Following the purposes of God will take courage.  God is a God of courageous moves.  Jesus was a risk taker, not a comfort sleeper.  Jesus made bold moves that ruffled the feathers of the comfort kings (also known as the pharisees).  The Bible is full of courageous people who stepped out with courageous faith.  There is no advancement in life without courageous faith.  You can’t stay in the comfort zone of life and courageously step out in faith.  It’s comfort vs. courage.

We must understand that courage is not the absence of fear, it is moving ahead is spite of fear.  Too many people think that they have to silence all their fears before they step out in faith, but that is not how courage works.  You do not need courage if there is no fear of the unknown.  We all have fears and concerns but Godly courage doesn’t allow those fears to be in control.  Fear causes us to get comfortable and to not want to shake the boat.  Faith causes us to step out of the boat.

We have to ask ourself a question…How courageous is our prayer life? What kind of prayers do we pray? Is our most courageous prayer for God to keep us safe?

This seems to be the typical prayer…

”Lord, keep me safe from harm and let nothing come against me, and watch over me so nothing changes.  Help me Lord, to just live the remainder of my days in peace and rest until you come again.  Lord, bless me and give me everything I want, I mean need.  Let your angels surround me and keep me from anything evil.  Put a hedge of protection around me so I live in a spiritual bubble.  Lord, let nothing stand in my way as I peacefully sail into my destiny of serenity.  Help me to be so blessed that I will have no need for faith in the unseen.  Amen” 

What a boring prayer.  We wonder why we aren’t experiencing the purpose and power of God when we pray like this.  I am not saying that God doesn’t want to give us protection, peace and rest, but what ever happened to prayers of faith and risk? What about prayers of desperation to become who God wants us to be? What about the prayers like…

”God, shake my world today, change me from the inside out.  Give me opportunity to share your word with everyone I know.  Lord, wreck my day and my plans with your agenda and your plans.  Stretch me today God to experience unexplainable, super-natural, God-sized miracles.  God, I don’t want to be the same, so do anything and everything you want to do to get me to who you want me to be.  Burn me with your refining fire, and prune me of anything that would dishonor you or others.  Lord, stretch my faith to believe in the impossible as you lead and guide my destiny.” 

If we want to experience true Christianity it is going to take some raw faith and risk to step out from our comfort zones.  If you want to sail to new lands, you have to lose sight of the old shores.  Don’t let comfort control your destiny.  Let your convictions become greater than your comfort.  Let your faith become greater than your fears.  We have one life to live, so live it to the fullest.  Step out beyond your greatest fears and into the greatest faith you have known.  Allow God to stretch you.  Be a rubber band for God.  The further you stretch a rubber band and pull it back on your finger the farther it goes when you let it go.  We need to be stretched so that we soar high into our destiny.  You will never be all you can be if you aren’t willing to do what you’ve never done.

What courageous things is God calling you to do and pray for?