of your own flesh, but learn to be thoroughly dependent on God. He gives grace to those who are humble enough to receive it, but if we want to try it on our own, He will wait for us to exhaust our own efforts.

We can only find true satisfaction in doing the will of God. People often ask me when I am going to retire, and I find it to be an odd question. I never considered retirement because I don’t know how one can retire from a call God has placed on their life. I will change how I do things in order to get the rest I need as my age increases, but I don’t plan to quit. I am determined to finish my course! I want God to be proud of me, and I want to get my full reward when I cross the finish line.

Read what Jesus said about finishing:

Jesus asked for His prize, so to speak, when He asked to be glorified. He wanted to return to the former glory He had before coming to the earth to pay for our sins (see John 17:5). He clearly said that He qualified for the prize because He finished the work He was sent to do. He said this because He had the heart of a finisher, even though He had not died on the cross yet and been resurrected from the dead. There was no thought at all of quitting. He still had many difficult things to go through, and I am sure that He felt all the fears that we experience, and yet He knew that He would finish.