One of my favorite lines from a President was from FDR in 1933 in the middle of the greatest depression the modern world had ever seen. The whole world was in a terrible depression, lives ruined, people faced a bleak future with no real hope on the horizon. He stood up and said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The press of today would have torn into FDR and mocked him for not being afraid. Their focus would have been on the numbers. Daily they would remind people of how bad it was and would ignore any good news. They would accuse him of having no empathy and would be screaming “we’re all going to die man.” It would have been the typical talk of cowards down through the ages.

Just one week after Dunkirk, when the British backs were to the wall. When the might of the British army had to run for their lives from the Germans and all of Europe lay under the gross darkness of the Nazis, Churchill stands up in the British Parliament and spoke these words……………

We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

He did not focus on what his enemy was doing, he focused on what the British people were going to do despite their enemy. This is what leaders do, they lead. They do not lead from behind, they lead from from the front. They do not lay down and die, crying in some huddle, they stand up and fight and if they die in the process of that fight then so be it. Never in the history of the world was the battle cry ” we’re all gonna die man.” That is the whimpering cry of the cowards.

Christian, our Lord has said to us that He did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. A sound mind is a disciplined mind. Self control in the face of dire circumstances. That is power, the power of God. Only when walking in that kind of power can we truly love. When others all around us are losing their minds then our own sound minds will stand our like a city set upon a hill. Can people see that power in you? Do not run with the cowards or with the faint of heart.

God says to Job in chapter 40 “Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle.” The Lord was not talking in a still small voice, this came out of the whirlwind. Brothers and sisters, we are in the midst of a whirlwind. Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. Who can stand against God? Who can make himself a thing of beauty? The truly strong man is the man who humbles himself before the Living God. The man who who understands his true nature understand that the only beauty that exists is the beauty and the glory of God.

The power that we have, the only power that we have is the power that we have been given by the Spirit of God. When we move in that power, when we move in that love then fear is cast out and we are free to live our lives boldly no matter what set of circumstances that we face. It is time to be bold saints. If you are afraid today, get it right. If certain brave men in the flesh can do mighty things, then what can we do, we who love Jesus? We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.