The Elephant In Your Living Room

There are several elements to courage that are always there. When we follow through with what we need to do, even though we don’t want to do it, we will see all these elements come to pass.

ELEMENTS TO COURAGE

1. Courage takes boldness - To Face your fears

Fear, in it self, can rule us and paralyze us if we let it. Fear of the unknown is overwhelming if we allow the thoughts to take over our minds.

He’s been faithful before, He will be faithful again… He’s been faithful to me.

One thing I have found to combat fear in my life is to remind myself of God’s faithfulness. I remember situations in my past that God has brought me through and I tell myself that He will bring me through this too.

We must remember that retreating from our fears only brings weakness. It also multiplies the fear in our minds and it becomes even bigger than reality.

I know as I have done it in my life. Then, instead of facing something small and manageable, we face a puffed up illusion of the fear. This can only bring torment and pain. This is the enemies work too. We have to recognize it for what it is. God is not a God of fear. He is a God of courage. So, if you face any fears in your life, realize God wants you to have courage. Pray and ask God what you should do. Should you confront the fear? Should you wait? Should you just let the fear go and trust God for the outcome?

This week I have had to look at some “scary” fears in my life. As I looked at them, I let them overwhelm me and I began to retreat and want to give up. Courage was not in me at all.

This is rather hard for me to share this with you as I struggle with a fear of people thinking I am not a strong woman of God, or weak in the face of fear. But as I started to retreat, I turned around and looked at the fear. It became even bigger to me. I stopped and walked right up to it and saw it finally for what it was; fiction. Fear is fiction, at least the fear I was facing. It was not reality. I had allowed the fear of man, and fear of my past, to paralyze and prevent me from moving on with my life, and with ministry.

THE OPPOSITE OF FEAR IS FAITH! Ask God for a measure of faith to face your fears head on.

One of my fears is not measuring up to other people. I have always felt “less than” others. This fear has blown up so big in my life this past week. I was shocked at the size I had allowed it to get. My insecurities and weaknesses were so huge in my mind that they seemed insurmountable. But the only way I will overcome them is to face them and push myself towards them. I am determined to not be in bondage to my fears. We all have them; it is how we deal with them that really determine what we will do in life. So I have made a determination in my heart to walk towards my fears instead of retreating or finding a place to hide.

Some friends pointed out some of my fears to me. It was like the big “Elephant in the living room” syndrome. Everyone sees you have a big elephant in your living room, as matter of fact it is taking up all the extra space for anyone to sit down and fellowship with you. Yet, you have no clue that the elephant is there.

I can imagine a comedy skit of a big elephant in the living room and people are sitting down on the couches or chairs trying to drink a cup of coffee and fellowship with you, but the elephant is so big that it is sitting in everyone’s lap. Still you don’t even acknowledge it being there and you try to strike up a conversation with people. Everyone else sees the elephant and knows what needs to be done, but you are totally ignoring the obvious.

It takes courage to face our fears.

2. Courage knows God is always there - Realize you are not alone

Often times we think we have to face our fears alone. That makes our fears even worse. We think we are the only one to figure out what to do. We have to realize we are never alone, we always have God. He is constantly speaking to our heart words of help, direction, encouragement, and peace. We just have to tune our spiritual ears into His frequency.