22 December 2014

A Little Girl with Big Courage

(Lessons from the Little Maid)
And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
2 Kings 5:3-4

When is the last time you did something that took courage?
This little maid had a lot of courage to speak up for the good of her Master and for the glory of her God.
She didn't let thoughts like, “What will they think of me? What will happen to me?” stop her.
She was more concerned about her Master than about herself.

Doing what's right often takes courage. To be different, to share the Gospel, to give out a tract, to invite someone to church, to witness, to speak up for God, to speak up for someone when they're being criticized or gossiped about, to be friendly to someone new or different all takes courage.
To apologize and admit you are wrong takes courage.
To own up and take the blame takes courage.

HOW can we have courage? To have courage we need to forget ourselves and instead think about the other person.
Or if it's a case of standing up for God and what is right we need forget ourselves and think of God.

I remember one time when I was a teenage girl that I did something that took me a lot of courage. I will tell you about it. (The names are changed)
In my teenage years I ran a Sunday School and a Girl's 4 God Club. There were 2 different girls from the community who came to both. Stacy had 2 friends who were sisters and the Chloe lived across from these same 2 girls. (These 2 girls were not Christians and didn't go to church or anything Christian.) So when I saw Stacy or picked up Chloe I saw or thought of these 2 girls. I knew I should invite them to my Girl's Club, but... I didn't want to. Why? Because I was afraid of their mum! I had seen her a few times and she was a loud person, always growling her girls. I was sure she would get angry at me too if I asked.
Finally, one day, I got an invite to my Girl's Club and knocked on their door in fear and trembling. I was in for a pleasant surprise. The mother answered the door and was very friendly to me. She told me it was up to the girls—they could go if they wanted to.
They started coming to my Girl's Club. Their friend Stacy told me, “They'd never be allowed to go to church!” But not long after, they started coming to church aswell! Some time later they went off to boarding school and when I got married I moved away. So I’ve lost contact with them now, but I am so glad that I invited them so they had a chance to learn about God and hear the Gospel. Maybe it's the only chance they ever got!
But I had to stop thinking of myself and what might happen to me and instead think of how much they needed to hear about God. I needed to think “What will they think of me on judgment day if I don't?”

To have courage you need to love God and others more than you love yourself.

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