{"id":1825,"date":"2011-10-09T01:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-10-09T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2011-10-08T21:18:14","modified_gmt":"2011-10-09T01:18:14","slug":"having-the-courage-to-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/10\/having-the-courage-to-stand.html","title":{"rendered":"Having the courage to stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who knows me realizes I love chocolate. I will tell anyone who will listen.\u00a0 I talk about and share my chocolate anytime I get a chance. \u00a0As much as I love chocolate, it won\u2019t change anyone\u2019s life. \u00a0My desire is to have the courage to stand up for the thing that will radically change the life of others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In II Thessalonians 2:15, Paul said, “So, brothers and sisters, stand strong and continue to believe the teachings we gave you in our speaking and in our letter.”<\/p>\n

Gideon was probably one of the most fearful yet courageous men in the Bible. \u00a0The Midianites were ruling over Israel. \u00a0God told him to become a mighty warrior and to stand against them. \u00a0Gideon was a reluctant warrior but when he knew that God desire him to fight, he was willing. \u00a0Gideon was able to fight against an entire army with only 300 men because he was willing to stand up for God. \u00a0In fact, Gideon’s army\u00a0did not have to fight; they only had to stand with a trumpet and a candle.<\/p>\n

God does not\u00a0always<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0want us to fight with others about our faith. \u00a0Sometimes He merely wants us to be firm about what we believe about Him, standing with our trumpet and candle. \u00a0 At Special Gathering, we try to encourage our members that when we are at\u00a0work, we should be Christ-like but perhaps not talk about Jesus.<\/p>\n

Standing firm is not a cop out.\u00a0 It is what we need to do at times. \u00a0Years ago,\u00a0when a group of neighbors would get together in the morning for coffee, their language would become pretty fowl. \u00a0 I wanted to confront them. \u00a0My good friend, Wylene told me, \u201cDon\u2019t correct them.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t use bad language yourself. \u00a0They will get the message and stop.” \u00a0I knew she was right even though I saw no change in our coffee cloches.<\/p>\n

How do we stand firm? \u00a0Don\u2018t join in when others are sinning. \u00a0When others are gossiping, we don’t need to join into the conversation. \u00a0It’s easy to change the subject. \u00a0I was convicted of gossiping by observing the executive director of Special Gathering, Richard Stimson and his wife, Nancy, who would not join when others were talking. \u00a0It didn’t take long for me to get the point. \u00a0Even though I knew that gossip was harmful because of the untruths that had been spread about me, I seemed to still occasionally slip into its trap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I learned to smile and be polite but to not join into the fray. \u00a0That is often the secret to standing up for the Lord. \u00a0Standing firm. \u00a0With my neighbors, I seemed to never make any progress in their lives. \u00a0For years, I prayed for them daily. \u00a0Then the Lord used another neighbor to work miracles in our small community.<\/p>\n

However, when I entered the work place, I found myself in a similar situation. \u00a0I used the advice Wylene had given me. \u00a0In this atmosphere, things changed almost immediately. \u00a0Though I was the low person on the totem pole, I found that within six months, there was a completely different atmosphere in the office. \u00a0The Lord had touched their hearts.<\/p>\n

Standing firm is not a cop-out even though it may not be as hard as speaking boldly about our faith in the Lord. \u00a0Yet, sometimes it is exactly what God wants us to do.<\/p>\n

Has there been a time that you were able to firmly stand and God blessed your faithfulness? \u00a0Perhaps you believe that standing firm is never the right thing to do, what do you think is the correct way to handle uncomfortable situations?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who knows me realizes I love chocolate. I will tell anyone who will listen.\u00a0 I talk about and share my chocolate anytime I get a chance. \u00a0As much as I love chocolate, it won\u2019t change anyone\u2019s life. \u00a0My desire is to have the courage to stand up for the thing that will radically change…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,182,40,287,186,49,11,8,4,41],"tags":[21,688,7,699,726,715,701,6,700,298],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-disability","category-faith","category-faiths","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectually-disabled","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-faiths","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality","tag-standing-firm"],"yoast_head":"\nHaving the courage to stand - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/10\/having-the-courage-to-stand.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Having the courage to stand - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anyone who knows me realizes I love chocolate. I will tell anyone who will listen.\u00a0 I talk about and share my chocolate anytime I get a chance. \u00a0As much as I love chocolate, it won\u2019t change anyone\u2019s life. \u00a0My desire is to have the courage to stand up for the thing that will radically change…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/10\/having-the-courage-to-stand.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-09T05:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-09T01:18:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/10\/sword-and-shield-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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