I love the scene from J. R. R Tolkien’s “The Return of the King” where Aragon is desperately outnumbered. He looks fear right in the eye and finds the strength to inspire his men against what seems like an almost certain defeat against the massive forces of the enemy. Standing firm and riding in front of his army, he declares,

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.

A day may come when the courage of men fails,

when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,

…but it is not this day! This day we fight!

By all that you hold dear on this good earth,

I bid you stand…

Sounds so easy in the movies, doesn’t it? Ambrose Redmoon defines courage as not having the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. “God, I am afraid, but give me the courage to push through my fears, the burdens of a passive spirit and the regret of my past failures.” It was time for me to take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God and to go to war on behalf of righteousness; it was time to begin the battle for my children! All this stuff, the garbage that has burdened my life for so long and all the generational issues that had been passed down, had to end with me. I did not want any of this to be passed down to my children, and I asked the Lord to do whatever He needed to do in my life to free my children of these chains and burdens that I have carried for so long. Unfortunately, I had to walk through another failed marriage for me to really get this. To break free of old patterns, to stand up and become the man God called me to be…

Waving the banner of the Lord before me, it was time to storm the encampment of the enemy and reclaim territory for Jesus Christ; it was time to storm my Jericho.

For God, for my children!

I accept the call of the Lord to stand! To rise up! To fight!

What will you die for?