Principles: Courage

Boldness to be outgoing and friendly with others. Daring to take action that positively influences others.

Creates in Self:
Advantage
Wisdom
Confidence
Influence
Integrity
Opportunity

Creates in Society:
Trust
Leadership
Success

Thoughts, Goals and Meditations about Courage:
Courage is doing what you fear
Actions create confidence
Actions create opportunity
We trust active people
Brave minds are strong minds
Courage will resist fear
Courage requires you to act and make a difference
Courageous battles are often fought in the mind
Courage and Wisdom are fearful steps to success
Action will conquer fear
Leaders make a difference
Wisdom is real courage respecting real danger
Say no, mean it and influence others
Have the confidence to be friends with those who need you
Courageous action will break bad habits
Calculate your risk and act to make a difference
Have courage and be confident in your ideas

Courage
As with any other principle, the world offers a somewhat limited view of courage.

WWI ace aviator Eddie Rickenbacker defined courage as "doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."

I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. - W. T. Sherman

Mark Twain agreed: "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear––not absence of fear."

John Wayne, an American icon of courage (if only in two dimensions), perhaps put it best" "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

Have you ever thought of yourself as being courageous? You may never have fought in combat, climbed Everest, or even shouted, "Give me liberty, or give me death." Chances are, however, you have demonstrated courage, especially if you are a Christian. First of all, you became a Christian. You have probably tried to share your faith. At some point, you have been tested, and you chose to obey God rather than man. All of this takes courage.

Every Bible should have a warning label printed on the front cover: "Caution: Courage required." All of the great people of the Bible were people of faith, which enabled them to be people of courage. It took faith-driven courage to build a mammoth ship out of wood and then to entrust the future of terrestrial life to its seaworthiness. It took courage to lead a fleeing nation through a parted sea with a hostile army in hot pursuit, to prophesy to a rebellious and idolatrous people, to die on a stake for someone else's sins, to preach the gospel to a pagan world.

"Be strong and courageous." Three times by the Lord and once by his fellow Israelites, Joshua, the son of Nun, was encouraged by this command (Joshua 1:6-7, 9, 18). The basis for this courage was explicit: "...for the Lord your God will be with you whereever you go. (Joshua 1:9). What more do we need? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

Courage is the power to make choices:

If hope sets our target, courage is what is necessary to stay focused on the goal. Courage means making a difficult choice that is consistent with what we value the most. Courage is the strength to stand opposed to the forces that would harm us or others, draw us away from our humanity or our God. Courage is inner strength to do the right thing, as best we know it. Taking that difficult step is a critical part of self-esteem.

Every person needs to feel courageous and powerful:

Power is closely associated with courage. Power is the capacity to influence events that affect us. Power is not physical strength. It does not mean control. Even very young children need to feel powerful. The two-year-old's emerging sense of self and personal will can produce confrontations with parents. The challenge parents face is to help the child develop a sense of power while also contributing to the child's self-control.

Moral Courage:

Requires us to do what is right even when it is likely to cost us more than we want to pay and more than we think is fair. It occasionally requires us to stand up and be counted, to fight for our beliefs, to demonstrate the courage of our convictions. Because social, economic and political pressures may make it difficult for us to do the right thing, integrity embodies the idea of moral courage and is considered a fundamental measure of character.

Scriptures on the Principle of Courage

Psalms 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Ephesians 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Hebrews 4:16 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.