MOUNTAINS OF COURAGE

I have been in email dialog with a friend who has asthma which I sometimes deal with myself though not as severely. The American Lung Association says, “If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.” True enough. It can be a bit scary. But my friend, also a writer, has been given an opportunity to go to Israel in relation to a book she has written that may become a movie. A pretty big deal, wouldn’t you say? But she’s afraid of facing breathing problems, on the plane, or while there. She wrote to ask me what I thought about her going. Having just made that trip and faced down a few trepidations of my own, I shared with her some of my own experiences to encourage her. Perhaps this will be of help to some others to overcome life-limiting fears.


Here's what appear to be the issue. You've been asked to go for God and you either trust Him or you don't. If you trust Him, and go in obedience, He'll take care of you. Ask Him to only give you invitations that come from Him. Where He asks us to go, He will see us through. We walk in the footsteps of Abraham who had to GO, despite what adversities and unknowns were ahead of him. It is a matter of obedience and fulfilling the mandate to GO into all the world – we each only get to go to where He’s sending us, whether it’s our neighborhood or across the globe. But we each have a calling, we each have a story, a witness to share. Should you let fear rule your life and quench your story? I’ve often thought, when facing something scary, would I want to stand before Him one day and see it from His perspective and see that my trepidation acted as lord in my life in that instance, so that I missed the gift of His "opportunity." I've had to make that decision so many times in my life. Each time I would GO, despite fears, weakness, insecurity and uncertainty, God blessed and strengthened me and it became not only a blessing to me but to those to whom He sent me with His message.


It would seem that you're at a crossroad in your life. Doors are opening to share this incredible story. If it becomes a movie, or even if it doesn't, there will be other invitations and other opportunities to share the story. If you let fear rule and don't go at this beginning stage, the doors will stop opening. This is, as I see it, a matter of destiny. Which road will you take? I have at times had to say with Esther, "If I perish, I perish," but I'm going to obey what I feel God is saying, and go where it appears He is leading me. In this last trip to Israel, I had to overcome a number of challenges and say no to fears. I was traveling the world alone, but I went. Faced with something that never happens at home was climbing a mountain on more than one occasion. Hiking up a long trail to a crest of a giant hill or even one of Israel’s many mountains, my immediate thoughts were I don't have the lungs to climb or hike that mountain; I'm not strong enough. I’ll wait here at the bottom. But I determined not to let fear gain a hold on me.


Climbing a mountain is certainly a metaphor for conquering fear, and yes, on two occasions I needed to use my inhaler, but I climbed more than one mountain and overcame each one and I was able to see from the top of the mountains such far such reaching vistas that I would never have known existed if I had stayed in the low lands. I saw the majesty and the power of God in His creation such as never before from those mountain tops. Don't miss the significance of conquering your own mountain (of fear). I learned more of God from those mountain climbing experiences and from what I could see from the top than I would ever have known down below where I considered it "safer."


Eliezer ben Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew, has tuberculosis his whole adult life. He was weak and frail -- but he had a vision to restore the language. He changed the destiny of Israel and the Jewish people, and I would venture to say their far-reaching impact on the world today, by his tenacity to bring Hebrew back to his people. He remains one of my heroes. It is often in our weakness that we are most victorious. How else would we know the majesty of God from the mountain top if we don't climb the mountain before us? God does choose the weak, does He not, to demonstrate His power?


You may miss an opportunity of a life time if you don't go. Fear is, as you've probably heard, False Evidence Appearing Real. True you've had breathing challenges. Who knows but that God will heal you AS YOU GO? Face down the fear, reject any anticipated failure and chose instead to go in faith and trust in God, leaning the weight of your being on Him, as the Amplified Bible says.


One of my biggest fears was speaking in front of people with a microphone in my hand. I had two terrible incidents when I was asked to sing with my guitar for events and I panicked, froze, forgot the words, and just locked up. How embarrassing. The audience froze with me, not knowing what to do. So I told them how scared I was and just asked them to sing, “Blowing in the Wind” with me – everyone in those days knew the song, and so we did and it was soon over. Whew. I assumed after that happened once, it wouldn't happen again. But it did. I was asked to sing a solo in the Messianic group of which I was a part for three years - The Beth Yeshua Singers . I pleaded with the leader not to ask me to sing the solo, but alas, it was being required of me. The same thing happened. Paralyzed with fear I forgot the words I knew well in the middle of a line. Thank God we were singing at our home congregation that day and not at a conference somewhere. From that time on, I would start to palpitate and sweat if I even had to walk anywhere near a microphone and I wasn't even supposed to speak. My self-vow was that I would never ever again be in front of people to speak, let alone sing.


But then God began to put requests to share my testimony before me. The first one was for 3 minutes. Just 3 minutes! I agonized over it, believing He was asking me to do it but I hated it. I cannot tell you (maybe I don't have to) how terrified I was. I finally agreed in obedience. I asked God to empty me of me, to make me a hollow tube of His light. When I was handed the microphone and I spoke those 3 minutes at a Friends of Israel Christmas dinner of about three hundred people, I suppose He did something miraculous, at least in me, because when the 3 minutes was over and I sat down, my whole body shaking, there were tears in people's eyes and they were obviously touched by what I had shared. What a surprise.


The next time was on the radio. My church's evening service was aired on the radio and they too asked me to share my testimony. Oh no. Not on the radio. But I was of the belief that it was God asking me to do it (I was naive enough then to think that anything a Christian was asked to do was from Him). So despite my raging fear, I said yes. I kept praying "God give me peace, give me peace." But I had none. Then it was time to walk up to the podium. When I put my foot on the bottom step to walk up, since there was no more time to still be asking for peace, I said, "Thank you, Lord, for the peace you're now giving me." And peace was immediately mine! And the words came easily. Whadda y’know!


I learned from that to ask and then assume He's giving it to me and thank Him for peace (or whatever), not to keep waiting for it. If it's always coming later, it's not faith for now. Today I can speak in front of hundreds of people, even with no notes – just my trust in the Holy Spirit that we’re doing it together. I may be a bit nervous in the beginning but soon the anointing comes and it's a joy and usually my joy rolls off onto the people and we rejoice in Him together. I've learned to trust that God will take our weaknesses and turn them into His victories. If I hadn't gone the first few times, I wouldn't know that and I would have been robbed of what have been some of the greatest joys of my life - to share what He has given me with people I would never have met - some of them I have come to love who live in places I would never have gone to.


So there you are, my dear friend. You have a mountain to climb and a word to share. If you do not GO, you might not face the physical challenges that you fear - or you may face them anyway, especially if you say yes to fear and no to trusting the Lord if you feel it’s His invitation to GO. If you stay where you think it will be safer, you might also miss the greatest blessings of your life - the knowledge and the experience of God's overcoming power and His desire to have us participate in advancing His Kingdom truths. Follow the King where He leads! You will never be sorry. And if you have some kind of breathing challenge while there, you'll live through it. Don't let fear rule your life. Let the King be King in all your decisions. One day you will be overjoyed to hear Him say, "Well, done my good and faithful one."


As the old Jewish proverbs says, "If not now, when, if not you, who?" Chose this day whom you will serve. Fear fades as we follow in the footsteps of the One who goes before us.


That was what I sent to my friend. What is your challenge? What mountain is before you? Anyone who knows Yeshua has stories to tell of how He’s brought you through darkness into His light, or from weakness to strength, whether in big things or small things. Size doesn’t matter, only trusting Him does. And there’s joy in the journey with Him.


As I sent the email off to my friend this morning, a new email popped up. This one came from my friend Elhanan who lives in Jerusalem. (There is at least one or two of his writings on this blog.) I recently had a delightful dinner in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem with Elhanan and his lovely wife Julie in the outdoor square to the sounds of someone playing an accordion. (You should go, you’ll love it!) We’ve known each other for over twenty years and it was so nice to connect with old friends as if you were together last week. Anyway, Elhanan’s poem seemed as if God was sending it as the perfect topping for this blog article. Read it and enjoy.


THE RIVER JOY

From heights immeasurable
Joy in steady streams of swelling currents
flow fresh cascades of humor
dancing through shadowed fearful canyons
to meadows of fragrance below,
overflowing freedom gushing
onto abandoned mourning deserts
breaking forth to fertility,
laughing cataracts of crystal clarity
cascading power over steep precipices
of impossibility
plunging white delight
into sapphire lakes
in the deepest reflection
of Joy.”


Elhanan Ben-Avraham,
Jerusalem, November 6, 2013