One of my favorite scenes in The Wizard of Oz is when Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion are standing in front of the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz. The lion, who is the king of beasts, is afraid. He goes there to get courage. And yet we see him fleeing down the corridor totally afraid. Talk about cowardice! And yet, what about us? As Christians who have believed in the One God and His only Son Jesus, do we have courage in our God or are we terrified all the time? All throughout the Bible we see God telling different ones to be courageous. Consider Joshua. In the first chapter of the book that bears his name we see God telling him to “be strong and courageous” three times and to “be strong and very courageous” once. In leading the people to the promised land he would need this reassurance from God. We know the end of Joshua’s story. Joshua was strong and courageous and at the end of his book he could say, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (NASB) Or consider as an example of courage the man Daniel. When a decree has been signed that would forbid anyone to pray to anyone other than Darius, he opened his windows and prayed as he always had. It did not matter that the person who did this would be cast into a den of lions. Sure enough, he was caught and thrown in the lion’s den. Only God protected him and caused the lions to ignore him. (Daniel 6) Or consider Peter and John in the New Testament speaking out boldly for Christ. They never wavered even though persecution came to them. We read, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20 (NASB) One thing we in the Lord’s church need today is to be bold enough to speak out about Christ Jesus to all of those who will listen. God will be with us so we do not have to be afraid. So, how’s your courage at this moment? Strong, I hope. One of my favorite scenes in The Wizard of Oz is when Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow and the lion are standing in front of the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz. The lion, who is the king of beasts, is afraid. He goes there to get courage. And yet we see him fleeing down the corridor totally afraid. Talk about cowardice! And yet, what about us? As Christians who have believed in the One God and His only Son Jesus, do we have courage in our God or are we terrified all the time? All throughout the Bible we see God telling different ones to be courageous. Consider Joshua. In the first chapter of the book that bears his name we see God telling him to “be strong and courageous” three times and to “be strong and very courageous” once. In leading the people to the promised land he would need this reassurance from God. We know the end of Joshua’s story. Joshua was strong and courageous and at the end of his book he could say, “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (NASB) Or consider as an example of courage the man Daniel. When a decree has been signed that would forbid anyone to pray to anyone other than Darius, he opened his windows and prayed as he always had. It did not matter that the person who did this would be cast into a den of lions. Sure enough, he was caught and thrown in the lion’s den. Only God protected him and caused the lions to ignore him. (Daniel 6) Or consider Peter and John in the New Testament speaking out boldly for Christ. They never wavered even though persecution came to them. We read, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20 (NASB) One thing we in the Lord’s church need today is to be bold enough to speak out about Christ Jesus to all of those who will listen. God will be with us so we do not have to be afraid. So, how’s your courage at this moment? Strong, I hope.