Where Does Courage Come From?

COURAGE doesn’t stem from numbers, from experience or from the wisdom of men, but from a childlike heart.

“So I always take pains to have a clear conscience towards both God and man” Act 24:16 ESV

You would be surprised how much confidence and courage a good conscience can give you. When you have a good conscience towards God and towards man it changes your attitude and strengthens your belief and most times wins the support of many. 

The dictionary defines courage as “A quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear”- Wordweb. 

   Therefore, when you do something brazenly to save yourself, you are not being courageous but acting in fear and are controlled by it. Courage means that you stand totally for a conviction you believe in your heart (which of necessity is greater than you) and damn the consequences. It does not mean compromise or tyranny. A courageous person is ruler over his or her own heart and conscience and yet is subject to the greater reality than himself.

  This matter is not nearly appreciated or perhaps even understood as I believe it should be. The best place we find such a strong display of confidence and courage is in the heart of the young. While they haven’t yet known the depths of sin or of wickedness they do not have a seared conscience and approach life with such boldness and resolve. Is it a wonder then that we seem inclined to bend over backwards for them? No, it’s not the naivety of life, but the naivety of sin. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12 KJV. 

  You see…the deception and power of continuing sin in our lives, despite our first inclination to stay pure, is that it sears our conscience like a hot iron sears the skin; at first we do feel really badly about it. However, the more we chose to sin instead of repent, the more the skin gets deadened until you can’t feel anything at all when you sin – no pricking conscience or remorse.    

  Although the Lord would wash our conscience in a flash we neither have the boldness nor the desire (love) to seek Him for this. And like Adam hid himself because his conscience condemned him, we, too, would hide from the very Giver of mercy. That’s the tragedy of tolerated sin! 

  As for naivety being a target of trickery…well, perhaps. The bible urges us to be wise-as wise as serpents and yet, as gentle as doves. The wisdom that comes from above does not know the depths of satan and it cannot be harmed because its intentions are pure. “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature”. 1Corinthians 14:20 ESV

  Wisdom does not come from experience but from obedience to instruction – specifically, God’s instructions. And what if you are hurt in the process (I used the word ‘hurt’ loosely for a child of God knows no defeat), it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2Corinthians 11:3  

 “…But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 KJV

  A simple life-honest, content, transparent and free of envy and lust- is the sort of life that would keep your conscience pure towards God and towards man. When was the last time you were surrounded by things that could easily make you feel envious and jealous but you had this unexplainable sense of adequacy and sufficiency in yourself? Have you ever felt that? It’s hard to explain because it is not a state of mind that is of this world. It is that peace that surpasses all understanding. It is the awareness and reckoning of He that is always with you – Your exceedingly great reward and portion of which nothing more is needed nor indeed can be added to Him. 

  I understand how difficult it is to take one’s eyes of the immediate demands of life to look into something that you can only see with your heart. However, that is just what is needed! And it is doing just that which would elevate you above the limitations of this life. If you’re going to do anything truly great and worthwhile, you will have to see things in a drastically different way.

 We do forget that the life we live now is just a moment compared to eternity. But how we spend life now will determine where and how we would spend eternity. Energy cannot be destroyed, life is not destroyed; the more we live a certain way the more we are drawn to the corresponding similitude of that life-here in this world and for eternity. If we live badly now we would be drawn into deeper depravity in this world. And when at last we must take off this tent, (and we all will) we would have to go to the place most like us. However, if we live free of offence, as far as it depends on us, with a pure heart and a good conscience towards God and man then we will partake of more of that kind of life, and in eternity inseparable from God.

   Image and Etiquette: As a young lady, I suffered much from inferiority and timidity. I had an unhealthy distrust of myself and my God-given beauty. By God’s grace, I found answers in the Bible, especially the Songs of Solomon, which transformed me. His Word transformed me from a bitter, angry teenager to a cheerful, content, peace-filled and purposeful woman; Jesus changed me from the inside out. I have a passion for etiquette and image and I know that our heart influences our outward image and our attitudes; therefore, image and etiquette is spirit, soul and body – just as it was in the beginning! Having been given the knowledge, experimental application and experience through His grace alone, this is what I teach. Unconventional…yes, but it remains the truth to the degree that I have understood it. For this, I make no apologies. Website: www.regalgraces.com. Email: regalgraces@yahoo.com Phone Number: 08116706879 (text messages only).

08116706879 (SMS  only).

E-mail:regalgraces@yahoo.com