Category: perseverance

Phone calls made from United Flight 93 made several passengers come to the conclusion that they needed to live boldly in their last minutes of life. Todd Beamer’s words, “Let’s roll!”, inspired a nation.

When the doctor told us I had cancer, Susan researched and found a rather depressing statistic. The average length of life after diagnosis was 3-5 years. Since then, the average has been raised to 5-7 years. I’ve lived two of these years and Susan and I debate about which statistic applies to me.

So should I live boldly these last years of life or should I live in fear? The Lord gives one answer and the devil gives the other. I have had the advantage of thinking about this quite a bit, but Jesus wants us all to know His thinking… no matter what our circumstance.

“Take no thought for your life…” Can we really live in such a way? Jesus did – because He knew everything was in the hands of God. He was on earth for a purpose – to do the will of His Father. Is it any different for us?

By living boldly, I mean living out the life of Christ: If someone asks, I give. If someone strikes, I turn. If someone sues, I surrender. If someone hates, I love. If someone needs to be rescued, I risk my life. When Satan’s lies are all around, I tell the truth. When things look so bad it seems God has failed, I believe He is there.

Lack of trust may be our biggest obstacle to living boldly. The devil makes us think such talk is foolishness, but the Spirit of God says, “Trust the Father and walk by faith. You will not see the end presently, but God holds all things in His hands. He is faithful. Even if the worst seems to happen, God can bring good. As you live boldly in Christ, He will live boldly in you.”

May the words of our greatest Hero inspire God’s holy nation to live boldly.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.” “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

My brother and his wife and son are arriving in Atlanta tomorrow morning. Each week day I try to pray for Brian’s family and the people we met in Capetown last Christmas. The devil tempts us to think such praying has little purpose, but Jesus teaches us to pray and never give up.

The Lord reminded me of this instruction last spring when a missionary my son and I met in Benin, West Africa came to Atlanta. Taylor and I visited Benin a little over four years ago when my brother was living there. We had the great privilege of meeting many Christians in the rural villages of the country. Some of these brothers make it a daily habit to rise before day break to pray to the One who has all power and authority. I sometimes had chills run up and down my spine as these men that some would call poor and uneducated prayed with great boldness in languages I could not understand.

Sometimes I was asked to pray. Brian interpreted the requests, and I prayed boldly like my African brothers. Though I knew God heard our prayers, I did not see answers. Each night Taylor and I wrote a short summary of our day for Susan and the girls to read when we returned home. I often recorded the things we prayed about in the villages on a piece of paper in my Bible. For about a year, back home, I used this paper to pray for Benin and the brothers and sisters we met. So often I would fight the discouraging thought that such praying was pretty much a waste of time.

But this past spring, almost four years after our trip, we got to see one of the missionaries we met, and he gave me a message from a certain village. “Dana, the brothers wanted me to tell you that all the things you were asked to pray about when you visited have come to pass.” I hate to admit it, but I was a little stunned. If this message was true, some incredible things happened. We prayed for healing in places where witchcraft is the common method of curing sickness. We prayed for deliverance for those oppressed by the devil. We prayed for salvation to come to those who did not know Jesus. We prayed for believers to have the faith to withstand persecution. We prayed bold prayers.

These things I wonder: What if I had given up when I saw no instant result? What if I had not prayed persistently after I came back home? How many prayers has the Lord answered that I don’t even know about? Am I alive today because of the persistent prayers of the saints? … How often I have failed in persistence! How I need more faith! May the Son of Man find faith when He returns.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ … However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8

After Peter and John were released from prison, the believers came together and prayed that they would speak God’s Word “with great boldness.” (Acts 4) Paul, who had been imprisoned several times, asked the disciples to pray that he have boldness. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)

Why did Paul write such things? It was for telling the truth that Paul found himself beaten and imprisoned. Such sufferings have a way of chipping away our courage. Paul humbly depended on God’s grace to supply the boldness he needed to finish the race. “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body; whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:20)

I imagine Jeremiah prayed for boldness. Over and over God gave this prophet hard truths to tell the people. As Jeremiah simply obeyed his God, he was despised and rejected by men. “I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.” (Jeremiah 20:7-8) But God would not let his spokesman be quiet.

I write these thoughts knowing I need boldness. I need boldness to live what I know to be true. I need boldness to share that God has never changed. He is patient, wanting all to come to repentance, but His judgment is coming. I need boldness to remind Christians that Jesus hates lukewarmness. If we are seeking anything ahead of Him we must turn. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

It takes boldness to accept such an invitation.

Joe Marelle is a basketball coach in our county who has encouraged me greatly in this fight with cancer. He has fought the disease himself for over three years and many have admired him. An award is given at the end of each season to honor someone who has shown courage in a unique way. Knowing I was going out of town this past weekend, my close friend, Tim Vick, shared that two people were going to receive the Joe Marelle Courage Award on Saturday – and I was one of them.

I told Tim I really didn’t think I have been too courageous. In fact, I think I simply discovered what a wimp I am! But in accepting the award in my absence, Tim made some comments that have made me think. Ben Black, the player who received the award, recently lost his twin brother in a car accident, which he survived. Many of the people we view as courageous have simply found themselves in very difficult circumstances – circumstances not of their own choosing. Why did God tell Joshua to be ‘strong and courageous’ so many times? (see Joshua 1) He knew Joshua was about to go to battle – where courage would be required. If He tells us to be ‘strong and courageous’, we can expect His grace to help us obey.

Here are Tim’s kind words: “When I told Coach Davis he was going to be honored for the ‘courage’ award, he said, ‘Don’t call it courage…call it what it is…not having anywhere else to turn.’ But you see…what Coach Davis may not realize is that IS courage. In basketball games, courage is pretty simplistic…give 100% for your team. But in LIFE, the stakes are much higher. It means ACCEPTING THE CIRCUMSTANCES and then OVERCOMING THE FEAR. So why does one go through the crushing process of battling cancer? Dana tells me it wasn’t for himself (he was ready). But I know why. He did it for Susan, Taylor, Kinsey, Karlyn, and for all of us who depended on him. And that’s what courage is all about. Accepting whatever comes your way. Setting aside your fears. And considering others more than you do yourself. We’ve seen it in the life of Joe Marelle and we’ve seen it in the two that are honored today.”

People tell me we got a standing ovation. But Ben and I would both say (along with Joshua), “God deserves the applause.”

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

As soldiers, they have no choice but to obey their commanding officer, but these men want to follow. They have heard the stories about their leader. He fought in battles before they were born, he followed his leaders into places of danger, and with uncommon valor he often risked his life for others. This officer’s past heroics and present position now impact a whole company of young soldiers. The willingness these men have to follow their leader goes much deeper than duty.

“Endure hardship with us as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he simply wants to please his commanding officer.” (II Timothy 2:3-4)

Our Lord will require no steps He was not willing to take. “Abandon all.” “Deny yourself.” “Pick up your cross.” What could He ask that He has not done? And is there not a purpose for sacrifice? As there was purpose for our King, so there will be purpose for His followers. We may not always understand, but by faith we persevere – believing what we have not seen, trusting what we cannot touch, and risking everything on Jesus being who He says He is. He is the One I want to follow.

This Man entered battles we don’t even fathom. Because He obeyed, the enemy has been defeated. Death came before resurrection, however, and so it is for those who want to follow. His past has impacted all mankind. He took the sins of the world on Himself. In fact, the Scripture says, He actually became sin – for a purpose. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Cor. 5:21) And there is an even deeper mystery: When He died, I died – the old me, that is. Now I am a new creation and somehow I am a part of Him. It is hard to believe sometimes, but this is God’s truth. And I had better believe what my commanding officer says.

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:3-7

“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” II Timothy 2:11-13