Praying for Strength and Courage

 I wrote sometime back that I intended to dedicate myself to telling the truth, as I understand it at all times.  Naturally, I did not intentionally lie, but there were many times when I didn't say something at times out of fear.  Fear is no way to live, yet it is the way most people live.  It is not easy to live fearless, and I must pray daily for strength and courage.  In Ephesians 6:12, Paul writes:

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Today, at the American Thinker J.B. Shurk has an article that is well worth reading entitled Set Yourself Apart from This Corrupt Generation, in which Shurk recalls Actor Jim Caviezel speaking a few years ago about his movie Paul, Apostle of Christ. Caviezel is a devoted Christian, and did not shy away from his faith.

When he spoke of freedom, he was clear to articulate that God's gift to His children is not the freedom to do recklessly whatever we wish, but rather the freedom to choose wisely how we ought to act in pursuit of moral lives. He answered Maximilian Kolbe's trenchant observation that "indifference is the greatest sin" by charging every listener to "fight for that authentic freedom" that requires us to live courageously. "And with the Holy Spirit as your shield and Christ as your sword, may you join St. Michael and all the angels in sending Lucifer and all his henchmen straight back to hell where they belong!"

...snip...

In contemplating Paul's conversion from a notorious hunter of Christians to a devout follower of Jesus Christ, Caviezel also reflected on the significance of the apostle's name. Before disappearing into the desert and suffering blindness, he was Saul; after comprehending the truth of the Holy Spirit and finding sight, he became Paul. "The name Saul means 'great one.' The name Paul means 'little one,'" Caviezel noted. By "changing one little, tiny letter ... we can become great in the eyes of God. But it requires us to be little if we wish to be great.

This is the way of the saints." This is the way of the saints. What a magnificent and revealing truth...

Shurk goes on to ask when we became so damn timid. I personally know people who should know better that insist on wearing masks, and knuckling under to unconstitutional demands by people who have only bluster to back them up. We need to speak up every time. Shurk lists a number of attempts to limit our ability to speak by extremely powerful groups such as Twitter and Google. You tube has cancelled many videos. Even Democrat politicians are asking cable companies to deplatform news sites such as Fox, One American News Network, and News Max. What are these people afraid of? As Shurk writes:

Perhaps it is because truth, no matter how small it is made to look, is too impressive when not endlessly threatened and controlled by those who wish to distort it. Perhaps that is why the same people in power spend all of their time demonizing the people with no power at all. Perhaps people with no power but who refuse to betray or relinquish truth for temporary comforts will find that they are more powerful than they know. Perhaps those Americans now made to feel little will remember that humility and courage are the siblings of greatness.