I’ve been working on this new project for over 3 and 1/2 years and I’m so excited for you to hear it! I’ve never been so intimately connected to a record. These songs come from some deep places of joy and sorrow in my soul and I hope they encourage you in whatever season you’re in.
“…I’m trusting and learning..patient and loving..at least I am BECOMING”
Hands And Feet (Haiti Tribute – Click to Play Song)
Today is the second anniversary of the tragic earthquake that devastated Haiti. I woke up with the overwhelming thought, “what was that moment like when the whole world came crashing down?”. I began to think about all those beautiful people who survived that event. Does this day bring memories of loss and brokenness or hope and healing? They say time heals all wounds, but wounds leave scars and scars remind us of pain and struggle. My prayer for that country is that their scars can also remind them of life and restoration, of God’s presence in the storm and be The Light that leads them out of the darkness.
I’m convinced that God allows tragedy and pain in our lives because of the change it can bring about in us. In moments when I’ve been so full of confusion, broken-hearted and alone, I’m reminded that my only hope is in the Lord, not in who I am, what I’ve done or some delusional thought of what I can become. It’s not in my family or in my friends, not in what I have or want, not in anything but Jesus. One of the biggest things I’ve learned in those moments is that we don’t really understand or know what faith is until we really need it – have to have it. Growing up in church my entire life has afforded me the blessing of a foundation of faith in God, in my community, in my self. But until we truly have no idea where the next paycheck is coming from, if the Lord will heal that disease, that broken heart, or relationship, we have to completely leave it at the feet of Jesus. No conditions, no expectations – just faith. Faith to truly believe that God is good, even when life is not. Faith to believe that He can use our story, no matter how tragic and confusing it seems to be in the moment of our pain. Faith to hope for days of peace and joy while walking through ones of darkness and depression.
Our God is a faithful friend, strong to walk with us, as together we rebuild what life has broken down. He provides all we need, and we work with the faith that at some point what looks like ground zero will be a place of unbelievable beauty – in His time. We don’t remove our scars, we don’t hide those experiences, we paint around them, they provide context for the depth in our walk with Jesus and compassion for those around us surviving their own earthquakes.
What unexpected disaster has fallen down around you or someone you know? Don’t act like it’s not there, that somehow no conversation is better than a word, a prayer, a supporting look or held hand. Let’s run to those in pain, not with some lack of awareness that we can fix it or help in some way, but instead to just be present, just to stand with, just to listen. God can and will heal and undergird our greatest life fractures, but let’s not let it just be a chapter in our story, but a building block toward something better, more beautiful, more dependent on our great God. He will rebuild and restore.
Job 22:21 (MSG)
“Give in to God, come to terms with him and everything will turn out just fine. Let him tell you what to do; take his words to heart. Come back to God Almighty and he’ll rebuild your life. Clean house of everything evil. Relax your grip on your money and abandon your gold-plated luxury. God Almighty will be your treasure, more wealth than you can imagine.”
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Romans 8:26-28 (MSG)
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
* This picture is one I took of my dear little friend Modlay. He’s just one of the beautiful reasons to support the amazing work of Hands And Feet Mission in Jacmel, Haiti. This little guy was born so small he almost didn’t make it. He struggled with medical issues for the first part of his life, but you’d never know it by that smile.
* I wrote this song “Hands And Feet” just after the earthquake in 2010. The proceeds from the sale of this song will go to help Modlay and his brothers and sisters at Hands And Feet Mission in Jacmel, Haiti. It will be one of the tracks on my upcoming project “I Am Becoming”.
I think it was about the eighth grade or so that we read the classic story of The Scarlet Letter. Though I remember understanding the moral of the story, I had never felt what the stories main character must have. One thing we know how to do quite well is to ostracize people. People who are different, look different, live different, they’re usually the first to wear our badge of shame. I was a jock in Jr. High, a thug. The school year picture from seventh grade was sort of angelic and innocent, where my eighth grade picture reveals someone completely different. When I look at those pictures, I see a child wanting to be seen as a man, or at least someone searching for identity and acceptance. I seemed to have found some of it in being tough, fighting, cussing, smoking, and rebellion. I see those two pictures, and at first want to laugh. To laugh about my immaturity, my lack of awareness or sense of fashion. But I think it saddens me more than it entertains me. Seeing these two is a peek into the days of my innocence lost. The beginning of caring about what people think, starving for approval, and the creation of a personality that someone else wanted. This was not exactly the child that was created by God and raised by my parents. In those days I was one of the guys that felt he had the right to label people and put people down to lift myself up. I’ve been on that side of labeling; of accusing and pointing out others ‘specks’ though in my own eye was a tree of sin and mistakes.
I haven’t thought about that old book since those years of awkward adolescence, until recently. I didn’t have an affair or have some moral failure that would cause a community to cast me out, but I have felt shame, I have felt ostracized and lonely and as a result I’ve thought about all the poor souls that too have felt on the outside, guilty of wrong or not, they’ve, we’ve been pushed to the side and had to find life outside of the world we’ve known. I’ve become so much more compassionate for those who’ve been misunderstood, who don’t fit in, or for whatever reason has just been sidelined. I didn’t feel this as a kid, I was usually picked early on during sports and never felt the shame of being the kid the last team had to accept. I can’t imagine that feeling as a child, but I know now as an adult, the sting is as sharp and the sadness as valid. For many who live a season of their lives with a “scarlet letter” it sticks for longer than the season of scandal and reaches into other years and aspects of life, creating a personality decorated with dark colors and sunken shoulders and overwhelming sorrow. These walking wounded may have actually had an affair or divorce or committed some crime, and so they each have been labeled with their own letter representative of the offense. Yet others like myself, though not guilty of some heinous sin, still feel labeled. I was let go recently from my job. Not for poor performance or anything inappropriate, but for preference or cutbacks or some other reason I’m still unsure of. Since that happened, I’ve struggled tremendously with shame, sadness and self-doubt. I know who I am, how I’ve lived my life with integrity and passion for excellence and holiness, yet I’ve found myself shaken to the core. Part of it goes back to that little eighth grader hoping for approval and having not gotten it. Some of the pain is from what feels like betrayal and a lack of communication. My loss of community and position has made me feel like there’s a “scarlet letter” on my life. It could be an “F” for fired, or an “N” for not good enough, or even an “L” for loser. I’ve felt all of them, but in my heart I know none of them represents me. These last several months have made me sensitive to so many who would never darken the doors of the church because they hide under their own letters, letters that have been put on them or letters they’ve put on themselves. Either way I’ve noticed how very easy it is to be found in those descriptions instead of what’s true.
The truth is that I am identified with Christ (Gal. 3:26, 28) that I’m hidden in Christ (Col. 3:1-4) that I’m complete in Christ (Col. 2:9-10) that I’m His friend (John 15:15) that I am strengthened by Christ (Phil 4:13) that I’m chosen by Christ (John 15:16, Col. 3:12) that I’m an expression of Christ (Col. 3:4) that He has a purpose for my life (Col. 1:16, Ps. 138:8) that I’m loved by Christ (John 3:16, Eph. 1:4). It’s also truth that God is still working on me (Rom. 8:28, Phil. 1:6, Col. 2:7) so I know that He has allowed every day I’ve faced. Some days hold joy and love sweeter than life itself, and others pain, confusion, and darkness that find us on our faces crying out for help and healing. Both are being used of God to create in us the image of Jesus and who He is and a dependence on our God.
Have you ever felt labeled? Do you ever feel like people have already made their mind up about you, without trying to know you or understand the situation? Maybe you’ve believed a lie, or forgotten the truth of who you are and who God is in you. You, we are not alone. Our prayers and songs and hearts ring out with the voice of experience. We KNOW God is faithful, we KNOW God provides, we KNOW He loves us. Without walking through moments and seasons of struggle, we would never know the depths of God’s love and goodness.
I think it’s time we change the letter. It still remains a “Scarlet” one however, bathed in the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice for us, redeemed by His love. “F” for forgiven, or “L” for loved, or even “C” for child of the Almighty God. It’s not easy but we have to find our identity in truth, in God. We are more than how we feel or what someone thinks of us. We will be found in Him, we will be identified by Him, we will live and move and have our being in the One who gives us life.
Psalm 23 (Message)
A David Psalm
1-3 God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.
5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.
6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
* Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of “The Scarlet Letter” (1850), regarded this painting, which William Walters commissioned from Merle in 1859, as the finest illustration of his novel. Set in Puritan Boston, the novel relates how Hester Prynne was publicly disgraced and condemned to wear a scarlet letter “A” for adultery. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister who fathered her child, and Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s elderly husband, appear in the background.
Merle’s canvas reflects some of the same 19th-century historical interest in the Puritans as Hawthorne’s book, a fascination that reached its peak with the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863. By depicting Hester and her daughter, Pearl, in a pose that recalls that of the Madonna and Child, Merle underlines “The Scarlet Letter”’s themes of sin and redemption.
Romans 7:17-20 (Message)
17 -20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
I’ve always loved this scripture because it makes me not feel so bad about myself. If Paul can be this candid and blunt – totally transparent about how he struggles with his sin, than I can too. It’s always been comforting knowing that this amazing saint was such a screw up . Why is it then that we pastors so often come across like we know everything, like we’ve figured out this faith, and we can ‘answer any question you’d like to ask’? Whether you know it or not the world looks at us pastors and thinks we’re fake. According to a new study on what non-Christians think about us, overwhelmingly, they think our lives and words are empty, so much so this study ended up as a book called “UnChristian”. How did this “perfect” posture become our example to lead people in their faith journeys? If Paul could openly write this honest confession to those he was trying to mentor in church leadership, why can’t we be transparent about who we are and how we struggle? The world doesn’t have a problem with the fact that we make mistakes and are human, they have a problem with how we deal with those mistakes, how we hide from truth instead of humbly embracing it and dealing with our sin honestly. Perhaps that’s how Paul was able to attract and reach so many, because he wasn’t the haughty, perfect, pious Pharisee he used to be, but instead just a broken sinner with a loving and forgiving God.
We so often live and worship as though we’re pleading with God to come near with one hand and holding Him off with the other, what’s our problem? Why is this Christian life so hard to live? Why do we sometimes feel like Paul, going crazy in the cycle of faith and fear or living holy or heathen? Only Jesus was able to walk this line of humanity and holiness perfectly and that’s why we need Him so desperately. He gives us the grace to own our failures and the truth to help us change.
You may not see the inconsistency that we as Christians can so often portray but the world does, in fact if you’re a pastor – your church does. Many business books talk about leading strong, making decisions and staying the course, even if you’ve made a bad decision or regret how you’ve led, don’t show weakness, but keep your head up and keep going in the same direction. That’s not good leadership, that’s arrogance and a HUGE lack of awareness – in fact it’s sin. People may be littered in your wake as you’ve forged ahead in your decisions to succeed, but souls lay casualties in your path from your calloused heart to the Spirit and insatiable ego to do more – Please STOP! Don’t forget that people, are your mission, not your strategy to grow or come across as in control. And for the love, please admit your mistakes and brokenness before those you lead. It’s what Paul did, He didn’t seem to have a problem owning his mistakes and talking about them, airing them and apologizing for them. Let’s not try to come off as perfect or like we’ve figured out every mystery of life and the universe, but instead open our eyes and be honest about our struggles or mistakes and, like Paul, talk about it, lead with humility and transparency – brokenness, only then will the world, and your church, see the beauty and redemption in our God.
I’ve always loved children. Being the youngest of 4 in my family I never had the experience of a baby sister or brother to play with, or torment, and being that my personality was one of a more nurturing side, I loved holding and playing with babies anytime I could be around them. I couldn’t wait to be a father. I’m a very relational person and my greatest dream in life was to have a family of my own. When my wife Lori and I got married in 1994 we thought like most young couples that we would take a couple of years of wedded bliss and then start the process of having babies and our family. I remember us making our plans for a boy or girl and cute names and perfect images of nurseries and strollers and all things children, as if we had some control over those things. Having a family wasn’t my only dream. I also dreamed of being a Contemporary Christian music artist. I dreamed like most kids of huge crowds and loud music and making records. I worked with passion to become that artist and to follow my dream, and in a lot of ways saw it come true. I traveled on the road full-time shortly after getting married performing nearly 1000 concerts in 3 years and Lori followed her own dream of being a radio DJ and working with artists. Before we knew it we had been married over 8 years and still had no children. Our busy schedules and career chasing kept us from worrying too much about it, and we were young. We thought we would have plenty of time.
As time rolled on, we knew there was a problem and went to a few specialists, Lori had a surgical procedure to help with her Endometriosis and I remember the doctor saying “You’ll be fertile Myrtle now!” A few years later we still had not conceived and we hadn’t moved any further in finding out what the problem truly was. Lori was given a clean bill of health and so was I, still no children. We continued to follow our careers and dreams but found that we were becoming bitter and unbelievably sensitive about children. Most of our friends already had one or two and made comments about how they ‘couldn’t even sit too close to each other without getting pregnant’. Those kinds of comments or even story lines in movies or TV shows that dealt with abortion or babies in any way were unbelievably difficult for us. We began to notice that our dreams and careers felt shallow and that we so longed for children. As we wrestled with what steps to take in fertility, we realized that Lori was struggling even with the idea of being a mommy. Her parents had divorced after 17 years of marriage and for some reason Lori felt that children had something to do with that. We had a pretty big argument about where we were, how old we were getting and whether or not we were going to try anymore. Lori had begun to worry about what kind of mom she would be and if having children would some how affect our marriage in a negative way. After all she hadn’t seen it work well.
We were stuck. I wanted to move on discovering what was keeping us from getting pregnant and she was paralyzed with fear of what might happen if we did. We went to see a dear friend and counselor that helped us and encouraged Lori. After a few sessions we were seeing truth and growing hopeful of what having a baby would be like. We made an appointment with a fertility clinic and began the very difficult process of assisted fertility. I’ll never forget in the middle of that process after we had 2 different failed attempts at artificial insemination, feeling so embarrassed and like a lab rat, that I said to Lori, “This should be done at home where we can love on each other in the privacy of our own home and marriage not in some cold clinical test tube, does God not think we’ll make good parents”, to which my precious wife responded, “It takes more love to walk through this process, more sacrifice, more commitment”. I just began to cry and remember why we were walking this road. We finally moved forward with IVF and though Lori is deathly afraid of needles, we made it through. We conceived!! On January 25, 2007, we gave birth to our beautiful little girl Daisy Joy. Daisy has been such an incredible gift from the Lord and there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t thank Him for her. During the IVF process we had 3 embryos that continued to grow and be viable for implant. Two were implanted when we conceived with Daisy, losing one, and one was frozen.
We decided to go and get our little “snowflake” about a year ago and started the process of praying and talking with the fertility clinic about what steps should be taken. We had a busy summer in 2009 and though we had hoped to try the implant in June, we didn’t actually make time in our schedule until September. We found ourselves waiting for Lori’s cycle to begin so we could communicate with the clinic and start the process. We realized that she was 9 days late and she mentioned to me that she was a little confused as to why. We got a test that night and the next day discovered we were pregnant on our own. (I was convinced this was a nearly immaculate conception…God was involved no doubt!) On May 25, 2010 we gave birth to our second little girl Jovie May! We will try to retrieve our little “snowflake” next year sometime. God is so good, and has been present with us through it all. There were so many times that it felt like we were in a desert, and that surely He wasn’t listening, but “He’s never left us or forsaken us”. His timing is perfect and He is always good. He allows us to walk through some difficult seasons in life but we are never alone. The question is, do we trust Him? This is His story He’s writing, not ours.
When I was a little guy, I remember getting in trouble with my parents and running to my room and hiding in the closet. It’s not like that was the safe haven where no discipline would find me. In fact, it was usually the place my father would find a trusty belt to remind me of why it’s good to be obedient. The truth is, it’s in our heritage to hide. When we’ve truly screwed up and know it, it’s only “natural” to want to remove yourself from the situation and run to some dark place where the consequences of that action hopefully won’t follow. Unfortunately, they always do. I say it’s in our history because even in the garden, Adam and Eve sinned, heard God walking and calling out to them and then they hid. I think the cause of this desire to run and hide is shame. Shame, by definition is, a negative emotion that combines feelings of dishonor, unworthiness, and embarrassment. Even at a very young age when we’re disobedient we know that our action will most likely bring some act of discipline and that’s the part we hate. We don’t mind the sin so much, it’s more the consequences that cause us to find the nearest closet.
As we grow older the closet seems to lose it’s ability to cover and protect us and we find new places to hide. As adults it’s easier for us to hide emotionally, to detach ourselves from the reality of our situation or sin and hide in destructive places. For men, we often retreat to the shelter of our Lazyboy, a good game on television, our work, or worse the internet. Women can hide from reality with a good romance novel, shopping spree, or soap opera. Our families and friends can still see us and we may even fool them enough in our churches that they think we’re doing just fine, but often our true hearts are lonely, afraid and hidden in the closet of some dark addiction instead of the transparent solace of our Father’s arms.
Psalm 139:22-24 says “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” To make this your prayer, you’ve got to be ready to be undone, floored by God’s grace, to be completely open to His Spirit and willing to allow Him to purge you of every wrong thing. As a worshiper, your heart should be seeking God, asking Him to look deep into the reality of who you are, to draw you out of your hiding places into His marvelous light. Know however, the wonderful irony of God is that we don’t have to hide from God when we feel guilty or shameful, but instead let Him be our hiding place. Let His grace be the first place we run to, not from. Our nature is to run away from God when we’ve sinned, but through Christ, God has given us a new life and a new direction. We may now find our hiding place in God and come boldly before Him.
What exactly in your life are you hiding from God, from your spouse, or from the truth of scripture. There is healing, and hope and help if we’ll just not run away from God to hide but instead, to hide in the shadow of His wing. Don’t hide, be hidden.
Conflict and struggle can be hard to face, but how we respond will not only show if we believe in ourselves, but what we believe about God.
As a kid I remember at times being bullied and pushed around, not from kids my age because I was always a big kid, but usually from older kids. (Doesn’t matter how old we get it, seems there will always be bullies.) I remember a few instances where the bigger kid would challenge me to a fight and like the wild west, he’d throw down the charge, “Meet me behind the school after class” or some other frightening phrase like it. I remember carrying fear around with me all day like the books on my back, dreading and counting down the minutes until the show down. It took everything I could muster to just show up. Uncertain of victory or utter annihilation the one thing I could not do was not show up. Like some unwritten code in my DNA as a man-child, I had to at least be there, to not run from the challenge, I may not have been able to walk away from the scene but at least I would show up.
Sometimes the first step in frightening battles we face in life is to just “Show Up”. As men living life in the everyday mundane rat wheel it’s sometimes hard to find the strength or will to “Show Up” for the things that matter most. Serving our families, praying for those we love, listening to a friend instead of talking about yourself, reading scripture or having consistent integrity. Sometimes these things feel like the hardest, most impossible tasks of our day but still we must “Show Up”. Being consistent as a Godly man is so important. Trying to not be overwhelmed by always sizing up the opponent or big picture of paying bills and working more than you’d like or the effort to serve when you’d rather be served. But instead, take one day at a time, one loving act of kindness, one extra minute to care. Soon we find that a few extra moments of selflessness and a couple of extra efforts of serving, make the difference in the lifetime of a child or the quality of a marriage. Before we can be used of God to fight some battle waiting for us in our destiny, we have to be committed and determined to at least “Show Up”.
Once we’ve made the decision to follow through we must then “Stand Firm”, when I think about this phrase I have visions of William Wallace (Braveheart) or Maximus (Gladiator). These men were resolute in what they believed and fought for it, even at the cost of their own lives. Most of the time however, the Lord just wants us to stand, He does the fighting.
2 Chronicles 20:17 says “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.”
I think it’s so interesting that the Lord would have us dress up in our battle gear, and even take formation and prepare our footing for a fight, and then tell us to watch because the battle is His. Almost as if to say, I’m allowing you to feel apart and encourage you, and even giving you the deep honor and pride of feeling important and useful and needed, but I’ll do the fighting. As a kid I played every sport under the sun and in each one, some of the basic instruction included having the right footing, whether blocking out in basketball or blocking an offensive line man to make a tackle in football, the most important part of each was learning to stand firm and to be ready for the challenge. Each of us struggles with temptation and failure but we have to be committed to getting back up after we’ve been knocked down and stand firm for the next challenge. We often walk away with a black eye or a limp, but we can hold our heads high and our hearts steady when we Show Up and Stand Firm.
God asks us to trust Him with the battle but also to “Be Strong and Courageous” in the middle of it. God has promised, ‘the Salvation of the Lord’, and the assurance that you are not alone. Maybe every fear is not completely subsided but there is a sense of confidence and faith and trust in the One who will fight the fight for you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Go back in your memory and be encouraged by the innumerable amount of times that God proved Himself before you, provided a way or answered a prayer. We must trust that God goes before us and loves us enough to call us into the action. Let’s stand next to Him ready and willing to offer our lives, yet with the faith that the fight before us is His, and that we must not fear for He is with us.
One thing I remember about those school ground challenges is that I never knew when those days would come, that hasn’t changed as an adult. We have no idea what God is going to allow us to walk through from day to day, but whatever we face, we can trust He has allowed it in our lives and He is with us through the fight.
Praying that I/we will be willing to SHOW UP, to STAND FIRM, and BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS.
Stand Firm
2 Chronicles 20:17 (Whole Chapter) [Exodus 14:13, 14 ] You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ [ 2 Chronicles 20:15 ] Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, [2 Chronicles 15:2; 32:8; Num 14:9] and the LORD will be with you.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 (Whole Chapter
Be watchful, [Gal 5:1; Phil 1:27; 4:1; 1 Thess 3:8; 2 Thess 2:15; 1 Corinthians 15:1 ] stand firm in the faith, [1 Sam 4:9; 2 Sam 10:12; Isa 46:8 ] act like men, [Eph 3:16; Eph 6:10; Col 1:11] be strong.
Galatians 5:1 (Whole Chapter) [ Christ Has Set Us Free ] For [Galatians 5:13; Galatians 2:4; James 1:25 ] freedom Christ has [ John 8:32 ] set us free; [ 1 Cor 16:13 ] stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to [Acts 15:10 ] a yoke of [ Galatians 2:4] slavery.
Ephesians 6:13 (Whole Chapter) Therefore [1 Pet 4:1 ] take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in [Ephesians 5:16] the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Philippians 1:27 (Whole Chapter) Only [Philippians 3:20 ] let your manner of life be [ Eph 4:1 ] worthy [Greek Only behave as citizens worthy] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you [ 1 Cor 16:13 ] that you are standing firm in one spirit, with [Philippians 2:2; 1 Cor 1:10 ] one mind [Jude 3] striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
Philippians 4:1 (Whole Chapter) Therefore, my brothers, [Or brothers and sisters; also verses 8, 21] whom I love and [ Philippians 1:8 ] long for, [Philippians 1:4; 2:16; 2 Cor 1:14 ] my joy and [Prov 16:31; 17:6 ] crown, [Philippians 1:27] stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Be Strong and Courageous
Deuteronomy 31:6 (Whole Chapter) [Deuteronomy 31:23; Josh 1:6, 7; 10:25; 1 Chr 22:13; 28:20 ] Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, [ Deuteronomy 20:4 ] for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. [Josh 1:5] He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Joshua 1:7 (Whole Chapter) Only be strong and [Joshua 23:6 ] very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law [Joshua 11:15 ] that Moses my servant commanded you. [Deut 5:32; 28:14] Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success [Or may act wisely] wherever you go.
2 Samuel 10:12 (Whole Chapter) [ Deut 31:6 ] Be of good courage, and [1 Sam 4:9; 1 Cor 16:13 ] let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and [1 Sam 3:18] may the LORD do what seems good to him.
