How To Take Courage With This One Change
The New Testament book of Acts contains a fantastic story about Paul, one of the most prominent Christian figures in the Scriptures. After becoming a follower of Jesus, Paul spent many years traveling around the world preaching, building churches, and writing what eventually became about a third of the New Testament of the Bible.
His strong influence threatened the power structure of Judaism and the Roman Empire. One day, Paul was preaching to a large crowd in Jerusalem when a riot broke out, instigated by people who disagreed with his message about Jesus’ resurrection. The leaders feared he’d be torn apart, and they had him arrested. This was a terrifying, life-threatening moment. But that night, the Lord appeared to Paul and said:
Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. (Acts 23:11)
Specifically, there are two things that jump out at me in this Scripture: the mandate “take courage” and the word “Rome.”
God speaks to Paul at a terrible moment in his life. This statement might not seem profound at first, but if you think through the historical significance and what Paul is being told, it’s a game-changer. This, Jesus tells Paul to take courage, was not a promise that there would not be a difficulty on his journey to Rome. It was a promise that He had a plan for Paul and that in spite of the difficulty Paul would face, God would be with him and help Paul get to where he needed to go.
See, in order for Paul to get to his God-dreamed future, he first had to take courage with him. There were many times on this journey when Paul could have easily given up, but he always remembered that he was called to Rome. God knew it wasn’t going to be an easy road, and setbacks were inevitable. So, we must take courage with us, even on the hard roads. We have to take courage with us and not allow setbacks or difficult circumstances discourage us from getting to our God- dreamed future.
Now, considering the context, the reference to Rome might be an even more powerful statement. At that moment, Paul was receiving a gift--a clear picture of his God-dreamed future, which was to eventually travel to Rome. He was given an opportunity and called to Rome to share the gospel in the most influential city in the world. However, it took Paul two long and difficult years to actually get to Rome. Among other setbacks, Paul encountered arrests, jail time, being shipwrecked, and snakebitten, and he even received death threats. And when trials and challenges came at him and moments of discouragement crept in, he had this powerful tool: the vision of his destiny. Central to Paul maintaining his courage was his certainty on his calling to go to Rome and not allowing alternative options to deter him from his God- dreamed future.
These principles are just as much for us as they were for Paul. We also must take courage with us as we navigate our personal, God-dreamed future, and we, too, must hold an image of our preferred future in our mind.
How? Start by doing this one thing:
Focus On Your Future
In order to proceed with courage, we must keep a clear image of our preferred future in our minds. But what if we have an idea of where our God-dreamed future is taking us, but we can’t articulate it? What if we can’t envision it happening and see the details? Sometimes we have to learn to speak “deferred truth” to ourselves.
Take Thomas Edison, for instance. He had such a clear picture of what he was going to create that in his mind it was already real even if it hadn't already been realized. As told in Edmund Morris’s book Edison, there was an occasion where an engineer would speak about present reality instead of the future Edison saw. Edison had to teach him instead to speak “deferred truth.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are in a “less than” reality in many ways. This difficult season has impacted our families, communities, and jobs in not-so-positive ways. But since we know that God has given us a better future, we need to embrace deferred truth and not passively accept a less-than reality.
What better reality do you see for your business? Keep articulating that.
What better reality do you see for your children this year? Keep articulating that.
What better reality do you see for your finances? Keep articulating that.
What better reality do you see for our church? Keep articulating that.
Remember that God has not changed His mind about you. And if you will cooperate with Him, He will work to bring your God-dreamed future to pass.
When you accept your God-dreamed future and take courage, you can trust that He is fulfilling every good purpose.