This is how courage is the gateway to your destiny

Courage is doing the right thing.

My wife proved it recently when a UPS box arrived with 15 pairs of expensive tennis shoes.

They were the same brand as a pair she had recently purchased.  The local store not only mailed her some shoes she ordered but mistakenly shipped her a huge box full!

She immediately called the store to report it, and the manager said, “I can’t believe you called us about it.”

Of course, she did.  

They were so thankful they gave her a complimentary pair of her favorite tennis shoes!

Courage brings destiny.

What step of courage are you looking at that could be the trigger for an outstanding promotion, protection, or accomplishment?

1. Courage could be honesty.

Honesty is hard.  It exposes something as untruthful or wrong, even if it involves you.

Your refusal to participate in something wrong takes courage.

When the nation participated, the three young Hebrew men in Daniel 3 refused to bow to a 90-foot idol.  The problem?  It was wrong.  It was against their conscience.

Courage follows the conscience, not the crowd.

 2. Courage is being willing to die for what is essential.

Most people are “followed by fear.”  They analyze every move on whether it could cause them personal harm.

Courage says, “Is it important enough to be willing to sacrifice everything (including myself) for it?”

Esther, the queen, risked her life to go before the King on behalf of her people, the Jews.  Her famous statement was, “If I perish, I perish.”

What important thing have you backed away from because it could cost you everything?

3. Courage is believing in God’s Word.

It is true when God says something in His Word (the Bible).  It is “truth.”

When you believe it, it will “en-courage” you.

Paul was on a ship in the Mediterranean, hopelessly lost, when an angel appeared and told him, “Take courage.  You must stand before Caesar.”  

When he told the other 275 passengers on the ship, they were encouraged and ate bread for the first time in 14 days.  Not one of them perished.

FIND A SCRIPTURE that fits your case.  Hang on to it for dear life.  Quote it daily.  It buoys your spirit when your mind says, “There is no hope.”

4. Courage is how to impact our world.

The store manager drove immediately to our home to retrieve the misplaced $1500-2000 worth of shoes.  She thanked my wife again for being so honest.

What choice did my wife have?  

How can we affect our world if we don’t dare to admit when we are wrong and “do what Christ would do?”

Courage could make a difference in your destiny this week.  All the talk about Christianity can’t affect the lost world like one act of Christian courage.

There is a reward for courage, by the way.  It could be a pair of tennis shoes….or an eternal reward at Heaven’s throne!