March 12, 2016 Courage To Believe Change
Saturday March 12, 2016
In the Bible we read about a man named Gideon. He was discouraged and had little self-respect. His family was extremely poor, and he was the least in his family. An angel appeared and called to him, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12 NLT). Gideon didn’t feel, or look like, a mighty hero. God was calling him to deliver his people from their enemies and Gideon felt inadequate in the face of a great task. God, however, could see his potential and simply said, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16 NLT). By the end of the story, Gideon had become the deliverer of his people (Judges 6-8). His first step toward success was finding the courage to change. What in Gideon needed to change? Gideon needed to see himself as God saw him – a mighty hero.
Many of us feel weak and think we are failures. We had problems that we chose to find relief from through addiction. We can’t begin to count the bad choices we made or the failure we’ve been at trying to put our life back together again. As we come into recovery, we wonder how God could possibly care about people like us and believe that we could have a successful life. Just like Gideon, we need to find courage to change – courage to see life, even our life, as God sees it.
God wants to come and live in us and strengthen us to overcome all the obstacles we foresee. No matter what we need, God can and will supply it. Our part is to trust God and begin to see ourselves as He sees us.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Isaiah 41:10 NIV, Philippians 4:13 NLT)
God gives us the strength we need for each difficulty we encounter, just like He did for Gideon. This in turn builds faith in us that we do have the courage to change those things we can and be victorious in every battle.
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