From Jim Martin’s Encouragement Note…

Some people have a view of faith that suggests that something is wrong if life is anything but ease and comfort.  

Yet, if you and I are serious about discipling our families, we will need to have fresh courage. The life lived in Jesus can bring much joy but with it often comes hard times, challenges, and difficulties. What kind of courage does a person need? 

1. The courage to honor your marriage covenant even though the present season of marriage may not be satisfying.
2. The courage to be faithful to your husband/wife even when you are far from home and opportunities for sin are readily available.
3. The courage to speak boldly against the destructive schemes of Satan even when few seem to be living with restraint. “Everyone else does it.”
4. The courage to confront your children when they need your correction – refusing to close your eyes to wrongdoing like Eli did with his sons (1 Sam. 3:13).
5. The courage to practice obedience to Jesus as Lord even though your flesh may feel you are being deprived of something good by saying “no” to a temptation.
6. The courage to speak the word of the Lord to a fellow Christian who is abandoning his wife/her husband and children for another person.  Refuse to be silent (rationalizing that you are being “supportive”) when your friend is caught up in the deception of the evil one. 
7. The courage to be a family that refuses to use racist language and make racist remarks that belittle persons created in the image of God.
8. The courage to seek boldness gained through prayer instead of a cowardly shrug of the shoulders when you face a moral challenge. “Oh well, I’m not perfect.”
9. The courage needed for dads to abandon passivity leaving precious children to fend for themselves in an evil world.
10. The courage to model personal holiness and purity in an R-rated culture.

Where do we get such courage?  We get courage from our hope in the Lord (Ps. 31:24). We get courage from the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31).  We get courage from knowing that God is with us (Josh. 1:9; Heb. 13:6).  

Maybe this courage begins as you and I take one step toward toward what might be hard, difficult, and challenging, believing that God is with us.