2020 The Year of Discouragement – 2021 The Year of Courage
I grew up in the 80’s and the era of being dissed. Nothing was worse than someone dissing you. This story will give you an idea of what it was like to be dissed in the 80’s.
It was my first week of college basketball practice at Northeastern (CO) Junior College. I was trying to earn respect from my new teammates. I was a fish out of water for the first time on the court. My teammates were all from big cities. I was told we only recruited “Bloods”, which coming from small town Oklahoma, meant nothing to me. All I knew was nobody was passing me the ball and it was apparent that it was going to be much more challenging than I expected.
We had incredible athletes and at one point were ranked top 10 Nationally. One of our top players was former player of the year in Colorado both in basketball and football. He first went to Kansas University to play linebacker, but transferred to NJC to play basketball. Tracy Jordan was a 6-5 and 240 lbs power forward made of pure muscle. He went on to play at Colorado State.
In practice that day, Tracy was driving down the lane. I slid over to take a charge and Tracy goes up and dunks on me. Tracy standing over me spits and starts cursing me doing all he can to disrespect me in front of the rest of the team. I look over at my coach who chose to just let this happen. After practice I walk into coach’s office and ask him what he would suggest I do if this happens again. Coach said if I did not stand up for myself, then the team would never respect or accept me. I told him I had no problem with that, but he better pull him off of me, because my 150 lbs was not going to last long against Tracy.
A couple of days later in practice, I saw Tracy turn the corner to take the ball to the hole. I slid over to stop him, but instead of taking a charge, I used one of my five fouls and took him to the floor. He was as shocked as everyone else was. He scrambled quickly to his feet and was headed at me with a ton of steam and anger. I had no options. Running nor fighting would work, so I just stood there saying “Hit me. Hit me. I can’t beat you, but I will be here tomorrow.” It was at that point that one of the other players started saying, “He’s dissing you man.”
Coach kicked us both out of practice that day. I knew better than to go outside. Instead I went to the weight room. Tracy put a dent in the hood of my 72 Chevelle that day. That dent was a reminder every time that I saw it, that standing is the right thing to do, but it rarely comes without scars. I had to swallow the following truth. If I wanted to play college basketball, then there was absolutely nothing I could do about my car. All I could do was choose to stand day after day against fear, refusing to let discouragement stop me from reaching my dream. I was over ten hours from home with no allies and every reason to fold tent and quit, but leaving my dreams and my promised land behind simply was not something I was willing to do.
I would like to say after that day, things got easier. It was my Jacob to Israel moment, but I endured many scars and stitches before finally seeing God turn the tide in my favor. By my sophomore season if anyone even considered dissing me, those same teammates, who seemed set on ruining my dream, would actually kill someone for messing with me. The only answer to that miracle turnaround was God.
Have you ever been Dissed, Disrespected, criticized, or insulted? Does it ever feel like the world is set on discrediting everything you do? Do you believe there is an enemy that has a weapon called discouragement?
To understand discouragement. Let’s break down courage first. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. Meaning “valor, quality of mind which enables one to meet danger and trouble without fear”. In this sense Old English had ellen, which also meant “zeal, strength.” Words for “heart” also commonly are metaphors for inner strength. In Middle English, the word was used broadly for “what is in one’s mind or thoughts,” hence “bravery” but also “wrath, pride, confidence, lustiness,” or any sort of inclination, and it was used in various phrases, such as bold corage “brave heart” or careful corage “sad heart”.
King Saul was big man until Goliath showed up and opened his mouth. King Saul chose to listen to the fear over the promises of God. He listened to the World News, which is fear. A young David comes along and instead of hearing the dissing of Goliath, David knows the promises of God and chooses to Live from those promises. He chooses Fire over Fear. Fire is the power and anointing promised to us by our God. It is part of our covenant and our inheritance as children of God.
In 2021 are you going to continue to listen to the press or are you gonna choose to praise the FEARLESS KING OF KINGS?
Haman’s evil plan to kill all the Jews was exposed when a bold courageous young girl named Esther took her place in God’s plan for such a time as this and boldly walked into the King’s Court knowing entering without invitation was probably death. She stood and put her life on the line for her family and future children. She looked fear and discouragement in the eyes and did exactly what Elijah did that day facing 850 Baal prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah dissed them all that day, because he knew that only his God could send Fire.
I proclaim right now that 2021 is going to be the Year of Courage.
Everyone is tired of the fear and lies. Time for the Brave Hearts to Arise! It is time for the David’s, Esther’s, and Elijah’s to once again Arise and Shine for such a Time as This! It is time for God to DISMANTLE the Wall of fear, lies, and deception of the enemy!