Does a person just wake up one morning and decide that he or she is just going to ‘be courageous’, or is it more of continual, on-going process? For some, the latter may be true, but for others, shedding your old self and eliminating those 5 Courage Killer Characteristics like being held Captive by what people say. Lack of Confidence- Corner-minded thinking- Compromise and Comparison is a difficult process to break, but well worth it. When trying to emerge into a new person, we must allow God to change us from the inside out, until we are the embodiment of a person who has enough gumption and faith to be led by His voice and instructions.
We must ask God not only to endow us with courage, for when we are scared and do not want to face the adversity ahead but to change us so that being courageous is an integral part of who you are. When we do face a challenge, we can pull and gain strength from the original source, God, and not fear, self-deprecation and judgments that have clouded our hearts, minds, and spirits. Imagine for a second, you are warrior engaged in the most intense warfare of your life, and just when need to muster up enough willpower to deliver the final blow, to subvert your enemy, you fail. You’re instead, trying to obtain power from sources that have poured nothing but hate, malice or indifference into the places God wants to protect, making you lose focus on your mission. You are in a battle to win for yourself and God, so that he may get the glory. Your goal should not be to prove other people wrong about you or become so entangled by the thoughts in your mind, you give up fighting altogether. Psalms 121:1-2 reads:
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
The Lord is your help. He wants you to win-He’s on your side. He’s given you the battle plan, strategies, and performed miracles signs and wonders on your behalf, and all you have to do is fight, knowing you have already won. Yes, already won. The very thought makes us excited but it doesn’t make the fight any less arduous, nor our opponents any less real, burly or intimidating. As long as we do get distracted, by what we see or heard from the other sources the victory is ours. Being held captive by those maladaptive thoughts keep us in bondage and defers our victory. Let’s examine the behavior and thoughts of the Israelites in Number’s chapter 13. God, wanted to give them the land of Canaan. Moses, being obedient to the Lord, sent spies to the Canaan to size up their enemies. In verse 3o, one of the spies Caleb came back with a message:
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Caleb knew that God is not a God that he should lie, and was ready to fight for a land he knew would be flowing with milk and honey. The rest of the Israelites were not. In verse 31-33 they state:
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”  33 There we saw the giants[d] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Here is a primary example of the Courage Killers at work: They are 1. held Captive by what people say. As soon as they hear the report from Caleb, they are dubious and struck by fear. 2. Lack of Confidence, to possess the land God says they can have. 3. Have Corner-minded thinking. 4. They Compromise their blessing. 5. They Compare themselves to others.
God had already promised them the land, but they didn’t see that, and they lacked the courage to go forward. The keywords to focus on here is, in our sight. The Israelites were still behaving like enslaved people, even though they had been set free. Their hearts and minds failed them. The Israelites had a war in their mind and thought processes, though they were physically free, but their minds were still in Egypt.
It is imperative that we break free from an “Egypt Mentality”, and the chains of a defeated mind. We must realize that when we accept Jesus Christ in our hearts, we are made new in him. There might even be someone who has been saved for a while and is need of a refreshing, and your armor is looking kind of rusty, and you want God to make you new and whole again. He will do for you because He loves you and is on your side. Keep speaking the word over your life and be free.
2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. We are made new. I am made new. The next time it seems like courage or confidence eludes us we need to remember this word, keep it in our hearts. This also includes developing a renewed mind. This will enable all of us to stop mentally downloading from sources that we shouldn’t, during battle.
The next time we face an adversary in life, no matter the circumstance, we need to fight as new creatures and not our old selves, nor should we use old defense mechanisms and behavior patterns and except to be triumphant. We must instead, guard our hearts and mind and use the word of God like the double edge sword that it is.
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
We will realize the word is living and has power, and put on the full armor, God. When we do this, we will embody courage in its fullness. We won’t go into battle masquerading as warriors, but know, that we true warriors in GOD.