The Power Of Courage!

By Pastor Vinnie

According to a Washington Post poll[i] America’s top 12 fears are;

12. Ghosts

11. Clowns

10. Darkness

  9. Zombies

  8. Strangers

  7. Flying (airplanes)

  6. Claustrophobia

  5. Blood/Needles

  4. Drowning

  3. Bugs/Snakes/etc.

  2. Heights

  1. Public Speaking[ii]

Everyone fears something and those fears don’t need to be rational. Zombies and Clowns? –Really America, really? And that is the thing about fear; it is not rational. It is hardwired into to us ever since the fall.

Before the fall there was no such thing as fear. Why? There was no reason for it. There was no danger to worry about. We lived in perfect unity with creation and God.  Yet, tragically, “The Fall” changed all of that.

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”[iii]

Fear is spiritual and fear is emotional. Fear is even physical, a biochemical, seemingly uncontrollable, response of living in a broken, and now dangerous, world. Man was not meant to live in a dangerous world. Man was not meant to have to think about his own survival.

According to the mental health website Very Well Mind,  “Fear is a natural emotion and a survival mechanism. When we confront a perceived threat, our bodies respond in specific ways.”[iv]We begin to sweat, our heart rate races, pupils dilate, the bronchi dilate,[v] both the amygdala the hippocampus activate, and adrenaline levels spike putting us in “fight or flight mode.” In essence, your body overrides all your mind’s default settings to do whatever is needed to survive! If it means a fight to the death or to flee to ensure you remain, the auto-response can be so powerful that it shuts out higher critical thinking.

Imagine Adam, who just the other day cuddled up to the Lion as a pillow, now one day after the fall has now become today’s dinner menu for that same Lion! This is not the time for critical thinking or a pause for theologically pondering of what his sin has caused in the world. It is time to be scared, run for your life, and live to ponder another day! It is a good thing fear causes us to flee danger rather than explore it. Had Adam stopped to ponder the sudden anger of his furry pillow- friend you would not be here reading this blog! Fear has its proper place! Dread, terror, and angst, all belong because the world has fallen and the danger is real! Angst exists to make to dread what could now be.

Sin robbed us of security. Sin robbed us of safety. Sin robbed us of always having control of our higher functions. In some ways sin has made us slaves to our base emotions, if not at all times, at least as a new default setting. We are cowards because, in this world, there are a lot of very good reasons to be cowards!

Maybe that is why the Bible tells us a whopping 365 times, “Do Not Fear!” That is at least once for every day of the year! God knows fallen man’s default emotion and biological wiring is to fear. And God’s call on our life is that through his promises we can live above and beyond our default lower settings!

The Apostle of Love, John the Beloved, takes the issue full, HD, 4k high definition for us when he declares,

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”[vi]

Perfect love cast out fear. Sure, we still need to run from lions. However, if you have not thought it out yet, let me help you. The average lion runs at the speed of 80km per hour (50mph)[vii] while the average human runs at 44.72 km (28mph) [viii]. That means the speed of Grace is G= 50-28mph! Hahaha! Run as fast as you can! But you are only going to make it because God loves you! If this was math we’d say, solve for love, L=Surviving the Lions of your Life!

Fallen men cannot overcome their base fears. Sin has hard-wired him to “fight or flight” responses. However, when we live out of the perfect love of God’s Grace we can live in God inspired Courage!

Moses charged Joshua;

“Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance.  The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”[ix]

It was by faith in the perfect love of God that;

• David had the courage to slay Goliath!

• Daniel had the courage to spend the night in the lion’s den!

• Moses had the courage to die on the mountain never having been in the Promised Land!

• Esther had the courage to go boldly into the King’s throne room unannounced!

• Elijah had the courage to stand against the pagan priests of Baal!

• John the Baptist had the courage to baptize Jews in defiance of the Sanhedrin!

• Nicodemus and Joseph had the courage to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus!

• Paul had the courage to push on to get to Rome even at the cost of his very life!

“But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”[x] Because they know they cannot walk or run fast enough, on their own, and it is only God’s perfect love, and grace, that lifts them up on Eagle’s wings and makes up the difference (Grace=Lion Speed-Human Speed). Courage means understanding, even before you come face to face with your fear, God’s love protects you, watches over you, and puts you where you need to be. Because, only God’s Grace can do what the amygdala the hippocampus, adrenaline spikes cannot complete!

Having courage means, daily placing your salvation in the hands of God, not at the feet of fear.

I use to have a Pastoral mentoring group I attended monthly as a young, new pastor. The older, well-seasoned wise pastor, who was our mentor, often choose to communicate throughout the month, via emails. I never got an email from that mentor, not even once, where the signature line right about his name was not a charge to us younger Pastors to have Courage![xi] As a young pastor facing new, scary challenges all the time. I felt like Joshua hearing Moses tell him, no matter what you face on the other side of the river of ministry, “Be strong and courageous… The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged!”

Dear readers, I say to you, God loves you, perfect love casts out fear…

Courage, and Onward into The Battle!

–Vinnie out.

Courage, and Onward into The Battle!

Footnotes:

[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/30/clowns-are-twice-as-scary-to-democrats-as-they-are-to-republicans/?utm_term=.54334c42419a

[ii] I am not sure what that means for people like me who do America’s worst fear for a living!

[iii] Genesis 3:8-10

[iv] https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-fear-2671696

[v] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-brain-feel-fear-180966992/

[vi] 1 John 4:18

[vii] https://www.speedofanimals.com/animals/lion

[viii] https://www.iamlivingit.com/running/average-human-running-speed

[ix] Deuteronomy 31:7,8

[x] Isaiah 40:31

[xi] Thank you, Pastor Dale Long!

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Fight The Good Fight!

By Pastor Vinnie MacIsaac

Related Podcast:

Spiritual warfare is a reality! If you are not in the ring with your “dukes up,” that Devil is going to clock you so hard that you will wake up the middle of next week as an unbeliever. Just because you don’t see demonic possession, familiar spirits, and or voodoo doctors on your street corner don’t you think that means there is no danger in your modern world.

The truth is, the Devil does not need to spook you with horror movie theatrics or creepy things that “go bump in the night,” because modern mankind, “loves darkness instead of the light that came into our world because our deeds are full of evil.”[i]

When your world is already full of evilness on all sides, that Serpent of old, that slithery Snake, does not need to slip into your spiritual life through Witch Doctors, Ouija Boards, or any of that Beetlejuice type stuff.[ii] He already has full-time access through your own darkened mind and heart.[iii] We see the world through darkened eyesight of fallen beings. Instead of acknowledging all the protection, guardian angels, grace, and last-minute saves God provides us with, we only see struggles, trials, hurts, and suffering. We focus on the losses and rarely, if ever, even remember the wins.

Are you getting knocked around by life? Maybe you are getting straight-up clobbered, kicked in the rear, and knocked down? That is part of being in the ring. And I guess if you get brutalized and pummeled enough, things go dark on you. That is normally exactly what happens and If you are not careful when you get all “dazed and confused,” your world starts spinning and it gets dark, really dark. That means only one thing, you’re about to go down for the count!

When I was growing up the prevailing advice about a good fight was you knocked the other person out before they knocked you out. You did whatever it took to knock the other side down. After all, if you let them get the jump on you, you might not ever get a chance to fight back! You had to fight fire with fire. If they were dirty, you were dirtier. If they were mean, you were meaner. If they fought to win, you won before they had the chance. Like the old 80’s trash-talk phrase went, “There will be only two hits, me hitting you, and you hitting the ground!” It was eating or be eaten, right?

The Apostle Paul, however, has a whole different approach to that good fight in the ring of life. As believers, we need to consider it this sage idea.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Do I still fight with the weapons of this world?

Seriously, you can’t win God’s fight using the Devil’s weapons. It is called a good fight for a reason. Christians fight with honor, a higher calling, integrity, and always, only with Godly methods. Those who fight fire with fire, likely are practicing to be children of hellfire.

If we fight greed, we overcome it with giving. If we fight oppression we overthrow it setting captives free. If we fight lust we rise above it by glaring into the beauty of Jesus. If we fight gluttony, we fight it by eating more of the Bread of Life. If we fight covetousness we conquer it by giving all that we have to Jesus!

The Apostle Paul gave direct instruction to his young protégé, Timothy, on exactly how he expected Timothy to fight his battles. His words to Timothy come to us all as a charge into the battle we all must fight daily.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6: 12

In other words, you can’t be fighting “The Good Fight” if by, God’s mercy and grace, you are not being good! It only makes sense, God’s war in your life against Satan, will not be won with unholy hands!

Stop, look down at your hands? Are they bathed in the Baptism of Jesus? Or are they set afire with the fury of hell? Just stop, pause, allow the Holy Spirit to soothe you, collect you, and assess you. Is your motivation hate or righteousness? Ask God to show you; because the battle belongs to the Lord.[iv] I have news for you. If you are fighting the Lord’s fight with Satan’s sword in your hands, you not only have already lost, but you have switched sides in the fray, and you are swinging that blade against the Kingdom of God! Stop swinging your weapons at the cause of Christ!

Listen to Paul: “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” You battle death and darkness with light and life! You kick hell to the curb by overpowering this world with the Kingdom that is coming! You send the devil his eviction notice by letting God’s will be done on Earth, in you, as it is also done in Heaven by Him.[v] You kill darkness, by shining light!

You win the fight, by getting yourself out of the ring and tagging Jesus in for the knockout!

Paul gives Timothy, a list of weapons he is permitted to bring into the fight, and they are all weapons that Jesus works through for the final knockdown!

“But you, man of God, flee from all this (the devils’ ways), and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith!” 1 Timothy 6: 11-12a

 How does Jesus fight through the sanctified you in the ring?

Only through sanctified means; Righteousness, Godliness, Faith, Love, Endurance, and Gentleness.

Let’s kick Satan to the curb. Let’s beat back the hounds of hell. Let’s serve that Snake his final eviction notice from our lives. Let’s smash down those gates of Hell[vi] Let’s fight that good fight!

And oh, let’s, above all things, fight the good fight with goodness, because that is what makes it a good fight and not a dirty fight. In the act of casting out demons let us not call on the power of Beelzebub. Fighting fire with fire, only gets you burned by hell’s fire in that final destruction that Jesus reserved for the devil and his Angels.[vii]

Fight evil with Goodness. Because it is a good and worthy fight! And it is the very goodness of God that comes into the heart and mind of the believers[viii], empowering them with new weapons to defeat old foes. The goodness of the good fight is Jesus in you, fighting in your ring, which is your heart, mind, and soul swinging for the victory. I say, tag in Jesus, it’s time for the knockout!

Postscript:

This blog was inspired in part by the lyrics of a song my good buddy Darrell Ellis wrote.

It’s Time To Tag In Jesus

Darrel Ellis, IT guy by day, Superhero by night!
Seriously, the biggest Superman fan I know!

“When burdens and temptations turn your whole world upside down

And no matter where you look, it seems that a true friend can’t be found

Well, life is like a wrestling match and your precious soul’s the cost

Its time to tag in Jesus before the main event is lost

The title belt’s a mansion that’s waiting up on high

And Satan knows he can’t win if you just refuse his lies

There’s a Saviour in your corner and he’s waiting for your call

Its time to tag in Jesus and watch the devil fall

Your referee’s the Father, and your partner’s Christ the Son

The day he cried “Its Finished” was the day this match was won

He’s the champion of champions, the undisputed king of kings

Its time to tag in Jesus and let Him do His thing

He’ll bodyslam ol’ Satan to the firey pits of hell

The devil won’t know what hit him when they ring the final bell

So when demons gather round you and it seems there’s no way out

Its time to tag in Jesus, He’ll score the big knock-out”

 (c) Darrell Wesley Ellis II PAu003367711 / 2008-10-14 Electronic file (eService)

Footnotes:

[i] A paraphrase of John 3:19

[ii] That is in no way an endorsement of the occult. Such things should be forsaken by all serious Christians. See Leviticus 20:6-27, Deuteronomy 18:10-11, Jeremiah 27:9, Leviticus 19:31, Isaiah 19:3, Acts 16:16-18.

[iii] The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

[iv] 1 Samuel 17:47

[v] Matthew 6:10

[vi] Matthew 16:18

[vii] Matthew 25:41

[viii] Ezekiel 11:19, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10

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