{"id":778,"date":"2011-06-16T05:38:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T09:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=778"},"modified":"2011-06-13T22:02:54","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T02:02:54","slug":"leadership-courage-to-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/leadership-courage-to-stand.html","title":{"rendered":"Leadership: Courage to stand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Faith, Hope and Chocolate in Vero Beach, FL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of my favorite things is chocolate; and I will tell anyone who will listen. \u00a0I talk about it a good deal of the time. \u00a0When we take members of Special Gathering which is a ministry within the mentally challenged community on retreats, I always take M&M’s and let people know that they are my heart pills. \u00a0Of course, it is a documented fact<\/a> that the flavonoids in chocolate have great medical benefits.<\/p>\n

But even with the health benefits, chocolate won\u2019t change anyone\u2019s life.\u00a0 I want to have more courage to stand for the thing that will radically change the life of others. This is obviously a long-standing concern. \u00a0Paul wrote in\u00a0II Thessalonians 2:15, “So, brothers and sisters, stand strong and continue to believe the teachings we gave you in our speaking and in our letter.”<\/p>\n

We all remember the story of Gideon which is found in Judges 6-8. \u00a0The Midianites were ruling over his country. \u00a0God told Gideon to become a mighty warrior and to fight Midianites. \u00a0“There were so many of them they seemed like locusts. Their camels could not be counted because they were as many as the grains of sand on the seashore!” (Judges 7:12 NCV).<\/p>\n

Gideon was able to fight against an entire army with only 300 men because he was willing to stand up for God. \u00a0Gideon and his minute army did not even have to fight but to stand with a trumpet, a pitcher and a candle.<\/p>\n

It is an interesting fact, that God\u00a0almost never<\/em><\/strong> wants us to fight with others about our faith. \u00a0Sometimes the Lord \u00a0merely wants us to stand firm in what we believe about Him. \u00a0In the work place, we should be Christ-like; but most of the time would be wise to refrain from talking about Jesus. \u00a0In these cases, standing firm is not a cop out.\u00a0 It may be what we need to do.<\/p>\n

Years ago, when I would get together with a group of housewives in the neighborhood, their language would turn vile. \u00a0Because they never spoke this way when we were visiting one-on-one, I complained to a good friend. \u00a0I said that I was going to tell the group of ladies that I didn\u2019t like it. \u00a0My friend said, quietly, \u201cDon\u2019t correct them.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t use bad language yourself. \u00a0They will know that you don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do we stand firm in the face of things that we believe are wrong?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2018t join in when others are sinning.<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t talk when other are gossiping\u2013change the subject. \u00a0I was convicted of gossiping because of the example of a good friend who would not join into the gossip frey.<\/li>\n
  3. Smile and be polite but don\u2018t change how you act or feel.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Standing firm may not as hard as sharing the gospel message with a person face-to-face. \u00a0But there are times when\u00a0it is precisely what God wants us to do.<\/p>\n

    Do you find it harder to keep your opinions to yourself when others are vocally wrong or do you find speaking our the more difficult choice?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of my favorite things is chocolate; and I will tell anyone who will listen. \u00a0I talk about it a good deal of the time. \u00a0When we take members of Special Gathering which is a ministry within the mentally challenged community on retreats, I always take M&M’s and let people know that they are my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,40,10,11,85,12,4,41,1],"tags":[690,21,696,7,699,701,691,689,57,692,700],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-intellectually-disabled","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-inspiration","tag-inspirational","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nLeadership: 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\/06\/leadership-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=\"Leadership: Courage to stand - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my favorite things is chocolate; and I will tell anyone who will listen. \u00a0I talk about it a good deal of the time. \u00a0When we take members of Special Gathering which is a ministry within the mentally challenged community on retreats, I always take M&M’s and let people know that they are my…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/leadership-courage-to-stand.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-16T09:38:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-14T02:02:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/06\/chocolate-768x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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