Courage in Spite of Terrifying Circumstance

Courage in Spite of Terrifying Circumstance

Written by Sheila Schuller Coleman

"You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you." -Psalm 91:5-6, 9-10a

As a young wife and mother, I found myself terrified from time to time. There was the time when my three-and-a-half-month-old son was diagnosed with spinal meningitis. I was terrified when they wheeled him into the pediatric intensive care unit (he completely recovered - praise God!).

I was terrified when my husband and I were hit with an unexpected bill from the IRS that we did not have the money to pay. (Thankfully, we were able to get a loan and pay it off in time.)

I was terrified when my husband and sons were late coming home some evenings (prior to cell phones). I imagined them dead at the side of the road and often worked myself into nearly a panic attack.

I was terrified when I received a phone call in the middle of the night telling me my father was in a coma and in brain surgery in Amsterdam - they didn't know if he would survive and, if he did, what shape he would be in for the rest of his life.

Some of my fears were rational and some were not. Nevertheless, I learned this through the terrors that I have encountered in my lifetime: Terror is a frame of mind - not a state of being!

That means that terror is an attitude - not a circumstance. This means that terror is merely a response. I can choose how I will respond to any circumstance. I can choose courage just as I can choose terror. I can choose to cry out to God when I find myself in a terrifying circumstance. When I do, God will deliver me - and He will deliver you, too - from the terrifying feelings and the terrifying circumstances!

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PRAYER:

Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, I cry out to You when I am afraid. Deliver me from my terror and deliver me from my terrifying circumstance. You are my strong deliverer. I praise You and thank You for what You are doing for me -today and every day. Amen.

I am He

Isaiah 46:4 (New International Version)

4

Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Why does God answer prayer?

Tozer Daily Devotional

April: Prayer

To pray successfully is the first lesson the preacher must learn if he is to preach fruitfully; yet prayer is the hardest thing he will ever be called upon to do and, being human, it is the one act he will be tempted to do less frequently than any other.

God Tells the Man Who Cares, 69.

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Read about A. W. Tozer

April 21

Prayer: If God Answers Prayer

So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." --Isaiah 6:5

Why does God answer prayer? Let's not imagine that it's because somebody was good. We Protestants think we don't believe in saints, but we do. We canonize them: we have Saint George Mueller, Saint C.H. Spurgeon, Saint D.L. Moody and Saint A.B. Simpson. We get the idea that God answered prayer for them because they were really good. They would deny that fervently if they were here.

Nobody ever got anything from God on the grounds that he deserved it. Having fallen, man deserves only punishment and death. So if God answers prayer it's because God is good. From His goodness, His lovingkindness, His good-natured benevolence, God does it! That's the source of everything. The Attributes of God, pp. 46-47

"Thank You, God, that You are indeed good, You are faithful, You are gracious, You are full of lovingkindness and benevolence. Thank You that You do in fact answer prayer! Amen."