My husband and I like to watch the TV show The Amazing Race with our kids. Often along the race, people will face tasks that require a great deal of courage. For example, they might be asked to tandem jump off a cliff or walk a tight rope between two tall buildings or eat something gross like a whole plate full of escargot. As we’re watching the race (from the safety of our couch mind you) it always seems like so much fun – but I can imagine just how not fun it would become when told to go up in an airplane and jump out. This is a real stretch for me considering that my parents couldn’t even get me to ride a carousel when I was a kid, and I didn’t go on my first upside down roller coaster until I was 14 years old. I have always been extremely cautious and very cowardly. But I heard someone say recently that courage is a muscle: we need to be exercising it to make it stronger and more reliable. I wrote that down in my Bible next to Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (NIV)”

God tells us through Paul in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. (NIV)” As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been given God’s Spirit. And here it says clearly that God’s Spirit gives us His power, love, and self-discipline, not timidity. But, as we who are in Christ know, we need to practice walking in the Spirit to exercise what God has given us. We cannot practice ungodliness and expect to get godly results. We cannot practice cowardice and expect to get courage.

We need to do hard things. We need to do things that are challenging. I don’t know if that includes bungee jumping off a bridge – but what is the spiritual equivalent? For me, it is probably street evangelism. I don’t know if anything petrifies me more than walking up to a complete stranger to have a conversation about Jesus. But in terms of exercising, if you wanted to lift weights for example, you would never start with a 200-pound barbell. No, you would start at a lower weight and work your way up to the 200-pound barbell. So that means we start with the little things. What are the little things in life that require courage? Maybe standing up for what’s right in a conversation, admitting guilt over something you’ve done wrong (even if it seems small), following through with punishments when you’ve forewarned your kids. These are daily, smaller acts of courage that exercise our courage muscle to face the bigger, more challenging obstacles. Doing these hard things prepares us for those things which completely petrify us. When we learn to do hard things, even harder things get easier.

We’ve been studying Revelation at Bible Study Fellowship this year, and suffering for the sake of the gospel has been a constant theme. When we read about Christians who faced such brutal suffering, we as American Christians who haven’t experienced physical suffering, often wonder, would we be able to face it? The answer is that we need to constantly practice courage. Certainly, we are getting more opportunities to do this because our culture is becoming more hostile. We don’t know if our culture will ever get to the level of persecution where Christians are martyred for their faith, but if we are constantly practicing courage now, dying for Christ will become easier.

We recently watched the latest movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer who the Nazi’s executed within a few weeks of the end of WWII. He went through a process of exercising courage. The persecution of Jews moved slowly and was subtle at first, but as it escalated the church in Germany needed to stand up. Most of the church did not, but Bonhoeffer and other courageous men and women did. He started by openly preaching against the Nazi regime. Eventually, he left Germany for the United States. He could have stayed safely in the States, but he quickly realized that Germany was where God wanted him and so he courageously returned. Finally, he joined a plot to assassinate Hitler which is what got him arrested and eventually killed.

Courage is a muscle. If God asks us to suffer persecution He will help us exercise courage to make us ready. Start with the small acts of courage. Ask God to help you be courageous in those small things. Remember 2 Timothy 1:7. God gave us HIS Spirit – which is the Spirit of God Himself! He gives us everything we need to stand with courage in the face of whatever he puts before us.