Simple Courage in Ministry

 Simple Courage in Ministry 

by Carrie Irving (with Lauren Stinton)

I’ve found that even when God tells me something “small,” it has the power to boggle my mind and change me. The small things are so very good—and often so OBVIOUS that I wonder how in the world I didn’t already know them.

A few weeks ago, God pressed such a truth into my heart. A simple, profound truth, and I think it’s going to change my life. 

He Goes With Us

In Deuteronomy 31 God and Moses are talking about the Promised Land. This is just a short time before the end of Moses’s life, and in a surprise turn of events, he doesn’t get to go into the land he’s been waiting for. In the moment, God “pauses” to reassure Moses’s heart.

“Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Go get Joshua and tell him the same thing I’m telling you now.” 

Moses does as the Lord directs. He brings in Joshua, and in the midst of blessing him, Moses repeats the Lord’s words: “Be strong and courageous.” 

And then Moses adds, “Don’t be afraid, for God Himself will go with you.”

I’ve read that statement, or very similar ones, countless times. But THIS TIME those words splashed all over me like a bucket of water. I suddenly realized, “Oh! God Himself goes with me.”

God is here. He is WITH me. I don’t have to take the land on my own.

Boldness—Because He’s Here 

For me, this is a huge realization and one I constantly, actively need to remember. 

I’m starting to see people for prayer counseling, and it’s easy for me to fall into a self-contained mode where I feel like everything rides on me and how I perform. 

“This is all on me. It’s up to me. I have to perform well here, or this person won’t be helped.” Or “My goodness—this is so scary! It’s so much bigger than I am!” 

That’s often how my thoughts work. In any ministry situation I walk into, I am tempted to withdraw from it and not step into it because it seems big and overwhelming and I feel small, with little to offer.

But that day when that tiny verse out of Deuteronomy hit me over the head, I felt like God was saying, “No—I Myself go with you.”

Everyday Courage in Ministry 

God has given you a special calling. The next time you’re sitting there and engaged in whatever ministry He’s given you, don’t be afraid! Be courageous—because God Himself goes with you. 

This is a simple thing—a “Christianity 101” truth. Yet all of us need to be reminded, and we get to rejoice in the fact that none of this rests on our shoulders alone.