Question of the Issue: How do you deal with fear, timidity and a lack of boldness in facing the challenges of your life?

From Sea Tac, WA

This morning in church we sang a song called “Set Me on Fire”, by Ryan Deimore. (1998 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing) The words are as follows:

I am so tired of compromising
I am so tired of lukewarm living
So here I am with arms wide open
Lord here I am, my heart wide open
Set me on fire
Set me on fire
Set me on fire
Set me on fire
Take this heart of mine
Place your love inside
I want to go against the grain
I want to go against the grain

In order to lead people as ministers, we must have our hearts and life fully open to God and His love. This song asks our Heavenly Father to set us on fire for Him. This fire is a zeal and a passion that consumes us with His purpose. The song asks Him to take our hearts and fill them with love for Him that is so strong that it gives us boldness to set an example for the people around us—going against the grain of the ungodly or religious living by living in the power and life of God and the Holy Spirit.

Most of you have probably heard of the tragedy that occurred in Colorado, where two teenaged boys opened fired on their former classmates. One girl was reading her Bible in the library when the two boys walked in. She had rededicated her life to Christ two years before, after being involved with the occult and other negative things.
Seeing what she was doing one of the boys walked over to her, pointed a gun to her head and asked her if she believed in God. She stood to her feet, looked him in the eye and said, “Yes, I do.” The boy then said, “Why?” and shot her. This young woman was so filled with a love and fire for God that even in the face of death she chose to take a stand for Christ. She helped remind every person that was in that library that God was available to them even in that desperate time. By giving her life she has left a testimony that has become a tool in God’s hand. This girl had a friend who watched the interaction between the boy and the girl, who has shared this story with friends, TV news reporters, and on talk shows. The story has been written and sent via e-mail and shared in many places. Because of her sacrifice, the name of the Lord has been proclaimed and will bring many people into the kingdom of God. The zeal of God had consumed her and she boldly proclaimed His name.

How many times have we even as leaders been uncomfortable boldly proclaiming the truth that we know? My prayer for myself and for you is that we can learn from this teenager who knew the boldness of the Holy Spirit, by being filled with a passion and love for Christ that allows us to stand with our hearts and our arms wide open before Him to be a witness of who Christ is.
Submitted by: Rosanna Phillips

From Muscle Shoals, Al

One night I dreamed that things kept going wrong at work [Marynell is an LPN at a nursing home]—no matter what task I started, it was interrupted by some disaster that needed attending to RIGHT THEN . Some of the disasters were real lulus—things that would never happen—like me taking the medication cart home by accident, for example—it’s the size of a small car! Never the less, in the dream, the day was a long one. As I was staying very late at work in the dream to finish up paperwork, not completed during the regular hours, two different family members of residents needed extra comforting—I don’t remember if in the dream the resident died or was just sick, but anyway, I was there at a time of day I wouldn’t normally have been and was able to comfort. As the dream was finishing, God spoke to me and said to the effect that things that seemed to be problems or interference's weren’t that, but were delaying tactics He used to make sure I was where He wanted me to be at the time He wanted me to be, so that I could do something He wanted me to do—if my day had gone in a way that I considered smooth, I wouldn’t have been there late, and wouldn’t have been able to offer comfort. End of the dream.
A couple of days later—this past week, I was still at work at 5:00 trying to finish up paper work, and one of the residents had a possible stroke. I was able to talk with her daughter and hug her, and then tell the husband of the stroke victim at the daughters request what was going on. As I was doing this, I realized it was like the dream came to life. Whoa!!! And God said: “This is just the tip of the ice berg!”
Submitted by: Marynell Hill

From Bartlett, TN

Our church is birthing a new work. The pastor of this infant congregation shared the following thoughts at the first official meeting of “Christ Evangelical”. He encouraged us to look at the man Abraham and the manner in which God caused His purpose to be fulfilled through his life. Abraham followed what the Lord told him to do. (Leave your family and Ur and go to a land I will show you). He let God lead him to where he had never been before. We can learn from Abraham’s example and trust in God. When the time of testing came, Abraham was willing to offer up Isaac, but declared God will provide a sacrifice. Sacrifice always costs someone something. Even as God provided the lamb in the thicket, its life was forfeit in the place of Isaac. Sometimes God says “we are the sacrifice” and it costs us our reputation, our time, our money, our identity. But we must trust that God sees and provides what we need as and when we ask him. If we walk with His leading, He will show us the way.
Submitted by: Mary Simpson