Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Attitude”
Our Bible verse for today: “On a snowy day, he chased a lion into a pit and killed it.”
2 Samuel 23:20 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “Don’t be timid.”
This morning I want to build on the devotional thought from yesterday about approaching all of life with a spirit of boldness and confidence and courage. If you listened to the sermon on the Oak Hill Baptist website (www.oakhillbaptist.net) from Sunday January 1st then you know that I’ve been inspired by the book written by Pastor Mark Batterson entitled, “Chase the Lion”.
The book is based on the passage from 2 Samuel 23:20 where we read about the man Benaiah, who was one of King David’s mighty men. Benaiah was known primarily for the fact that he chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and then killed it. The way the story reads is that he didn’t just do battle with a lion and kill it, but instead he chased after the lion, drove it into a pit, then jumped in the pit after it, fought it, and then killed it. It was a very impressive act of bravery and skill.
Mark’s book then, is all about us leading a life of boldness and courage but the lessons in it are inspired by the example of Benaiah. Let me share a quote from the book that will help you to gain a glimpse of the kind of lessons we can learn from Benaiah’s example. In the introduction Mark writes:
“Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-sized passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Stop pointing out problems. Become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past. Start creating the future. Face your fears. Fight for your dreams!”
It’s a great little book and I recommend it to you.
Folks, as we learned in yesterday’s devotional message from Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 1:7, we are not to approach any situation in life with a spirit of fear or timidity. Instead we are to embrace the spirit of courage and boldness provided to us by God. That then must be our mindset as we go forward to engage the issues of life.
Far too often we let fear and doubt hold us back. We run way from challenges instead of towards them. We sacrifice our dreams – and even our destiny, on the altar of fear and doubt. We make excuses and we procrastinate. That simply should not be. That’s not the life God has called us to.
Tomorrow we will spend some time considering the problems of excuses and procrastination.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 