Wearing Our Courage

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled, Wearing Our Courage, was written by Mike Whitmer. Andrew lives in a country that's closed to the gospel. When I asked him how he keeps his faith a secret, he said, he doesn't.

He wears a button that advertises his church, and whenever he's arrested, he tells the police that they need Jesus too. Andrew has courage because he knows who's on his side. Elijah refused to be intimidated, even when the king of Israel sent 50 soldiers to arrest him in 2 Kings 1. The prophet knew God was with him, and he called down fire that consumed the platoon. The king sent more soldiers, and Elijah did it again. The king sent more, but the third platoon had heard about the others. The captain begged Elijah to spare his soldiers' lives.

They were more afraid of him than he'd ever been of them. So the angel of the Lord told Elijah it was safe to go with them. Jesus doesn't want us to call down fire on our enemies.

When the disciples asked if they could call down fire on a Samaritan village in Luke chapter 9, Jesus rebuked them. We're living in a different time, but Jesus does want us to have Elijah's boldness, to be ready to tell everyone about the Savior who died for them. It may seem like one person taking on 50, but it's actually one, Jesus, on 50. Jesus provides what we need to courageously love and reach out to others.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Kings chapter 1, verses 9 through 15. At this, the king sent to Elijah another captain with his 50 men. The captain said to him, Man of God, this is what the king says, come down at once. If I am a man of God, Elijah replied, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men. Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

So the king sent a third captain with his 50 men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. Man of God, he begged, please have respect for my life and the lives of these 50 men, your servants. See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men, but now have respect for my life. The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, go down with him, do not be afraid of him.

So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Fill us with courage and help us to overcome our fears as we tell others about Jesus. May our love for you be evident and genuine and may your love flow through us as we speak about you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.