Tags
Afraid, Courage, Ecclesiastes 12, Faith, Fear, Genesis 19, Heaven, Isaiah 7, Job 5, Jonah 1, Matthew 8, Psalm 91, Revelation 11, Teachings
Courage
I am constantly on the lookout for tornadoes. I live in tornado alley.
I used to live in the northeast and paid a lot of attention to snowstorms and blizzards. If I lived somewhere else, it could be earthquakes. It’s always something.
Jesus challenges me to “fear not”! I need courage. I need boldness. I need good cheer. There is great news. Jesus gives me this wonderful gift called courage and boldness.
In the Bible, courage is also called “good cheer” as in Mark 6:50 when Jesus gave the command to the disciples who saw Him walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee and coming toward them. The Greek word translated “courage” and “good cheer” means literally “boldness and confidence.” In the Bible, courage is the opposite of fear.
When God commands me to fear not, to be of good cheer, and to have courage, He is always commanding against fear, which is the opposite of courage.
Fear — Should I be afraid of natural phenomena like tornados and hurricanes?
- Psalm 91:5 — 5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day;
- Jonah 1:4–5 — 4 The Master hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.
- Genesis 19:30 — 30 Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.
- Job 5:22 — 22 “You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of wild beasts.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5 — 5 Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.
- Isaiah 7:25 — 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.
- Matthew 8:26 — 26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.
- Revelation 11:13 — 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Jesus Quotes and God Thoughts 
I’ve been woken up in the night by the rolling sound of a tornado. I have a wall cloud come over my house, only to have the tornado hit just two miles away. I’ve been in a hotel that a tornado hit just moments after I entered it to find shelter – because it was so dark outside that my headlights didn’t make a dent in the black, and it was in the afternoon. I was looking out the window of my last church as the remnant of a swirling vortex spun through the parking lot right in front of me, then took off the roof of a house to my right.
Should I be afraid of tornadoes? I think I have a right to. However, I’m less afraid of where I would end up should one ever actually harm me than the wind itself. You could say my flesh is terrified, but my spirit is at peace.
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