Christian Pure

Prayers for Courage: When You Need Boldness to Speak, Forgive or Start Again

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • A prayer for courage asks God for strength to do a hard thing while you are still afraid; God told Joshua, “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” (Joshua 1:9).
  • When they were threatened, the first Christians prayed, “grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word” (Acts 4:29).
  • Being afraid is no failure of faith: in Gethsemane Jesus “began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy” (Mark 14:33), and then prayed, “not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
  • The twelve prayers cover trusting God, speaking up, forgiving, sickness, the fear of death, persecution, money worries, phobias and starting again.
  • Five short new prayers are built on Psalm 27:1 and 27:14, Psalm 31:24, Isaiah 41:10 and 2 Timothy 1:7.
  • The Serenity Prayer is most likely Reinhold Niebuhr’s; in German it is often credited to Friedrich Christoph Oetinger because Theodor Wilhelm used the pen name Friedrich Oetinger.

A prayer for courage asks God for the strength to do a hard thing while you are still afraid. God gave Joshua a command and a promise together: “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” (Joshua 1:9). A psalm puts the whole thing in one line: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Psalm 56:3). It does not say…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture is quoted from the King James Version: Joshua 1:9; Esther 4:16; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 27:14; Psalm 31:24; Psalm 56:3; Proverbs 3:5; Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 14:30-31; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 4:39; Mark 14:33-36; Luke 23:34; Acts 4:29-31; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Ephesians 4:15; Philippians 3:13-14; Philippians 4:6-7; Philippians 4:13; Colossians 4:6; 2 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 2:15; 1 John 4:18. King James Version, BibleGateway
  • Adelle M. Banks (Religion News Service), “Scholar changes view, says Niebuhr probably wrote ‘Serenity Prayer’,” The Presbyterian Outlook, 10 January 2010. pres-outlook.org
  • Archiv der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland, finding aid 7NL208 (Nachlass Eckhard Goldberg), on the history of the Gelassenheitsgebet in German from 1951, Theodor Wilhelm and the pen name “Friedrich Oetinger.” archiv.ekir.de
  • Deutsche Biographie, “Wilhelm, Theodor” (1906–2005), name variant Friedrich Oetinger (pseudonym). deutsche-biographie.de
  • Deutsche Biographie, “Oetinger, Friedrich Christoph” (1702–1782), Lutheran theologian. deutsche-biographie.de

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