ONLY BE THOU COURAGEOUS

By Pastor (Mrs) Ebun-Oluwa Oladele
INTRODUCTION: In the first few verses of Joshua 1, the Lord made a lot of promises to Joshua and in verse 7, He told Joshua he also had a part to play. Also when the spirit of the Lord took Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel 37, He asked him, “Can these bones live?”. And Ezekiel answered: “Lord thou knowest”. Of course the Lord knew the bones could live again but wanted to reinforce the fact that Ezekiel had a part to play.

So He asked him to prophesy to the dry bones and when he did, indeed the dry bones came to life. I prophesy into your life and situation that any dry bone or anything that represents a dry bone in your life will come alive today in the name of Jesus.

WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE COURAGEOUS?

(a) God said so.
He knows He will always fulfil His own part but wants you to also play your part. He is not man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. He will always stand by His words to fulfil it because He honours His words more than His name.

Two Examples:
i. Joseph – He was courageous enough to obey God and to say no to the evil alternative offered him by Portiphar's wife. He played his own part until everything God promised him came to fulfilment.

1. Joshua – He needed the word of God and made a success of his ministry and was able to hand over the baton to leaders after him with the exact word that carried him through Joshua 23:1-2 and 6, hence he was a great success.

(b) The Violent Take it By Force Matt 11:12

It takes courage to say no to sin, it takes courage not to believe what the world is saying but to believe God and hold Him by His words. This is because there will be worldly alternatives and shortcuts that will eventually end in destruction.

The Lord has promised Un-usual strides this year and Fast Pace this month (January 2011), it takes courage to accept these words and hold unto them and reject the unfavourable circumstances surrounding us.

Numbers 13:28-33 talks about the spies Moses sent to spy the Promised Land. Caleb believed that irrespective of the giants in the land they were able to conquer it and possess it but the men with hin did not believe, they saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the people in the land. It is important that we see good and positive things rather than evil. Your present situation/position does not matter but it is what you see that matters.

( c) The devil wants to discourage you.

The devil will always say negative things like: “Cant you see the situation in the land? Nothing better than this will happen, yo better don't belive in fast track or unusual strides, you want to possess the city, you had better be satisfied with your one bedroom apartment ...” etc.

Your answer to the devil should be a BIG NO.

He tried it with Nehemiah when he wanted to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem but did not succeed. Nehemiah 4: 1-3.

I want to encourage you, do not give up on yourself, do not give up that vision because it will surely come to pass.
NB: You however need to be on the Lord's side so that you shall be fully victorious.
Prayer: Oh Lord, I stand on you and I refuse failure, I refuse disappointment, I refuse afflictions etc.

- Sermon delivered by Pastor (Mrs) Ebun-Oluwa Oladele on 23 January, 2011