CATECHISM OF COURAGE

Child, what is COURAGE?

COURAGE is soundness and endurance of my mind and spirit in the face of danger to my body, my treasure or my reputation,
or that of my companions'; the absence of which results in moral defeat, shame and fear.1

Child, who needs COURAGE?

All saints who hope to obtain a good report by faith,2 whose heart and vision is upon the promise of an eternal kingdom3 require
the greatest measure of COURAGE.

Child, how do we obtain COURAGE?

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.8 By faith I will see what others fail to see4 and hear what
others fail to hear9, for my help cometh from the Lord who gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. While I was dead in
my sins I did not see, as dead men do not see, and I did not hear, as dead men do not hear; but the gift of God, by faith, is a heart
of flesh that fainteth not and faileth not.

Child, what is the evidence of the work of COURAGE in us?

When I feel brief affliction4 in my spirit by the loving chastening5 of the Lord; when corruptible treasures6 of this world and the
approval of men has lost its luster; when I am troubled on every side, yet not distressed; when I am perplexed, but not in
despair; when I am persecuted, but not forsaken; when I am cast down, but not destroyed7; these are evidences of the refining
work of COURAGE which bear my body, mind and spirit onward by the eternal weight of glory.

Child, what is the finished work of COURAGE?

COURAGE renders freedom of conscience11, fearless love12, and perfect peace13, which works in the believer eternal victory over
shame and fear.

[1] If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

-Proverbs 24:10

[2] And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain
with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute,
afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts,
and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a
good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Wherefore seeing we also
are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us,
-Hebrews 11:36-12:1

[3] By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By
faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God... These all died in
faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
 persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better
country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he
hath prepared for them a city.
-Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16

[4] For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the
thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are
not seen are eternal.
-II Corinthians 4:15-18

[5] For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be
wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth.
-Hebrews 12:3-6

[6] Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run,
that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore
so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to
others, I myself should be a castaway.
-I Corinthians 9:24-27

[7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of
God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body.
-II Corinthians 4:7-10
[8] I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh
from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from
all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.
-Psalm 121

[9] And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
-Matthew 13:14

[10] The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
-Matthew 11:5

[11] Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for
ever.
-I John 2:15-17

[12] Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth
out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
-I John 4:17-18

[13] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
-John 14:27