“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Webster's dictionary defines courage as being bold, brave, fearless and heroic. The original Hebrew for courage here in Deuteronomy is “aw-mats.” It means to establish, fortify, harden and strengthen yourself in the Lord God Almighty. When we combine the two together, we see that in order to be bold, brave, fearless Christians, we must first establish and strengthen ourselves in the faith of our God.
This is the problem with the majority of the Church today. You've got people who try to stand up to satan and all the evil forces of darkness in their own strength. It can't be done. This is the reason we've lost so many to the other side. It's time we fortify ourselves in the strength and power of our God, then move out courageously into the battlefields.
It is time we got some true godly courage back in us. It’s high time we stop backing down to the devil. It's time we quit giving place to him. It’s time we wash that yellow streak off of our backs, square our shoulders, hold our heads up high and boldly and triumphantly march on for Jesus. It’s time we held that bloodstained banner up high in the air. Take courage, soldier. The battle and the victory are ours.
There are two specific examples of courage in the Old Testament that I want to show you.
First, is courage when the opposition seems bigger than you:
“And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:32)
I can see the young teenager David, the youngest of Jesse's eight sons standing here telling the king of Israel this statement. No doubt the courage of David was unmatched or unparalleled at this time in the camp of Israel. Saul had sent for David because he had heard the statement David had made to his brothers; “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Shouldn't we be making the same statement about the devil? Why don't we take the courage of David and say, “for who is this devil, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
No doubt if it had been you or I going out there to face this giant courage probably would have been the last thing we would have exhibited. David, though, marches straight towards Goliath. When he gets within talking distance, he cries out to Goliath; “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield, But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, for the battle is the Lords.” This is the answer to true Godly courage. This is why we should have courage in the midst of our battles. The battle is not ours, but it is the Lords. And if the battle is the Lord's, that also means that the battle is already won!
The second type of courage is when the easy way out is conformity, but yet you stand firm in the faith.
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:16-17)
Here, the three Hebrew boys, who once were governors over the affairs of the province of Babylon, are now faced with a situation that seemed almost inescapable. Fall down and worship a false god, which would mean compromising their beliefs, or death. No choice, right? Wrong. These three knew who their God was and what He could do. They told the king to just go ahead and throw them into that furnace because they knew their God could and would deliver them.
They took courage in a time where it seemed compromise was the only way out. Understand this–compromise is never an option! When the devil comes at you to compromise; when friends come at you to compromise, take courage in your God. He will deliver you out of the hand of the oppressor. After those three Hebrew boys had been cast into the furnace, which was turned up 7 times hotter than normal, Nebuchadnezzar looked into that furnace and said; “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? Lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Take courage, fellow warriors. You might have to go through the fiery furnace, but behold, the Son of God will be by your side.