COURAGE
Courage...is
the indispensable requisite of any true ministry...Courage is good everywhere,
but it is necessary here. If you are
afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them...But do not
keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you
to declare, but what they hire you to say.
Quoted in: Who Will Be Saved? Edited by: House, Paul and Thornbury,
Gregory, Crossway, 2000, p. 101.
The badge of
courage does not require that we walk through something dangerous. It simply
requires that we continue to share God's love whenever and wherever we are.
Tom White
Voice of the Martyrs.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but
the form of every virtue at the testing point.
C.S. Lewis
After the
respite, the Christians again came under persecution, this time from Marcus
Aurelius, in A.D. 61. One of those who
suffered this time was Polycarp, the venerable bishop pf
Smyrna...As he entered the stadium with his guards, a voice from heaven was
heard to say, "Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man." No one nearby saw anyone speaking but many
people heard the voice. Brought before
the tribunal and the crowd, Polycarp refused to deny Christ, although the
proconsul begged him to "consider yourself and have pity on your great
age. Reproach Christ and I will release
you." Polycarp replied,
"Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never once wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King, who saved
me?" Threatened with wild beasts
and fire, Polycarp stood his ground.
John Foxe
From Foxe’s Christian Martyrs, published by
Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, OH.
Page 11. Used by permission.
Only those
who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Elliot
True courage
is not the absence of fear – but the willingness to proceed in spite of it.
Author Unknown
Cowardice
asks the question: “Is it safe?” Consensus asks the question: “Is it popular?”
Courage asks the question: “Is it right?”
Rod
Rogers
Copied from: Pastor Driven Stewardship: 10 Steps to
Lead Your Church to Biblical Giving by Rod Rogers, © 2006, p. 11. Used by
permission of Rod Rogers – www.DynamicGiving.com.
All rights reserved.
Yet, surely,
there must be some who will fling aside the (cowardly) love of peace, and speak
out for our Lord, and for His truth. A
craven spirit is upon man, and their tongues are paralyzed. Oh, for an outburst of true faith and holy
zeal.
C.H. Spurgeon
Courage we
shall need, and for the exercise of it we have as much reason as necessary, if
we are soldiers of King Jesus.
C.H. Spurgeon
Exposition of Psalm 27.
Courage is
that quality of mind which enables people to encounter danger or difficulty firmly,
without fear or discouragement.
Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 59.
The fear of
the Lord tends to take away all other fears. …This is the secret of Christian
courage and boldness.
Sinclair B. Ferguson
Grow in Grace, by permission of Banner of
Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1989, p. 33- 34.
It is easier
to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one
intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.
A.A. Hodge
Christians
without courage are a strange and pathetic contradiction and a constant
hindrance to revival.
Richard Owen Roberts
Preaching that Hinders Revival,
Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 2.