“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6
I was at a social event recently with Carl, the President of CVM. We had a good time chatting over a tandoori chicken samosa and Carl mentioned something to me about 10 seconds of courage.
A colonel in the British Army had said to him that what they have seen in battle situations is that just ‘10 seconds of courage’ will initiate a persons ability to enter combat, I was fascinated with this.
Have you ever been in that situation where you want to speak about Jesus to someone but you’re stuck for words? Have you been with a friend and after they have finished talking about some difficulty they are facing think ‘oh I could offer to pray’ but you’re stuck for words? I am sure there are countless scenarios and situations that are common with us fellas here but I want to suggest that this idea of ‘10 seconds of courage’ may help.
A mate of mine was chatting to me after we had been playing darts, about life, health and the struggles he was going through. I felt the need to offer to pray. I had offered before but he had declined, so I was anxious. I thought about this ‘10 seconds of courage’ and went for it …. he declined, again. Not how you thought this was going to end was it!
The point is this was never about success being measured in whether or not he let me pray, or if God healed him or did some sort of other miracle in that moment, it was about me being obedient and asking anyway. So it was a success.
Thankfully that story doesn’t end there and subsequently we shared some really deep stuff together about our lives and how we both felt God saw us. It was a really powerful moment and just 10 seconds of courage had initiated it.
As you embrace this ‘10 seconds of courage’, it might not end or go how you think it will, it may be a mess and you’ve stepped out to share Jesus and feel like a clown. Be encouraged, you stepped out! Measure success from that place not the expectation that you’ve just converted the next Billy Graham.
10 Seconds of courage will get you into the fight, into the battle.
Image Credit: Patrick Hendry
