Category: Be Strong and Courageous

Another Trial?

Posted on by Dorci

Seems I’ve talked to quite a few people lately who are going through especially difficult times. From my own personal perspective and after hearing the stories of my friends, the trials seems to be ramping up lately. My gut feeling is that the Lord’s working extra diligently to purify our hearts, to purge them of long-held sinful attitudes, of relying on anyone or anything else but Him, and to strengthen our faith in Him and Him alone. And of course the enemy is not too happy about that, but he’s going to use those trials, too, to try pulling us in the opposite direction.

Resist. 

I was recently dealing with a new health issue, and while some days I was handling it fine, there were others when it all was getting just too overwhelming.

One trial – okay; two – alrighty then; three – hmmm, what’s going on?; four – Lord, where are you?!  I get it. Believe me, I get it. And of course I pray, of course I turn to God’s Word and wait for Him to speak to my heart through it, but there are also times I turn to a favorite devotional – Streams in the Desert. 

Since there are so many facing some very difficult and painful trials, I wanted to share with you today’s Streams in the Desert devotional. The Lord blessed me as I read it, and helped me see my trials from His perspective, to remember that my trials are for my spiritual growth and for His glory. What could be better than that? 

 

Streams in the Desert – August 29

 

And he went out carrying his own cross (John 19:17).

There is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose another instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. “Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people’s crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.
–Glimpses through Life’s Windows

If thou, impatient, dost let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again;
Nor in another: here and here alone
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.
In other worlds we may more perfectly
Love Him and serve Him, praise Him,
Grow nearer and nearer to Him with delight.
But then we shall not any more
Be called to suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canst thou not suffer, then, one hour or two?
If He should call thee from thy cross today,
Saying: “It is finished-that hard cross of thine
From which thou prayest for deliverance,
“Thinkest thou not some passion of regret
Would overcome thee? Thou would’st say,
“So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile
More patiently. I have not yet praised God.”
Whensoe’er it comes, that summons that we look for,
It will seem soon, too soon. Let us take heed in time
That God may now be glorified in us.
–Ugo Bassi’s Sermon in a Hospital

 

An Encounter with a Warrior

Posted on by Dorci

After a week in the hospital and another at an inpatient rehab facility, I was dealing pretty well with all the affects of having had a stroke, especially considering the hospital had over-medicated me, causing my blood pressure to drop too much too fast, which then caused that damaged area in the left side of my brain to grow larger and my weakness to worsen. 

I’d seen countless doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists…  So many professionals. And they were good, well, most of them. They helped get me, literally, back on my feet. 

Through it all I’d had not only His peace that passed all understanding, but His joy, and I knew that was the Lord answering all the prayers from so many precious brothers and sisters in Christ. I can never thank them enough.

I could see the Lord’s hand in so many ways. From my sister, who alerted me that she thought I was having a stroke when that was the furthest thought from my mind, to the hospital where I was told I had a rare room with a view of trees and the sounds of birds singing. 

And then at the rehab I was given another room that was apparently so much bigger and nicer than all the others that almost every employee who came in was amazed by it, one even asking who I knew in order to get such a room. I’ll tell ya Who!

And later the Lord would show me even the over-medication was allowed by Him. That if I’d gone home when I was originally supposed to, my blood pressure would have come down even more, making the stroke and its affects that much worse.

Then a couple of days before I was scheduled to be discharged, the OT overseeing my case came to my room to give me her evaluation and what I could expect in the future. 

I still could not move my foot or toes at all, not even a little bit, thanks to that over-medication I mentioned. She told me there’s always hope, but she didn’t think I’d be able to move my foot again. 

Stroke in the left side of the brain means right-sided weakness. My right foot. My driving foot.  And for the first time in a little over two weeks, I became distraught, depressed, hopeless. 

The following morning I clashed with the doctor over medication, and that was it. I broke.

I lay there alone, sobbing. 

A woman from housekeeping came in to clean the room, and I tried to pull myself together as she mopped the floor. 

Very kindly she asked why I was there. I told her I’d had a stroke. Her eyes got wide as she said she’d never seen someone so young (ha!) who’d had a stroke, that she thought I’d had some kind of surgery. 

As much as I tried, I couldn’t completely hide the fact that I’d been crying, and that I was still near tears. 

And then the Lord began to speak through her the words I needed to hear. 

“God is with you! He is right here with you, and He’s going to be with you!”

My spirit engaged once again and the tears flowed down my face. My head bowed and nodded in agreement as she continued.

“Sometimes the Lord allows things to happen in order to show His power through us!” 

Right then and there, in that room, I had church. The Lord had brought my own preacher, clad in the power of the armor of God who wielded the sword of the Spirit like a warrior and chased away that stinking rotten enemy.

From the depths of my heart I agreed.  

When she left I was no longer distraught or hopeless, but filled with the joy of the Lord once again.  

With all those professionals I’d seen, it was Libby, a woman from housekeeping, but more so a woman filled with the Holy Spirit, who became my champion and the one who’d lifted my spirit, who’d raised my countenance, who’d helped me back to my feet. 

“So whether you eat or drink
or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31


We need to let go of the thinking that we have to be or do something the world calls “important” in order to be used by God. 

The Lord used fishermen, shepherds, children, a cupbearer. In the world they were overlooked, but in the eyes of God they were deeply loved and chosen to do His will. 

I will never forget Libby or what she did for me that day. She brought her love for the Lord to work with her, and though she had no idea what my feelings about God were, she didn’t hesitate to speak His name, to remind me of the truth, giving Him glory and bringing me back to life. 

I went home two days later, and two days after that my toes began to move. Soon after, my foot. I’m still working on strengthening the muscles, and still waiting for the day when I can drive again, but God’s brought me this far and I know He’ll take me as far as He wants me to go. 

With Him, nothing is impossible. 

For His glory,

 

Saturday Song – Burn the Ships

Posted on by Dorci

The story goes that in 1519 a Spanish explorer and soldier led an expedition in search of the conquest of Mexico. As he claimed authority over one piece of land, he ordered that his ships be burned to keep his men from retreating. (Although the truer story was probably that he had his ships sunk.)

Still, the term “burn the ships” became a trope meaning “no turning back.”  And for us who are in Christ, there is no turning back to the world or to our old way of life. 

We only move forward in faith, with our LORD, the Defeater of Death, into the waters, into the fires, into the valleys, into the victories of a deeper and more abiding faith, no matter what. 

Whatever piece of the world we’re still holding onto, let’s bravely let it go, burn the ship, claim our new life in Him, and take a step into a new day with our Faithful Father, and never look back. 

”But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.’

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.'”
Hebrews 10:38-39

 
 
 
Burn the Ships
by for KING & COUNTRY


How did we get here?All castaway on a lonely shoreI can see in your eyes, dearIt’s hard to take for a moment moreWe’ve got to
 
Burn the ships, cut the tiesSend a flare into the nightSay a prayer, turn the tideDry your tears and wave goodbye
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
Don’t let it arrest youThis fear is fear of fallin’ againAnd if you need a refugeI will be right here until the endOh, it’s time to
 
Burn the ships, cut the tiesSend a flare into the nightSay a prayer, turn the tideDry your tears and wave goodbye
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
So long to shame, walk through the sorrowOut of the fire into tomorrowSo flush the pills, face the fearFeel the wave disappearWe’re comin’ clear, we’re born againOur hopeful lungs can breathe againOh, we can breathe again
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
And don’t you look backAnd don’t you look back

 

To Stand or Not to Stand

Posted on by Dorci

Those of us who have been around a while probably couldn’t have imagined we’d see what we’re witnessing in the world, much less in our own backyards. And we who are in Christ know it’s going to get worse, much worse, before it gets better. 

We stand on the precipice of a new year and we have no idea what it holds. The days seem to be flying by, and the darkness is getting exponentially darker. 

The question is: will we stand through it all? No matter what happens in our personal lives or in the world around us, will we stand in our faith in Christ, holding to the fact that He loves us, that He is good and faithful and righteous and holy, and will we continue loving Him in return with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength?

Will we reject the lies, no matter how subtle they may be, that come from those claiming to know it, but are only a mouthpiece for the enemy, and have the strength and courage to hold onto the truth?

No matter what the world says or thinks or does, will we stand in our witness to it of the good news that Jesus Christ is, that He died for the sins of the world, was raised to life showing His power over death, and that anyone who believes on Him will be saved, and that there is an infinitely better life waiting for us?

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

 

 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” 
Ephesians 6:10-18

 

Compared with much of the rest of the world, the Christian life we’ve lived in the western world has been a relatively easy one, and many have been lulled into a level of complacency. But when someone is arrested for praying, not to mention all the other atrocities we see happening, we know things are changing. 

In the past we may have gotten away with being a little lazy, a little idle, a little worldly in how we live and walk with Christ, but it’s time to be diligent, alert, and discerning. It’s time we abide in the Vine as firmly as we can. 

It’s time we walk worthy of our calling in Christ, “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, {and} press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called {us} heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

***

What are some ways we can ensure we’re abiding (staying, continuing, dwelling, enduring, remaining, standing) in Christ daily? What fruit do you think will be evident in our lives when we are?

***

Heavenly Father, please show each of us the ways we’re clinging to the world, and if there’s any way we can better abide in You so that we might know and love you more, and receive your strength, courage, and boldness to live for you and bring you glory.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

Oh, Those Pop Quizzes

Posted on by Dorci

Remember being in school, having gotten to the end of the semester, maybe the year. You walk into the classroom and sit down, thinking it’s going to be just another ho-hum day, when the teacher walks to the front of the class and announces there’s going to be a pop quiz on everything you’ve learned (or haven’t) up to that point. Soon you find out exactly how well you’ve been paying attention.

I recently had one of those days, not in school, but in life. 

I woke up on a Friday, looking forward to the weekend, and instead found myself hours later in a hospital bed hearing the doctor tell me news I never expected – I’d had a stroke. 

Suddenly I was faced with the constant choice, every minute of every day, with every new twist and turn, to believe what my God had taught me the last 32 years, or not. How well had I truly internalized what I’d read and heard; how well had I learned my lessons in previous “quizzes?” Did I believe He was with me, that His love was true, that in Him my suffering had a purpose, that He would never leave me or forsake me? 

Had I truly walked with my God, my Father, my Savior, my Lord, or had I been kidding myself? 

In the last three months I’ve had a few bad days, when it’s all been just too much, too overwhelming, too “unfair.”

But for the most part I’ve looked around and seen God’s grace and mercy in a myriad of ways. So much grace and mercy. I’ve felt His presence, His indwelling Holy Spirit, giving me joy and hope, even in the face of reasons to have very little.

There are many of those stories to tell, and God willing, I will. 

But the good news is my faith has once again been proven to be real. If it were never real, if it was only a “said” faith – in word only – but no real belief, no indwelling and sealing by the Holy Spirit, I surely would have dropped out by now. 

Oh, I’ve had days where I questioned, I’ve been angry, but God’s been there even in the middle of that. His understanding and compassion no one can fathom. I am still His child and He is still my Father, and no one can separate me from His love.

For a while I’ve kept a flip calendar that has a new scripture for each day. I have yet to flip the page from the one it was on the day my life changed. 

“I will say of the LORD, 
‘He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.'”
Psalm 91:2

Those words have been a reminder to me every day where my hope lies. 

So, when the next trial pops into your life, will you be ready? When your faith is tested, will you persevere because you’ve been learning to trust Him all along? Are you preparing now by seeking Jesus with all your heart, by building on that relationship with Him every day so that you know Him, and when the trial comes, you’ll know He’s where He’s always been – right by your side?

I pray your hope lies in the only One who is completely trustworthy, that your faith, your belief is in His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior, for “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

If not, or if you’re not sure, just ask Him. Ask God to forgive you of your sins, and tell Him you’re putting your faith in His Son Jesus and His blood that was shed on the cross to pay for your sins.

Read, listen, and learn all you can. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love others as yourself. And when life hits you hard, as it does for everyone, you’ll be ready, and He’ll be there. 

 

 

 

One Author, Many Stories

Posted on by Dorci

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

So begins one of the most well-known and best-selling novels of all time. But it doesn’t stand alone. There are countless other stories just as beautifully written and well-regarded. It would be futile to compare them because they’re each beautiful in their own unique way. 


“…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”  
Hebrews 12:1b-2a


It is oh so easy to compare our lives, our stories, to others. In fact, satan encourages it. And with the explosion of social media, it’s easier than ever to become engrained into our psyche, even subconsciously, to compare everything about ourselves and our lives to others. 

What he doesn’t want us to remember is that we have a perfect Author who writes each unique story of faith.

Our Author knows what what’s needed to advance our own particular epic, strengthening our faith, while taking into account our unique hearts and the varying characters and events of our lives, so that our faith is mature and complete. 

Yes, our stories will be different, but every one is written just as thoughtfully and lovingly as the others, each just as beautiful and miraculous.

The one commonality we share in our stories, if we indeed know Him, is our Protagonist, our Hero, the Champion of our faith. 

So whether our stories begin with “Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy” or “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” as long as we continue walking with our Champion, the Author of our faith, we can trust Him with the twists and turns of own adventures, developing our faith until the end.

And then, a new beginning…

 

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Live Unafraid

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your most holy name. We praise you for your faithfulness and goodness. We praise you for your love and for the plans you have that are so great, so glorious, so miraculous, that we cannot even begin to conceive of them. 

Father, when your servants, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful to you and trusted you even in the furnace, you protected them, and because they chose to live unafraid, even King Nebuchadnezzar praised your name.  

Lord, we ask that you would give all of us who believe in Christ the kind of courage and strength and conviction to live unafraid and that the world will see your faithfulness in and through us and have no choice but to praise your name. 

No matter what we’re going through, whether it’s physical, emotional, financial, or even persecution for our faith in you, may we live unafraid, filled with the sure hope we have because of what Christ did for us on the cross and because the Holy Spirit indwells us, knowing that you are an ever-present help in time of need and that you promise to be with us and love us to the end.  

Thank you for giving us all we need to walk victoriously. May we daily avail ourselves of all the riches of your glory in Christ Jesus. It’s in His blessed name we pray, amen. 

Fight the Good Fight

Posted on by Dorci

I’ve talked a few times about the meaning of the words “be strong and courageous” in the Old Testament. The last time, in Be Strong and Very Courageous, I mentioned that this exhortation could be found one time in the New Testament. Now seems like a good time to take a look at that.  

Paul wrote his first letter to his brothers and sisters in Corinth after hearing they were fighting about everything under the sun, and the fellowship of believers was being torn apart by pride, jealousy, sexual immorality, taking one another to court, and the misuse of the Lord’s supper. 

Reminds me of a group of children left to themselves, and spiritually, that is what they were. They were a new church full of new believers. Baby Christians. That’s why Paul writes to them such a long letter as if coming from a father writing home to tell his children – Stop! In Christ, this is how you should think and behave… 

Paul even addresses them by saying “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil, be infants (or innocent of it), but in your thinking be adults.” 1 Cor. 14:20

Then, one of the last things he tells them in his letter (1 Cor. 16:13), is:

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (2011 NIV)

First, the word strong means “to empower, to increase in vigor, to be strengthened.

And courageous. Courageous is good, but as we look back further to the original translations, we begin to get a better, more powerful picture of what’s being said. 

In the 1984 NIV:
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”

The Modern King James Version says it like this:
“Watch! Stand fast in the faith! Be men! Be strong!” 

And (stay with me, I’m going somewhere with this) in the King James Version:
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

That word that’s been translated in modern language as “courageous,” and as “be men of courage,” and in the MKJV which pulls no punches by saying “be men!” is andrizomai, and means “act manly, or quit like men.”

This is the only time this word is used in the NT. 

Of course a phrase like quit you like men is lost on us in the 21st century, so I did some digging. 

In 1 Samuel 4:9, the Philistines encouraged one another in their fight against the Israelites by saying “Be strong, and quit yourselves like men…”  meaning “exist, or become” men. 

Quit in this instance means to conduct or acquit oneself; to behave in a certain manner. 

Of course, just because the phrase is “quit like men” doesn’t mean that leaves out women. At that time it was the men who went to battle, so it makes sense that the origin of the word is phrased that way. But Paul made our identity in Christ clear:

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Galatians 3:26-28

Paul charged believers to not stay spiritual infants, but to mature in their faith, in their behavior, in their love for one another, to fight the good fight, and serve Christ well. 

Fight against the outward enemy, and that of our own flesh that wants our way, in our own time, that sinful nature that is puffed up with pride and doesn’t care how we’re hurting others, or grieving the Holy Spirit.

Fight it to the death.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Paul uses the phrase, “quit like men” straight out of a battle scene told in the scriptures. Four times in his writings he refers to believers as soldiers. 

“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4

We are (in case you haven’t noticed) in a spiritual battle that seems to intensify every day.  

We don’t know what a day will bring. Inwardly, the enemy will do what he can to tempt us to betray who we are in Christ. I’ve seen many who, in the past, claimed to profess a faith, but who have fallen away. Outwardly, Christians are actively being persecuted, tortured, and killed around the world. 

Let us persevere as good soldiers, remaining in Christ, clothed in our spiritual armor, not giving in to fear, but allowing ourselves to be trained by God’s discipline and His Word, and live our lives as maturing, sanctifying, hopeful, believing servants of our Lord, and remember that

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
(from Habbakuk 2:4)

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but to those who have faith and are saved.”
Hebrews 10:38-39

 

Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name and because of Him, we ask you to empower us by your Spirit to grow up in Christ, to walk worthy of our calling, set apart as mature soldiers in the fight against everything that sets itself up against you, to take into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and fight the good fight.  

 

Remember Your Position

Posted on by Dorci

Some wise words from Anne Graham Lotz.


“For you are all sons (those who inherit) of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Galatians 3:26, 4:6-7

Sunday Praise and a Prayer as We Stand Upon the Rock

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. You, Lord, are our Rock, and on you we stand. We declare that as we stand upon You, the Rock of our salvation, we will not be shaken; we will not be moved. You are our Mighty Fortress, our Protector, and we will not fear. 

You are our Strength, our Courage, our sure Hope. No matter what storms rage around us, you are our Peace, and our Light in the darkness. 

You are our Sustenance, our Fountain of living water. 

As we stand upon you and walk in faith, may our lives be a reflection of your great love and grace, and may all we go through magnify and glorify the holy and precious name of Jesus Christ. 

In His name we pray, amen.

* * *

If you would like prayer, please feel free to contact me. 

For His glory,