Discussion Thread: Courageous Faith i.
With each word, write four summaries of the reading from any four of the following chapters in Courageous Faith:
Chapter 2 — Overcoming Obstacles
Chapter 3 — When Dreams and Heroes Die
Chapter 4 — Becoming a Leader
Chapter 6 — No More Excuses
Chapter 8 — Facing Your Weaknesses
Chapter 9 — Reaching Out to Others
Chapter 10 — Realizing Your Goals
Chapter 12 — Standing Up for What You Believe
This means that in this assignment you are developing four summaries of 120 words each (one for each of the four chapters you selected). You should aim to create four summaries and each summary is between 100-120 words. Each of your summaries should not exceed the 120-word or $12 limit. Be sure to include at least one quote from the chapter in each summary. For an example of this type of thread, please see the provided example.
Courageous Faith
Becoming a Leader (Moses)
Moses was a great leader, bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. When he was called by the Lord to be the leader of the Israelites, it is seen that he makes excuses to escape from it as he does not feel to be worthy of bringing the people out of Egypt. God replies in this way, “If you have what you think is a limitation, could I remind you, Moses, I am the God who made people.” To become a leader, he had to flee from the palace meaning he left behind his palace, his prince-ship so that he can become a leader to God’s children. The most important lesson learned here is that to move into the future a person must overcome his past. Leaving behind everything that might drag the person back to who he was and therefore becoming a new person by answering the call God has planned for him which was out of his comfort zone.
Facing Your Weaknesses (Samson)
Samson was a child blessed with great strength and his purpose in life was known to him since the day he was born. Everyone knew that he would serve to save the Israelites one day. As the book suggests, “His strength was only an outward symbol of God’s calling on his life”. He strolled in the vineyards and wished to have some grapes. There’s not much wrong here, but his curiosity always let him into temptations. We see his act of strength in, “A lion leaped out of the vineyard and attacked him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he “tore the lion apart with his bare hands” (Judges 14:6). He did not tell anyone about the incident, but as he was engaged in the wedding ceremony, he asked riddles to the philistines which they were not able to solve. So, they sent his wife asking for it, three times, he did not tell her the secret of his strength but as she kept on bothering him, he went ahead and told his secret and was captured by the Philistines.
When Dreams and Heroes Die (Joseph)
Jacob and Rachel had a son and named him Joseph; he was his favorite son as he loved his wife, Rachel. Joseph was a very good son as it is read in the bible, but the only problem his family had was that he was a dreamer. He had dreams that his family did not appreciate as his dreams always portrayed him to be in a higher position and his brothers bowing down to him. This angered his parents as well as his brothers, and as a result, he was sold to the Egyptians by his brothers, where his life completely changed. There were a lot of struggles in his life, from the pit to prison and from the prison to the palace, his life changed. Unlike Samsung who fell for the flesh, Joseph was a very determined young man who did not fall into temptation. “That’s when our faith in God is challenged: Can I still trust after everything that has happened? If He loves me, how can He let this happen? Living for Him just isn’t paying off!”, God is pleased when the faith of a believer is strong. He knows it is difficult for humans to keep the faith but when his people do, he does not forget and rewards them. He held on to God and God raised him in front of everyone when he interpreted the pharaoh’s dream while he was still in prison. By God’s power and wisdom, he was second in command to the king even though he was not an Egyptian. The dreams he had started to take shape as the famine broke in and his family traveled to buy food from Egypt.
Standing Up for What You Believe (Daniel)
The Babylonians chose good-looking and smart people from among the Israelites and Daniel was one among them. They were given 3 years of training and good food so that they could gain strength but they refused to have their food and preferred only vegetables as the Israelites saw those foods as unclean. As Daniel and his friends refused to have the unclean food so they stand firm in their faith, God blessed them. “God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning” to these four young men (Daniel 1:17). Another test for them was to bow to the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had made and asked every person to bow before it and those who would not obey would be thrown into the furnace. Even in this test, the men stood firm in faith and therefore they were not burned in the furnace and came back alive. The only thing that can be said after this incident is that “God is great”. Standing firm in faith at any cost saved Daniel and his friends and the Lord also blessed them with wisdom, something a man cannot have by his strength but can only be gifted by God. When believers let go of the worldly things for God, he does not forget but rewards them greatly and makes miracles happen, and everyone else who sees believes. As the Babylonians believed when they saw Daniel and his friends come out of the furnace.
References
Ed Hindson, Courageous Faith: Life Lessons from Old Testament Heroes (Chattanooga, TN: AMG, 2011).
