The Courage Of Yes

Devotional

Day 1: Move forward with fear at your side

Mary and Joseph did not wait for perfect clarity or safety before acting. Their choices were made while fear and misunderstanding were real possibilities — Mary could be shamed, Joseph could be judged. Courage in their story looks less like the absence of fear and more like a steady posture: noticing the fear, naming it, and taking the next necessary step anyway. That posture is learned by practice, not by waiting for feelings to change.

You can begin practicing that posture today. Pick a small, concrete move that feels risky — a conversation, a commitment, a step into a new responsibility — and do it knowing the fear may stay. Each time you take a brave but faithful step, you train yourself to respond to future interruptions with steadier resolve instead of panic.

Matthew 1:24 (paraphrase)
After the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream, he woke up and did what God had told him. Without long delay he accepted Mary and acted to protect her and the child.

Reflection: What is one small action you have been avoiding because of fear? Name it now, then do one concrete step toward it today (make a call, send a message, say “yes” out loud, set a meeting time).

Day 2: Daily small yeses build God’s larger work

The great story of God often advances through repeated, ordinary choices rather than a single dramatic moment. Small acts — doing a dish with a grateful heart, offering a quick word of forgiveness, setting aside minutes to pray — are the bricks in the slow architecture of God’s purposes. When these tiny obediences are offered consistently, they accumulate into real formation and open pathways for larger things to grow.

Treat the next days like a season of practice. Choose one tiny, repeatable act of faith and offer it with intention. Track it simply, and when doubts or impatience come, remember that small, faithful habits compound into the kind of steadiness God can use over years.

Luke 16:10 (paraphrase)
If you are faithful in small, ordinary things, you show you can be trusted with more. Being dependable in little tasks is the training ground for larger responsibility.

Reflection: Pick one small, repeatable act you can begin today (five minutes of prayer, one forgiving word, a short phone call to encourage someone). Do it today and plan to repeat it daily for this week; note what changes in your heart.

Day 3: Weak instruments showcase God’s power, not ours

God chose a young, vulnerable couple to carry the most extraordinary arrival in history. Their lack of status and resources didn’t disqualify them; it made the coming work unmistakably God’s. Limitations — weakness, poverty, smallness — are not proof of God’s absence. They are often the very conditions God uses so that grace and power are clearly seen.

This reshapes how worth and success are measured. Instead of counting only visible achievements or polished competence, learn to see where God might be choosing someone precisely because they lack worldly advantage. Your weakness can become the stage for God’s presence to move more clearly than your strengths ever could.

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 (paraphrase)
Think about how many of you were not powerful or important by the world’s standards. God often picks what seems weak and low so that no one can boast. The point is to show that success comes from God, not human status or strength.

Reflection: Name one limitation you feel today (age, finances, lack of skill). How might God use that limitation? Identify one concrete way to offer yourself in that area this week (volunteer, share your story, help someone in a similar situation) and take the first step today.

Day 4: A yes that costs becomes true worship

Saying yes to God often costs something — time, reputation, resources — and that cost is not a punitive toll but the language of worship. Offering yourself in response to mercy is not legalism; it is formation. When a choice to obey shifts from transaction to worship, sacrifice begins to change character: it shapes your heart more than it simply changes your circumstances.

Imagine signing a blank page and handing it to God: you give him authority to write whatever the story will be. That is a risky kind of worship because it admits you cannot control the outcome. Yet it is precisely this surrendered posture that deepens trust and makes your life itself into a living offering.

Romans 12:1 (paraphrase)
Offer your life — your body, your habits, your daily choices — as a living, holy offering to God. This kind of giving is the most fitting way to worship, not out of duty but out of gratitude for mercy.

Reflection: What would "signing the blank page" look like for you in one concrete area (time, money, reputation)? Choose one tangible offering you can make this week and do it today (give a gift, set a boundary to free time for serving, speak a needed apology).

Day 5: Walk with others when the path is unclear

Clarity does not always come through dramatic revelation; often it arrives through counsel, signs, small confirmations, and the steady presence of companions who have walked similar paths. Joseph’s responsiveness included listening to a dream but also protecting and walking with Mary; together they navigated confusion. Faithfulness frequently grows in community rather than in isolation.

Make space for companionship in your discernment. Ask for counsel, name your confusion to a trusted friend, gather for prayer, and look for footprints of those who have gone before. Shared courage strengthens individual steps and helps you to move forward without assuming you must have every answer.

Hebrews 10:24–25 (paraphrase)
Encourage one another to love and good deeds, and don’t abandon meeting together. Regularly gather with others so you can spur one another on and find strength in the shared journey.

Reflection: Who are two people you can invite into a conversation about a decision or season you’re in? Reach out to at least one of them today and schedule a 15–30 minute time to ask for prayer and counsel.

Sermon Summary

:
This sermon explored how Mary and Joseph responded when God interrupted their ordinary lives and asked them to carry out an extraordinary plan. Their “yes” was risky, costly, and uncertain, yet it became the hinge on which the whole story of Christmas turned. Using stories — Edison’s partner lighting a tree, a boy calling for Jesus in a dark basement, and footprints in fresh snow — the message showed that courage is not absence of fear but action in spite of it. The congregation was invited to reflect on what small or large “yes” God is asking of them this week and to offer their lives as a deliberate act of trust and worship.

Key Takeaways

1. Courage looks like moving forward with fear still present. Mary and Joseph didn’t wait until they felt safe or had answers; they made choices that exposed them to misunderstanding and hardship. Courage here is a disciplined posture: honest about doubts, yet willing to place one foot in front of the other because God’s word has weight. Practicing that posture trains you to respond to future interruptions with steady resolve rather than panic.
2. Saying yes is a spiritual practice made of small, repeatable decisions. The sermon contrasted one dramatic “yes” with the daily yeses John Maxwell described: ordinary acts offered consistently. God’s work through us often grows slowly through those repeated, humble choices rather than through a single heroic moment. Treat the tiny obediences—chores done, forgiveness offered, time given—as the slow architecture of God’s larger purposes.
3. God chooses ordinary, vulnerable people to carry extraordinary things. Mary and Joseph were young, poor, and socially exposed, yet they were entrusted with the Messiah. That pattern means your limitations aren’t proof of God’s absence; they can be the very condition he uses to display his presence. When God picks weak instruments, the spotlight shifts from human ability to divine action, and that should reshape how we measure significance and success.
4. A true yes costs something and functions as a form of worship. Offering ourselves—time, reputation, resources—as Paul points out is not a legal duty but a response to mercy; it’s the language of surrendered hearts. Signing the blank page is a symbolic act: you give God authority to write what he will, accepting that the story may include hardship. When obedience becomes worship, sacrifice stops being merely transactional and becomes formative, changing our character more than just our circumstances.
5. Discerning and keeping company matters when the path is unclear. Joseph’s dream and his choice to protect Mary show how God sometimes gives clarity through community, signs, and restful obedience rather than full disclosure. Walking with others who’ve followed footprints ahead helps you take the next step without seeing the whole trail. Make space for counsel, prayer, and faithful companions so your yes is strengthened by shared courage rather than isolated bravado.

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading (read aloud before discussion)
- Luke 1:26–38 (the angel’s visit to Mary; Mary’s question and yes)
- Matthew 1:18–25 (Joseph’s discovery, his decision, and the dream)
- Romans 12:1 (Paul’s call to offer our lives as worship)

Start: open with a short prayer asking God for honesty and courage to say “yes.”

Observation questions (3–4)

In Luke 1:34–38, how does Mary’s response change from verse 34 (“How will this be?”) to verse 38 (“I am the Lord’s servant”)? What words or details show both her doubt and her submission?
In Matthew 1:18–25, what options was Joseph considering before the angel appeared? After the dream, what concrete actions does he take (look for specific steps in the passage)?
In Romans 12:1, what three descriptors does Paul use for the offering he asks for (how he describes the kind of life to be given)? What do those words imply about daily choices, not just one dramatic moment?
Which sermon story (the electric tree, the boy in the basement, or the footprints in the snow) best matches a detail from one of the Bible passages and why?

Interpretation questions (3–4 — third person/objective)

What does Mary’s question (“How will this be?”) teach a person about the place of honest questions and confusion in a faithful response to God?
When Joseph planned a quiet divorce, what does that reveal about the tension between legal right and compassionate action? How did the angel’s word change the moral and practical direction of his decision?
How does Paul’s phrase about “presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice” help a person reinterpret “yes” as ongoing worship rather than a single event?
The sermon argued that courage is acting “with fear still present.” How should someone practically measure whether their next step is courageous obedience or impulsive risk?

Application questions (5–7 — specific and actionable)

Identify one concrete thing God might be asking you to say “yes” to this week (a conversation, a commitment, a forgiveness, a financial gift, a volunteer task, a change of schedule). Write it down and name the first specific step you will take and when you will do it.
What is the most common excuse you use when you resist God’s call (time, money, fear of people, lack of skill)? For that excuse, list one Bible verse or short prayer and one practical action you will use this week to counter it.
The sermon emphasized small, repeatable “yeses.” Choose one small discipline you can do daily or weekly for the next month (e.g., 5 minutes of prayer before a hard conversation, one small act of service, one short phone call to a person you’re discipling). When will you do it and who will hold you accountable?
Joseph found clarity through a dream and then protected Mary. Who are two people you can invite into your decision-making this week (for counsel, prayer, or practical help)? When will you contact them and what will you ask them to pray about or help you decide?
Saying “yes” can cost reputation, time, or resources. What cost are you likely to face for the thing you named in question 1? Name one practical step to prepare for that cost (budget, conversation, boundary-setting) and when you will complete that step.
The sermon used the “blank sheet” exercise as a symbol of surrender. Take five minutes this week to write a short sentence you will sign: “Lord, I trust You with __________.” Bring that sentence to your next meeting or share it with one person in the group.
If fear is holding you back, what is one small, concrete step you can take this week “in spite of fear” (call the person, go to the meeting, apologize first, volunteer for one shift)? Do it, then report back next time what happened.

Closing suggestion
- End with a short time of sharing (2–3 people) about what they will say “yes” to this week and then pray as a group for courage to follow through.

Sermon Quotes

Mary and Joseph were young, poor, and powerless, yet God chose them to parent the Messiah. Their story is one of stunning courage and radical obedience when God disrupted their lives with His plan.

When God calls, our "yes" can change the world, even when it costs us everything. Saying yes often brings misunderstood relationships, disrupted plans, and stepping into places where the outcome isn’t clear.

Courage doesn’t mean we have no fear; it means we step forward in faith even when the fear is still there, trusting God is already waiting for us in the dark places.

Excuses are natural, but they can rob us of the miracle God wants to do in and through us. We say "I’m not qualified" or "I can’t afford it" and miss what God could accomplish.

God’s sovereignty invites us into partnership. He is ready to do amazing things, but we have a choice to step forward or resist, and that choice shapes how His blessings and purposes unfold in our lives.

Saying yes to God today doesn’t always look dramatic. It can be small acts of faith—ordinary choices that allow God to work through you and bring His kingdom into your world.

Edward Johnson said yes to a crazy idea—hand-wiring 80 lightbulbs on a tree—and that one yes changed Christmas forever. Sometimes a single act of courage steps into the unknown and becomes the new light for countless people.

We won’t sign a contract without knowing the details, yet God asks us to sign a blank page of life with no guarantees. Saying yes is trusting God to write the story even when we can’t see the ending.

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