Good morning!  We’re talking about how to have courage, and I want to give you four things that you can think about when you have to take your stand.  

The first one is, make a decision to stand now, even if you stand alone.  You know for the most part, when trials come, when temptations come and when hard calls come, you’re probably going to have to stand by yourself.  There are going to be times when you’re going to have to say, that is wrong, and I’m not going to do that.  This is right, and I will do this, and everyone is going to tell you otherwise, and you will have to stand alone.  

There have been times in my own life, in high school, in college and other times, when I had to take a stand alone.  That’s what these three Hebrew boys did, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  When everyone was bowing down, they stood, but they stood alone.  I think the reason they were able to stand alone is because when they were younger, they had parents that taught them right from wrong.  They had parents that taught them the word of God and modeled that for them, so they developed inner convictions that enabled them to take their stand even when the winds of the culture were swirling around them.  

Let me ask you something, do you have those kinds of convictions, and are you instilling those convictions in your children, your grandchildren and your nieces and nephews?  In Proverbs 22:6, the Bible says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is older, he will not depart from it.  How important it is, right now, to be training up children to love Jesus, to walk with God, to stand on his Word and to have inner convictions, because they will need it when they have to take their stand!  

So take a moment today to pray for the kids in your life, your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews and your friends that are raising kids.  Take time to pray for them, that they will stand with conviction.  

Home